I’m afraid this isn’t going to be a very interesting blog post since I spent the whole day on trains. From Amsterdam to Munich, a normal route would be Amsterdam>Frankfurt>Munich. But because that is too mainstream and I’m soooooo hipster, I took a train Amsterdam>Cologne>Frankfurt>Munich. And why would I do that apart from being so not mainstream? There’s a route from Cologne to Frankfurt that goes through Koblenz and this the famous scenic Rhine Valley route. Limited are my abilities to take good scenic pictures from train windows so there will be pictures, but you can only see about 10% of how awesome the scenery was.
Starting off the day with a hearty breakfast, yes I ate two sandwiches for breakfast and would’ve had three if I wasn’t pressed for time. Goodbye, houseboat! 👋:'(
Amsterdam station. Told you all stations look the same in Europe. 😂
The German trains are run by Bahn and trains are comfy and clean, most seats are even equipped with their own mini-bins! You can usually reserve your seat by paying an extra €3 when you buy your ticket online, if you are taking the Rhine Valley route like I did, make sure you sit on the left hand side, otherwise you’ll be staring at nothing but trees! Also German train tickets are, well, in German, so “Wg.” stands for wagon (carriage) and “Pl.” stands for seat number.
On the train to Cologne, I was chatting to this lady from California and she was asking me about the political situation in Hong Kong, which I was more than happy to share with her, glad to know there’s so much international attention! But apparently the situation in the States aren’t doing well either, it’s probably a global thing where the poor are becoming poorer while the rich just gets richer, such is the way of capitalism.
Oh yeah, and she asked me if I had planned everything beforehand and I’m like: “Yeah, I’m sort of a planning Nazi…” Then I realised I was in Germany and it all went quiet… 🙈🙈🙈
As the organised person like I am, my transit in Colonge has a 45min levy in case I need to figure out where I’m going or I can grab something to eat/drink. Unfortunately, my train from Amsterdam to Colonge was running at the speed of the old lady going down the stairs in Mr. Bean and so IT WAS DELAYED. I thought I had plenty of time to spare but I JUST made it to my next train within 5mins, WHEW! So don’t ask me what happens if you miss the connecting train due to a delay, I DON’T KNOW AND I DON’T INTEND TO FIND OUT.
Anyway, the following is just a series of pictures on the Rhine Valley Route, it’s not very high quality, but I do my best taking the pictures in a high speed train with reflecting windows.
As you can see, the rail line runs along the river in the valley, with picturesque houses lining the river.
And the occasional castle as well, actually there were quite a few castles that could be seem from a distance.
You can start to see vineyards spread across the mountains.
A random castle thing in the middle of the river, lol.
Look at all those vineyards covering the mountain side!
I saw some cruise ships coming down the river, which must have great scenery, I’ll try that next time.
Reached Frankfurt on time, yay! Now I have like an hour to waste.
Went out the door to see Frankfurt outside the station.
Frankfurt station from the outside.
Heard some Chinese pop (bottom left corner), then immediately decided to go back inside… and gave into St. Arbucks temptation.
Finally arrived in Munich after like 10hrs of train.
Munich, a busy station with heaps of shops.
Stayed at a hostel but with my own private room, the room was really nice but the internet connection was really poor and this drunk British guy called “Jonathan” was banging on my door at 3am yelling at me to “f*cking let him in” and wouldn’t listen when I told him he had the wrong room number.
Went out to get dinner after checking in, looks like still early twilight hours but it was already 9:30pm.
Ended up at a Biergarten, ie. Beer Garden (I guessed 😂).
Still don’t know why Europeans like to sit outside with all the mosquitoes but I cbb to find out today so I sat inside. In Biergartens, you just sit down anywhere and a waiter will automatically serve you, you don’t need to wait for them to seat you.
Ordered schweinshaxe, YES I actually memorized how to spell that so I could order this. This is roasted pork knuckles and IS ZOMG SO DELICIOUS. Oh yeah, and that ball behind is some kind of potato + flour dumpling, it’s solid and spongey at the same time. And yes, I’m drinking apple juice pretending I’m drinking beer.
The skin is so crispy and the meat is so tender it falls apart without using a knife to cut into it. I NEED TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE THIS!!! *Drools*
Around ½ of The World in 80 Days 