Back home :-)
- by Mike Dietrich
Wrote this entry last night in the ICE from Stuttgart to Munich but the conncetion broke:
28.5 hour journey - and close by now. Actually I would have been even closer if our TGV wouldn't have had break problems as soon as we had entered German territory. And you don't want a train which goes up to a speed of 200 mph having issues with its breaks, right? So we missed the connection in Stuttgart but I've catched the last train this night towards Munich. Distance approx 1900 km all together.
Usually it takes 2.5 hours with a direct flight with Air Lingus from Munich or a bit more when you'll go through Zurich or Frankfurt. But at least you meet more people and see a bit more from the landscapes passing by :-)
Except for the break problem everything worked out well so far (I'm no there finally!). I had 4 hours to change in Paris from Gare de Nord to Gare de l'Est and one thing I really have to point out: the people working for SNCF, the French National Railways, were so organized and helpful, purely amazing. I asked the man at the counter where I had to pick up my prepaid tickets for directions to Gare de l'Est - and after we had a chat about Marlene Dietrich he just grabbed his iPhone, started Google Earth and showed me the way to walk. I pretty sure it's a stupid stereotype that people in Paris or France are so unfriendly to foreigners if they don't speak French. In my past 3 stays or travels to Paris in the past 2 years I had only great experiences.
And another thing I really enjoy when being in France: the food!!! The sandwich I had at the train station was packed with yummy goat cheese. And there's always Paul. You might ask yourself: Who the heck is Paul? That's Paul - or actually their website. And at Paul's they serve usually excellent fruit tartes - and this time a nice Gateau Au Chocolate. And very good Cafe Cremé as well :-)
That's actually the positive part traveling this way: the food you'll get is much better than the airline food - if your airline still serves something called food ...
