EuroTrip - Day 5

Thrills of High Speed

Finally the first leg of EuroTrip started today. Paris - Koln - Hamburg - Copenhagen is what we covered today. Our first date with speed. Thalys is a very comfortable and quick way to travel. The beauty of the countryside on the way makes it a treat. I think that could make up for the shock that we recieved yesterday. Management jargon says we should no more bother about that as it is a sunk cost now. So be it.

German countryside on the way beat their French counterpart by a big margin. I guess a big contribution to this comes from a relatively hilly terrain in the German boundaries. By the way, we crossed Belgium on the way. The boundaries are almost invisible in this part of the Europe. One observable change was that people looked less friendly and beautiful as we moved closer to Koln. Koln Cathedral is situated just overseeing the Koln Hbf station. Compared to the cathedrals in Paris, it looked very different. Another sign that we had come to a new place. As we had just 50 minutes break before our next train to Hamburg, we decided not to enter the cathedral. A trip to Koln is on its way sometime soon. After doing some random photography, we reached the station again. We could not find any facility of drinking water on the station. It's totally surprising and disheartening. I am sure this is not the norm in this part of the world. Packaged water is too expensive to be part of a backpacker's trip. I wonder what Mom and Jiju will do when the travel by train here. The next train is more like a local, just that the speed is upwards 150 kmph.the reservation we had got was if no use as there is no culture of taking reservation on such trains. Another lesson for next time. 3 euros will be saved for sure. After waiting for a couple of minutes and observing/talking to people we realized the next set of steps. Find a place and claim it. You have got your seat. The temperature out is more like India so the warm clothing had to be packed back for the time being. The open windows mean it can be noisy at times, especially when a train passes by. The countryside seemed to come to normal as we moved further on the plain land. The greenness became dull as the sun reached the top of sky. The only respite was the field of yellow flowers like those of Sarso. DDLJ ki yaar dilate di. I think the tiredness of last night was sinking in now. The train halted every 15 minutes or so (ekdum local type feeling aaj nahi thi) and this did not help in getting some sleep. Watching people is a good fun andthat kept we awake for most part om it. German chics are as beautiful as french, though their fashion is not as updated as Parisian one's. Beauty is what is natural. So I continue watching people and enjoying.

The third part of the journey was from Hamburg to Copenhagen on an InterCity Express. A nice and comfortable journey in a state of the art train with its automatic doors and lavish restrooms. Water still eludes us though. When in germany, do the beer - that seems to be the mantra. Our destination was in a different country and that too to one that is separated by sea. So came the modern technology to our rescue. The train reached the boarder, and entered in a ship. Yes in a ship. We were asked to proceed to the upper deck of the ship. And there we git something we could not have imagined. We were on top of a big ship and were heading straight into sea. The cold winds were unbearable but still the view from the tip deck was something that could make us stay there. It was time for sun set and relish sky treated the setting sun. The horizon looked like a collage in all shades of red and orange. The winds enthused everyone around and the smiles were back. The lower deck hosted a duty free shop and a couple of restaurants. Again, some more perfume testing and window shopping. And then we boarded the train again. Now we were in Denmark. 4th country of the day.

Copenhagen station looks older than those in Paris and Koln. Its architecture lacks the modernism showcased by others we have seen so far. We enquired about our next train and were told that "You've got exactly 1 minute to catch the train for Malmo. So run." And we did exactly the same. 30 minutes ride filled with excitement as we got to know that at Malmo we could catch a night train for Stockholm which was to leave in a couple of minutes once we get down. We debated whether to board the train without reservations. And decided unanimously to gate crash. Jo bhai hoga dekha jaayega.

We found a nice warm cabin. The search for water was still not complete. And then there were worries about reservations. The second issue was resolved when the TT allowed us to travel. It's possible to travel without reservation in certain trains and thus we got lucky. "Here you are supposed to carry your own drinking water," told he in reply to our questions about the same. Disheartened and tired we decided to sleep, hungry and thirsty. Patwa's orange candy gave some respite for some time, though. And as I was writing this blog, something happened that none of us could imagine. The TT came back with 4 glasses of water. It was from his personal stock, it seems. We could not believe our luck and his gesture. This blog is dedicated to you and all the other TTs that we met today. Your courtesy and friendliness is commendable and makes us feel so special.

Sir, you really made our day today. We are really thankful to you.

It's good night time. Everyone seems to be writing the draft of his next blog though. Tomorrow we open our eyes in Stockholm. Looking forward to meet Bansi and carry our journey onwards.