9:30 am
Time to check out and ride the rental bike 5 km back into the centre of town with all my luggage on my shoulders ;-)
The first train ride is only about 15 minutes long and gets me to Hagen. I dimly remember sitting here in the freezing cold at 6 am as an 18-year old after a night of debauched drinking waiting for a train for 3 hours.
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| Yes,the air really is that dirty |
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| All that Graffiti says :THINK |
HINT: Book the ticket online 36 hours ahead, look for the 2nd class ticket, select the Sparangebot, and you will get the 1st class ticket for LESS than the regular 2nd class price ;-)
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| The approach to Remagen. The (in)famous Bride of Remagen led into a tunnel in the cliff on the left |
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| 35 years later: The nuclear power station of Mulheim-Karlich. It operated for only 3 years. It was shut down because it became clear that it was built on top of an earth-quake fault. Genius at work, LOL |
When the PA system announces that the train will hang around Koblenz Station for 10 minutes because of a problem with the locomotive, I
a) go for an extended cigarette break on the no-smoking platform (Cambodian Wisdom: It's just a sign) and
b) head for the restaurant car for a small bottle of Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris, only much better) and a Currywurst.
By the time the train gets to Frankfurt Airport, it is 40 minutes late. No worries though, my relatives are playing golf.
Since I didn't write down the number of the bus that would take me right to my hotel (for 3.15 Euros), I grab a taxi. The driver does not recognize the name of the hotel but the address (there are 5 hotels on that street). We start chatting and eventually I ask him where he is from.
He giggles and says "I'm NOT from Turkey. Guess!" I guess Iran. He is surprised: "SOOOO CLOSE. My country has a border with Iran. I am from Afghanistan". As soon as I ask him "So you say Tesekku"r there too?" I have made a friend, LOL. No, I barely tip, but he shakes my hand after he pulls my second backpack from the trunk. It's NOT difficult ;-)
4:30 pm
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| Not my pic: An On the Run store in New Zealand. At least the Kiwis speak English , LOL |
Impossible! you may say. Nope, GAS STATIONS are allowed to sell stuff. I get a toothbrush (my electric one finally ran out of charge), cookies, and a chilled bottle of Riesling.
Booze at the Gas Station.YEAH ! But why is the gas station store called "On the run"? A comment on globalization or on German gullibility?
Then I notice that the relatives I'm supposed to meet here called me and have left a message.
Yes, I know Freedom Mobile phones won't even roam in Germany starting May 1st, but it's only April 2nd today and I find out that I can NOT access my voicemail.
OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE CANADA, do you NOT realize that you can NOT keep up in the 21st century on Oil Sands and LPG alone?????
WAKE UP !
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| NOT my pic |
Despite all those technical difficulties, we manage to find each other and have a typical local dinner (A"ppelwoi & Gru"ne Sosse). Since we haven't really properly seen each other in at least 5 years, we're too involved in conversation for anyone to think about taking pictures. Ah well, NEXT time ;-)
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| Handka"se mit Musik |
Tired. Don't want to travel today. But I don't really have a choice ;-(
My unwillingness to travel only increases during the amazing breakfast in my Turkish-run and -operated hotel. 2 kinds of Feta cheese? 4 kinds of olives? The best coffee of the last 2.5 weeks? I could stay here a while, LOL.
My bathroom smells like cheese and my toilet bowl looks like the latest piece by Jackson Pollock !
I'm discovering hidden talents, LOL. Wonder whether it's true art and worth any money or just shit, LOL.
7:45 am
Time to check out and walk to the bus stop.
8 am
The hotel web-site claims that the bus to the airport costs Euro 2.50. The bus operator web-site claims that it is Euro 3.15. But when I try to give the fare to the bus driver he just waves me through.
WTF?
That's a first !
9:15 am
World-wide paranoia is spreading. The check-in clerk at Condor starts with "That is your passport? You are courageous travelling with that to the US !"Nonsense, by now it's the officials in the US who complain the least about the state of my passport ;-) Then he wants to know where I'm staying in the US. WHAT? Kings Inn, I say. Then he wants to know the address of that hotel. I say "I have no idea, but I know how to get there by tram and foot". He refuses to give me the boarding pass until I dig the address out of my phone.
The rest is comparatively easy. Security is thorough but still a breeze; I get to keep my shoes on.
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| YES, Frankfurt Airport has Smoking Lounges |
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| My ride |
Sea-Tac Airport. Time to find Link Rapid Rail. They have the usual long line-up of clue-less people in front of the ticket machines. NOT AGAIN ! There are even assistants there to help people buy the tickets. Doesn't that SHOUT that there is something wrong in the interface design? LOL. I have to buy another ticket tomorrow and more tickets next time I'll fly through Seattle (I don't see the fabulous people at CIC completing my PR card anytime soon), so I invest to spare myself the pain the next few times by buying an Orca card (Think Hong Kong's Octopus card or Vancouver's Compass card).
Just one question: Why did Seattle manage to come up with such a unique West Coast name for its Public Transit Card while mind-numbingly boring Vancouver had to steal the Compass name from the Public Transit system of San Diego? (NO, I'm NOT kidding ;-)
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| The TIRED look |
I get to Kings Inn at 3 pm. It's sunny in Seattle and apparently even in Vancouver.
I sleep from 6 pm to 4 am. Having a proper bed instead of an airplane seat is very conducive ;-)
4:30 am. Still 1.5 hours until breakfast. The one thing I don't like about traveling? All those waiting periods, LOL.
5 am
I check the weather forecast for Vancouver and instantly regret it. Rain starting today and lasting 5 days until Sunday. SO SICK OF IT !
