Where Is Joey Today?

Fahrting around Germany

Ich haben ankomst en München (how was that Dad or aunt, zia, tia, whatever Laura?)

It was a heck of a trip here though. The last I wrote I was in Brussels trying to make it to the city center to soak (drink) up the local (yeast) culture(s). For those keeping score at home.

Beers of the trip:

Bavarian Beer (Netherlands) - I had this on the train...skip it. Yechk
Leffe Blond and Bruin - Both rocked and I think they are available back home
Bellevue Kriek Lambic - Like cherry syrup in a Budweiser...no thanks
Mort Subite Gueze Lambic - Ooohh it has that wonderful sour lambic taste with a grapey bready flavor...I gueze you would describe it

I believe the thumbs up ones are available back home but I haven't tried them before now.

Okay so Brussels...you can keep it.. no it is fine but kind of industrial for my tastes. I walked back through a sketchy neighborhood to get back to the central station (gare midi) and eventually back to Bruges. This was the first time I had really gone out at night. The town lights up right nice :)

I headed to the main plaza market place and ate at Quik (this is a belgian mcd) because everything was closed, or 30 euros. I hit the sack shortly there after because I knew I might have a semilong day. I had a 30 hour day.

Lesson 56, always check the airport you are flying to especially when using airlines like Ryan Air. The Brussels airport is far from town so I took the metro, changed lines, and took a bus there. This took about one and a half hours, so I was still 2.5 hours ahead of time (good thing I got to Brussels so early). Small catch, the Charleroi airport is even further from the Gare Midi than the main airport was. So naturally I was hoping a bus went there directly or something. Nope. How do they recommend to get back? The 45 minute, direct train to Gare Noord with a final stop at Gare Midi (why not tell me this in the first place)

So I jump on that line, and get off where pick up another train which takes at least 1.5 hours (I reset my phone so my sense of time left something to be desired). When I got there I had to wait for a bus for 20 minutes during which time an old lady fell. I stood by and watched the others help her up...I looked for pickpockets. I've become a cynical person over here :-P

I got to the airport too late, but fortunately, the flight was delayed so they would let me check in late. Sweet! One catch, they have no record of me booking a flight. I said, that would be okay, if there are still seats left, just recharge me the amount and I will be off. 180 Euros which is 6x the cost I paid online. Without a booking number there was nothing they could do (they will refund my money if I find it)

Train it is. I thought going through A'dam or Paris would be the best option. My hunch was right, my timing was wrong. Since it was a Friday, they had nothing available on high speed trains. The slow trains made me miss the night train connections so after all the smoke cleared I was left with two options

1.) Go to Koln, change, and head to Munich
2.) Go to Paris, change, and head to Munich

For number 1, the time differential was 4 minutes, even given German punctuality that was cutting it close. So the guy recommended number two, only I would have to change train stations, but I would have an hour. Fine. So I get to Charles Of All the Gall airport on time (more or less) and all the ticket machines are broken or are only in French. Yechk. The only option was a long line of people, where there was one person helping all of them.

Joey: The nation of France, I would like to introduce you to customer service. Customer service, the nation of France.

Customer Service: Nice to meet you ::extends hand::
France: Hrmpf

Did you just see that? France didn't even shake hands...unbelievable.

The train was not direct and took almost an hour to get to Gare du Nord. I had to get to Gare du Est. The subway door won't let you out without your ticket, so I have to dig through my pocket, pick it up and then wait for the train. I arrived 30 minutes too late. Would any of that have helped? Maybe not but I would have had a change had they been German. Ironically, I met a nice guy on the train to the airport, super helpful etc. So I think the deal is that the older French are the problem, maybe the younger ones are not such p.i.t.as


The schedule is for one last train to get to Strasbourg in 4 minutes. I asked if I could jump on that with my Munich reservation. Non! Figures. So at the ticket window the lady seeing that I was panicking (I can't find a place to stay on such short notice and the station was looking unsafe) so she said get on the train. Again I met a young couple that was friendly and helpful. The ticket stamper was so typically French I just wanted to bite his face. I think he was going to give me a fine but the laziness factor set in and he just muttered c'est la vie and walked away.

My biggest concern was the train would be 3-4 hours only, and leave me no where to go once I got to Strasbourg. Luckily I was on a slower train and only waited one hour before my Munich connection.

Now I am off to Ayinger, once I can get a shower.

The last photo I took in Bruges (too bad it got so washed out, I may have to tweak this later)






Tschuss,

Joey

BTW, w/r/t the title Gute Fahrt was translated, Have a nice trip, however, my Norsk instinct tells me that Fahrt does not mean travel or visiting or anything like that but more like "Go(o)d Speed"