Travel thread time!
This one is going to be chaotic. In lieu of a plan I have an Interrail pass and a hotel booking in Venice for tomorrow evening.
Since Arriva seems to be running some trains at least, I have now decided to go to Cologne via Aachen.
And whither then? I cannot say.
The person in the row before me is studying an Interrail paper map.
Welcome to the family, mate!
Arriva is doing shenanigans. First train is for Kerkrade, second for Aachen which just arrived. There aren’t any signals in between and the platform displays can’t deal with it either.
But hey: the train to Aachen is indeed going.
Welcome to Germany: The train from Aachen to Köln is kaputt and cancelled. There’s another one half an hour later, but this route is quite busy on a good day.
Luckily I noticed it early enough and could switch to the train to Düsseldorf in Herzogenrath. So I’ll be back on the Venlo route once we arrive at Mönchengladbach.
Of course the man in a suit with the big tablet in front of him started an angry zoom call the just won’t end.
Buy that effing company already. It’s just money.
Decision time for the next leg to Frankfurt Airport. I need the 12:27 ICE from there. However, the 12:21 also goes there but will be a lot less busy. In theory that should be fine. It doesn’t do the dip into Köln Hbf so should be quicker. However, because of issues on the high speed line, it has three extra stops where, if things go wrong, it could be overtaken.
I think I’ll risk it anyways. Should be more pleasant. And if I loose another hour, so be it.
That’s better. Got an unreserved proper window seat. Backwards for now, but we will turn around in Köln, so that’s on purpose.
I’m not keen on four hours “nonstop” to Basel, but one has to suffer for one’s … art?
Woah! Into Köln Hbf without any stop, turned around, departed on time, and got out without any stop.
That never happens!
Made good time to Mannheim but then had to wait for the cross-platform exchange with the train from Berlin which was behind us. And then they let it go first! Which I suppose makes sense given that it goes straight at full speed to Stuttgart while we have to turn off the high speed line to get to Karlsruhe.
But still.
Boo!
You don’t pay attention for one second and Freiburg is painted with ETCS stop markers.
Are they doing both ETCS and LZB here? Surely not?
I hope those guys are just out and about to enjoy the sun.
Be ironic if SBB now fell apart completely.
I might have had a stange too many, but I am very happy with my choice. What a lovely little town Brunnen is.
Also, I think this is Rigi up there.
At checkout, the lady asked if I am continuing to Italy on foot. we agreed that I really should but that the train is also nice.
Off to the bahnhof!
Decided to take the time and travel the scenic route across San Gottardo. It is one of the great mountain railways of this world and taking the base tunnel feels heretic.
Obligatory picture of the church of Wassen.
These new copper trains* are nice. But doing this run in a first class EW II with its lounge chairs as the first carriage behind an Re 4/4 II and a driver who feels offended by running a couple minutes late is where it’s at.
* Officially they are called Traverso, in case you want to look them up.
In Bellinzona, there’s a connection to a Eurocity directly to Venice.
Ha!
Instead, I am changing in Giubiasco to this TILO train because, to do this properly, I also have to go over Monte Ceneri which got its own, lesser known base tunnel.
The jingle of Swiss railway is a simple tritone. But: it is different for each of the three main languages (SBB doesn’t operate where Rumantsch is spoken). The abbreviation for each language is taken as notes, with E flat standing in for S because its German name is Es which is also how you pronounce the letter s.
So, the tritone is E♭ B B for German SBB, C F F for French CFF, and F F E♭for Italian FFS.
There is a version replacing the last note with its cord, which is used for announcing major stops.
In my day,* if you wanted to go to Milano and avoid the Cisalpino (what is now again the Eurocity) with its extortionist prices and risk of being “completto,” you had to walk through customs in Chiasso to get to a rake of cramped piano ribassato carriages pulled by a Caimano, stopping at a million places all starting with a C and getting later and later in the process.
Now there is this shiny new Flirt running as an hourly regional express from Locarno via Lugano, Como, and Monza to Milan.
Some things are getting better.
* „Opa erzählt vom Krieg.“
At Casalbuttano we are waiting for an oncoming train. Weirdly, we are scheduled a stop from 13:55 to 13:56 and them from 13:59 to 14:00. Single track only on either side.
Not sure how this is supposed to work?
I am changing trains in Olmeneta, to go back north to Brescia (told you this is silly). There’s nothing here, just a forgotten railway station baking in the July sun.
The trains are timetabled so that I could have changed in Cremona in stop further down the line and an actual town. But where’s the fun in that?
Five minute transfer in Verona, so I decided to head towards the doors early. and triggered everyone else getting up.
The capotreno announced the platform for the train to Venice in both Italian and English. That can’t be good.
This epsiode of Using Branch Lines to Avoid Busy Main Line Trains (I am now in an empty Pop instead of a very busy Rock) is brought to you by the Railway History Map, your indispensable guide when planning a trip the roundabout way (and being disappointed by bus replacement).
Buongiorno!
The hotel I booked doesn’t do their own breakfast but give you a voucher for a bar around the corner. Which is a great solution – you get proper coffee rather than something from a machine.
My new hobby: Watch people schlepp modern luggage across medieval bridges and be unduly smug about my Cross the Alps on Foot-style equipment.
Top tip: If your kids still need strollers, postpone your visit to Venice for a bit.
Why am I here now? Well, gather around, children!
In 1575, Venice was ravaged by the plague. Despite all the measures taken, there were no signs of it letting up and so the people resorted to bribery and promised they would build a great church if the lord would lift the torment. And indeed, in 1576, a quarter of the population dead, the plague finally subsided.