In analogy to the train ride from Koblenz to Bingen: Taking the train from Seattle to Vancouver, ONE should OBVIOUSLY sit on the WATER side,so that ONE can take in breathtaking scenery ;-)
6 am. Breakfast at Top Pot Coffee next door again. It's still dark outside ! At least I'll have some food in my belly for the upcoming 4 hour train ride (Note: The train from Cologne through Brussels to Paris only takes 3.5 hours, LOL).
Thanks to some bizarre-minded keeping-the-doors-locked policy of Amtrak when crossing the border, this train ride will allow me as much smoking as a flight from Vancouver to Puerto Vallarta. NONE. But at least I can walk around and enjoy some nice scenery !
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| How is that for sunrise colours? |
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| Link Station art |
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7:45
The train is moving
Yesterday's sun has vanished behind the usual North-West layer of Gloom-Cloud (TM)
But the journey right along the water is absolutely amazing. Seals (or baby sea-lions) sleeping on rocks and swimming; bald eagles and ducks circling the grey waters in front of a backdrop of the snow-covered peaks of the Olympic Peninsula. This is NICE !
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| This GLOOM will take some getting used to |
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| Finally, Canada is a World Leader ;-) |
9:30 am
The train is passing through the Mt Vernon region. The clouds are getting darker and darker. Ah well.
9:45 am
A trip to the lounge car leaves me US$ 20 poorer but possession of two pieces of banana cake AND a VERY drinkable demi-bouteille of Chardonnay ;-)
10 am
Despite all the good intentions of riding a bicycle exclusively, as the gloom darkens outside the windows as the train heads further North, I reserve a rental car for 5 days. The forecast DID call for 5 days of rain, and by now I fully know what that means in Vancouver.
10:15
Another page in Canada's Book of Paranoia: We're approaching Bellingham and Amtrak is OBLIGED to check passenger's passports again, just in case they LOST their passports on the train in between Seattle and here. I DID ask, and it is a REQUIREMENT forAmtrak to check the passports AGAIN ;-)
10:50
The train is crawling along the water-front of White Rock, BC, Canada. The Cellular Data connection of my Canadian cell phone, which was reasonably stable and functioning all the way from Seattle to the border, is OUT. Clear text: My Canadian cell phone, which happily roamed in the US, has no reception in 'remote' areas of Canada.
HOW THIRD WORLD IS THAT ? (OK, reception comes back 5 minutes later only to drop dead again 2 minutes later, LOL) And every time reception comes back the stupid thing makes a sound because I received a 'new' voice mail. HELP !
11:20
The train is CRAWLING over the railway bridge over the Fraser River in New Westminster. The last time I was on a train moving at a comparable speed was this past February when I took the Royal Express in Cambodia. Wasn't one of Trudeau's election promises related to investing in the ailing infrastructure????
The train is about to arrive at Pacific Station. BUT, it's BACKING in, just like the last time. I know that in about 5 minutes we all have to sit in our assigned seats again. Canadian Immigration is STRICT. NO loitering, while the luggage gets unloaded. Only once the train staff allows us to get up will we be able to go downstairs again, file past our luggage, and face questioning by the preservers of a safe Canada. But that's only in 5 minutes. Right now I'm downstairs when the train switches from going forward to backing up.YES, there are SIGNS advising passengers that opening the windows and doors is a hazardous thing. To my amazement, I find that they are NOT locked. So if I wanted to avoid the annoying childish questioning about to be unleashed on me, I could just wait for the exact moment when the train starts backing up (i.e. is NOT moving) and hop out somewhere in the area of the Rocky Mountaineer tracks. NO fences or stupid questions around here ;-)
Since I chose to NOT jump ship or train, I get subjected to the Special Treatment again. An excerpt:
Immigration Officer(IO): (pointing at the customs form) Do you REALLY live at this address?
Me: No, that is Grandma's address. I live in a hotel.
IO: Then why did you not write in the hotel as your address?
Me: Because right now I don't live there; I'm only checking in today.
The confused look on her face was priceless. It also tells me how far my lifestyle has deviated from that of mainstream society, LOL. But living outside the NORMAL has also taught me a lot, so that's OK ;-) Related: I noticed a question on a web-site: Are you ready to stop life on autopilot? And I can honestly say: I switched that off quite some time ago ;-)
Taking the Skytrain & Bus is routine by now. But I notice that at noon it is SO DARK outside that the little floor lights in the handicapped area of the bus are ON AND VISIBLE
Welcome to Gloom Town !
6 pm
It's POURING. March 2017 got close to or did break the all-time record for amount of rainfall amount in March.
The #1 rule for Global warming: Areas already dry will get even less rain and it'll rain even more where it already is raining a lot. Congratulations Vancouver !
Keep sitting in those idling cars ;-)
I head out to eat something. Let's pick Earl's, they seem to make consistently good pizza. Someone parked a little outside the lines in one spot, so I cross the line of the next one even more to make sure they don't scratch my rental car.
I get back to the car and find this attached to my window:
I have been back in this country barely SIX HOURS and the little grey men on their high horses already have found and judged me. Some research reveals that one can BUY booklets of these at Walmart or I am reminded of Fiona, my hairdresser from Hong Kong. She told me recently that as soon as she steps out of a plane into Vancouver Airport, she gets that feeling that she has done something WRONG. It's just a feeling you get here. Because EVERYONE here seems to be waiting to point their fingers.
I get back to my hotel room and I realize that the only thing I'm thinking about is getting out of here.
This is NOT the life I intend to live. I'm NOT willing to live in a place where people are SO MISERABLE that all they can think about is making other people miserable too. As the Dalai Lama says: Seek the company of positive people.
So I start looking for flights out of here.
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