Return train ticket to Frankfurt on my way back home
The usual mode of commute from our Endingen office to the nearest airport was by Airport Taxi. These were crammed vans full of people starting off early morning to the nearest airport (Flughafen in German) - either Frankfurt, or Munich, which was nearer, but Frankfurt had more international connections. They were cheap and on time, so were handy.
My airport ticket was from Frankfurt by Qatar Airlines. But I had decided earlier that I would not want to miss one of much touted European experience - journey by Rail - even if it cost me my own money.
I made this clear to my boss' sidekick who immediately pored over the train timings from Endingen to Frankfurt - there was just one train with three caboose which was a connection to the Frankfurt bound train from Freiburg Railway Station, our nearest major rail link.
My German boss appeared shortly saying that the railway website was not updated and all the train timings were obsolete (so this not just happens only in India!). He said he would book a ticket for me from Freiburg to Frankfurt with his money. He mounted his bicycle and disappeared in the direction of the Endingen Bahnof- German for Railway Station. He reappeared soon with a bunch of papers and handed me a ticket that indicated my starting point as Freiburg and my destination as Frankfurt Bahnof that terminated just below the Frankfurt Flughafen, as I have mentioned in an earlier post.
He said his just over-teen girlfriend would drop me by car at Freiburg as part of her daily commute to Freiburg, where she worked as a salesgirl in a pharmacy store.
The day of the journey I got up a bit late, so got into the car driven by the German girl in a bit of a hurry, just making sure that all my hurriedly packed luggage was in place. As soon as we hit the Autobahn - the famed German super highway where you cannot go below a certain speed limit, I felt an urge to smoke since I had not had my customary morning smoke in the early morning bustle. We had both fastened our seat belts and I was on the right side of her - Germans drive on the right side of the road and their vehicles are left hand drives. I requested the cute lady whether I could have a quick smoke. The lady nodded disapprovingly, indicating that she didn't entertain smoking in her car.
But in a minute she relented and lowered the side window on my side a wee bit, so that the wind made a terrible whooshing sound as it entered the car. Go ahead, she said.
But I declined, deciding not to take advantage of this lady's gesture of courtesy.
We were at Freiburg Bahnof in no time, and though I protested, the boss' lady friend carried part of my luggage, took me to the correct platform - all of these which I would have found very difficult to do, had I come alone. She looked at the arrivals display and said my train would be coming very soon.
Soon enough I was within the ICE -the Inter City Express train- that ran between Freiburg and Frankfurt. The kind lady shook my hands in a gesture of goodbye before she left, and I found myself a window seat near an old lady and a young man listening to music on his disc man.
But still I had a gnawing doubt -was I on the correct train? And the correct class? I didn't want to get into trouble at this juncture which could make me miss my flight in case of any mistake.
Soon enough my doubts were dispelled when a short bespectacled man in some kind of uniform asked for my tickets. I handed them over and asked him with growing uncertainty -
"Correct train? Correct coach? Frankfurt Flughafen? OK? No problem?"
He obviously didn't understand a word of English but he understood the point I was trying to make and said "Ja! Ja! No problem", and proceeded to the next passenger.
I was reassured to some extent but pestered the guy who was listening to the disc man, asking him at least three times, "Frankfurt Flughafen?"
He got a bit annoyed as he had to remove his ear plugs, and said "Ja! Ja!", repeatedly to reassure me. The old lady sitting next to me had a hearty laugh at my discomfiture the third time I asked him.
The rest room system on the train was unique and one which I had never seen on any class of Indian trains or airplane.
When I rose to answer the call of nature, I got into one of these, and found that I had to lock it from within, but the locks were so puzzling and mysterious that I decided not to lock it for fear of getting locked within, so I left the door open while I emptied my bladder. That must surely have got some curious looks from the by passers in the aisle and indicated a bad opinion on Indian hygiene!
I had counted on viewing some beautiful European landscape on the journey but was disappointed. It was still early morning and all I could make out through the sealed glass window was barely visible wooded landscape through the thick morning mist.
It was I think about three hours when the train reached Frankfurt Flughafen.
Wearily, I picked my luggage and took the elevators that led to the Foreign Departures. While in Germany, I had not experienced the highly rated city experience, having been confined to the small village in rural Germany for more than three months. But I was glad that it happened that way.
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