Keeping word, the city commissioned a church to be built on the island of Giudecca overlooking the lagoon. The cornerstone was laid in 1577 and a temporary bridge was erected so the doge could lead a procession to the new church.
The procession was repeated every year since on the third Sunday of July as the Festa del Redentore, the Feast of the Redeemer. The bridge is erected again every year.
The evening before, Venetians gather for a big party with their boats in the lagoon. The people of Giudecca put tables outside along the canals. Half an hour before midnight fireworks are let off that last for almost an hour. Being in charge of them is apparently one of the grandest achievement for a pyrotechnician.
I was visiting Venice in 2005 or so without knowing about any of this and it was quite amazing. Twenty years later, I am finally back. Now you need a (free) reservation to be let to the shores of the lagoon in the evening. That is fine by me – it was a big mess back then.
So, relaxed afternoon now and then we’ll see what happens.
There are public parks in Venice, but they are few and you have to actively go find them (which I guess I will now do).
This one is on Fondamenta dei Riformati, all the way to the north of Cannaregio.
The reservation demanded I be here at nine and punctual. I was wondering what I’ll for the two-and-a-half hours until the show starts.
Queuing, looks like.
@partim wow! I never knew that! I've been to Venice several times, and had to get to Salute the long way!
(Btw The view from the top is excellent.)
@patrickhadfield Now you have a reason to come again!
(It is quite hot, but there often is a breeze through the alleys which makes it quite bearable.)
@partim I tend not to travel in July - there's always a lot to do in Edinburgh (I'm a jazz fan so the Edinburgh Jazz Festival - on now - is one of my highlights of the year).
But maybe... ;)
@partim ah, the comedy... You mean the Fringe, which started off as the alternative to the International Festival, but has long outgrown its big brother.
The Fringe is many things - experimental theatre, music, dance. And comedy. But comedy has become the by far biggest component, and crowded out much of the rest.
In the Fringe, I got to sometimes go to music and dance, but definitely not comedy!
Mostly I stick to the International Festival - wonderful orchestras, magical dance!
@patrickhadfield We’ve been to the fringe once by accident – had completely forgotten about it and just wondered why hotels were so expensive.
We ended up seeing quite a few things, most of them rather more alternative, more theatre than comedy, and really quite good.
German has the word Kleinkunst for this, which sounds rather demeaning (and, knowing the art establishment, probably is ment to).
@partim Parenting top tip: very few(*) kids NEED strollers once they can walk. Most parents just don’t seem to be patient enough for children’s walking pace or practicing a little to get them used to walking longer distances.
(*) disabilities etc
@partim Good for you if you can move around between the places you visit without using the major routes full of people.
I realised in May that even if the first impression of Venice might be that it is a dense irregular maze of narrow passages, when you actually need to move longer distances, there are a few major paths that you won’t be able to avoid. The bridges over Canal Grande being the most obvious, of course, and the paths radiating out from those.
@tml A lot of people (and news articles) bemoan that Venice is now unbearably crowded. My first impression – which admittedly is from the evening – is that it isn’t worse than fifteen years ago.
It’s super busy for sure, but as long as I can find a quiet corner for a breather, I’m fine.
One of those through carriages is this panorama coach. I’m probably the only person in the world who dislikes them. The curved windows lead to strange distortions and, really, are unnecessary if you have a window seat. But worse, it tends to attract to many people. Case in point, it is completely full today. They were people with clipboards running around, too.
So I voluntarily downgraded to the very last second class carriage which is nicely quiet.
Of course a First Class Interrail allows you access to ÖBB Lounges. Hello, DB!
Not that I care that much. I have errands to run.
Onwards with a regional express – REX certainly is the best abbreviation for them* – to Germany. Unlike advertised, this train even has first class. But because it is a Siemens train, the window arrangement is shite. I’d go find a better seat in second, but they are all taken.
* Pity, ÖBB doesn’t have a Stadtexpress.
Nearly one hour gone and we made it to km 34,06. The state of this line so far is infuriating. German Wikipedia says the line was “extensivly rehabilitated” in the early 2000s. But we did 40 for parts, there was grass growing in the tracks, basically no level crossings with barriers, and all the stations have mechanical signal boxes (though they are currently putting up the first modern signal in Pocking).
We now have an hour for the remaining sixty kilometres. We should be positively flying from now on.
Remember, this is Bavaria, the richest of the German (non-city) federal states.
Mühldorf (Oberbay) where, if you stand right, the nineties aren’t quite over yet.
(If you look closely, you can even see the hood of a V60.)
The river Inn.
Remember the German rhyme for the right and left tributaries of the Danube (i.e., Donau) in Germany:
Iller, Lech, Isar, Inn fließen zu der Donau hin.
Altmühl, Naab und Regen fließen ihr entgegen.
@partim (easier in German) Wenn du direkt am Fenster sitzt, macht es zwar nicht so einen riesigen Unterschied, wenn du aber beispielsweise einem steilen Hang entlang fährst und bergseitig sitzt, bekommst du so trotzdem noch was von der gegenüberliegenden Talseite mit - im Gegensatz zu anderen Wagen, wo dir womöglich noch Reihenbestuhlung die Gegenübersicht zusätzlich verbaut.
Aus meiner Sicht könnte es noch viel mehr dieser Wagen geben. 😬
Martin Hoffmann
Tor Lillqvist
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webhat
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stefan
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