dormouse1953

So, I've made it to Dublin. An interesting trip, not without a few difficulties.

I decided to travel by train and ferry, which is how I travelled to the Dublin Eurocon back in 2014. This involved trains from Guildford to Reading, Reading to Birmingham New Street, and Birmingham to Holyhead, thence the Stena Line ferry to Dublin.

Everything went well up to Birmingham (although finding space for my suitcase on the Birmingham train proved difficult with lots of re-arranging of other people's luggage). But shortly after leaving Birmingham, the guard came through the train to announce that it was terminating at Shrewsbury where we'd have to catch another train on an adjacent platform.

What seemed to be the case was that the train from Birmingham came in on one platform, the train from Holyhead on the next platform, and everyone swapped over. No reason was given for this. And at least one person on the train I then boarded was so engrossed in her headphones that she had no idea she had to change trains and it took three of us and the guy with the catering trolley to convince her the train was no longer going to Wolverhampton. (Interestingly, the catering staff and guard also changed to the new train.)

They'd also programmed the automatic announcements about stops with the wrong itinerary. For most of the journey it was giving the correct station, but there were a few extra stops in north Wales, leading to the announcement that we'd arrived in Holyhead long before we got to Bangor.

There was no appreciable delay in getting to Holyhead and the check-in queue for the ferry moved fairly quickly. From the terminal, we were put on buses to board the ferry. Just as the bus got on board, it started to rain.

The crossing was uneventful and on time. I had a meal and then found the quiet lounge where I could sit and read. (Not so quiet. One guy had fallen asleep and was snoring loudly.) I was about the last off in Dublin and as I walked past the baggage carousel, my case was the only one on it, and even then I totally failed to see it. Well, it was midnight by then.

There is no taxi rank at the terminal, but the office there gave out lists of taxi numbers, but I was unable to find one that worked and had taxis that were willing to come out to the terminal. I was just about resigned to walk to the centre and see if I could get a taxi there when a number of taxis turned up. I got to my hotel by 00:45.

Buswells is an old-style hotel where they lock the front door after eleven p.m. and you have to leave your key with reception when you go out. Furthermore, the lift was out of action. The guy on the desk actually carried my case up to the second floor for me. But I'd arrived.

So I'm in Berlin again. I wanted to go to Prague and found I had to break my journey somewhere and I like Berlin.

Since I was last hear two years ago there have been a couple of changes that made travelling slightly easier.

Firstly, the Eurostar I took to Brussels went on to Amsterdam. Previously the Eurostars stopped on a dedicated platform from which you had to go down to the main station concourse to find your connecting service. This time, the train I needed to Cologne was waiting on the next platform, although at the opposite end of the platform to where my seat had been on the Eurostar.

There was a problem boarding the train to Berlin at Cologne. There was a fault with the carriage in which my seat was reserved - something about the air-conditioning, I heard - so I was directed to another carriage at the other end of the train. There were plenty of empty seats and I guessed that "freigeben" on the display above the seat meant something like unreserved (it's not in my German dictionary, but Google translate gives me "release") but someone did try and claim the seat later, although as I had the empty dish my dinner had come in on the table, he decided to go elsewhere. (You get at seat meal service in first class on DB.)

I have spoken before of my problem with the new main railway station in Berlin. When I first travelled to Berlin in 2004 the main station was the Zoo station but when I went back in 2010 the new all-glass station had opened. I quickly discovered that all the visibility between levels in the station did not go well with my fear of heights.

There are five levels to the station. Some of the platforms are on the second floor and some are in the under-basement. If you are standing in the wrong position on the upper platforms, you can see all the way down to the bottom, all five levels, and my legs refuse to move.

The last two times I travelled to Berlin, the trains from Cologne came into one of the upper platforms, and that was where I had to catch the train home. I required a certain amount of trepidation on my part to get on to the platform.

These trains still went through the old Zoo station, which is still operational, so yesterday I was waiting for the familiar sites including a view of the famous Siegessäule just after going through the Zoo station to tell me it was time to get my case down. (Unlike British trains, you can store a substantially sized suitcase in the over-seat luggage rack.) Suddenly I realised we were in a tunnel and I just had time to get my case down before the train stopped at one of the underground platforms.

And this proved good for me. I only had to go up one escalator - not too bad - and there was a sign directing me to the exit to Invalidenstrasse, which was were my hotel is. Furthermore there was a subway under the road which came out right next to the hotel entrance. It looks like all the trains I'm catching are from these platforms, so that's a great relief for me.

So I was going out to the theatre this evening. I left home in plenty of time, having checked that the trains were running OK when I left. When I got to the station, the train was shown as a few minutes late.

Then I stood on a cold platform, and the train was getting shown as later and later. It got in about twenty minutes late, but that re-scheduled it so it went fast to Waterloo instead of stopping at its normal stops.

I got into Waterloo with 25 minutes to get the tube up to Leicester Square, the nearest stop to the theatre. At Embankment someone had an accident in the carriage I was in and the train was delayed whilst the station staff checked he was OK. I dashed from Leicester Square to the theatre and picked up my ticket with about five minutes to spare.

And then when I finally got into my seat, after a few minutes someone came on stage and said the start had been delayed.

Only, once the show got going, this delay was remarked upon - it was actually part of the show.

I'm on my travels again and have been incommunicado for two days.

Checked out of the hotel Thursday morning and had several hours to kill before the ferry back so I walked around, bumping into other fans, and then ended up in a park overlooking the sea, reading Interzone. I then walked back into the centre, had a coffee and then picked up my bag.

I'd discovered that the ferry terminal is a lot closer to the hotel than I first thought. Indeed, all of central Helsinki is a lot smaller than it looks on the map. I realised it wouldn't take long to walk from the hotel, right through the city centre. It took about half an hour, but I soon realised how many pavements in Helsinki are cobbled rather than smooth. Important when you are wheeling a heavy case.

I didn't see any fans I recognised this trip, and my attempts to sit in the bar and go through my e-mail failed as the connection speed was pitiful. But I did manage to get to sleep this time, although I did discover that someone flushing the loo in the next cabin made a loud roaring sound that woke me up. Of course, waking up in the middle of the night and I immediately wanted to go to the loo, so I returned the favour.

The advantage of going in this direction is that the clock change meant I could get up early for breakfast. The disadvantage is that everyone else had the same idea. And why did people start to queue to disembark long before we docked. As I had three hours to get to Central Station in Stockholm, I waited until we were nearly docked before going to the cabin to get my bags.

It was raining slightly when we docked, but I decided to walk to the underground station and get a train to the centre. Although as I mentioned in a previous post, the direct foot route to the station involved a narrow uncovered aerial walkway, I knew a long detour at ground level. Probably added another 15-20 minutes.

When I got to the central station, my train was already on the board and I noticed that although my ticket involved changing at Lund to get to Copenhagen, the train went on from Lund to Copenhagen. I went to the ticket office to enquire about this and the clerk was quite happy to extend my reservation to Copenhagen when I thought to ask an important question. "What time does the train get to Copenhagen?" It turned out that by changing in Lund, even though there was ten minutes waiting for the train, it got me into Copenhagen five minutes earlier, which gave me ten minutes to get the connection to Hamburg. So I stuck with the original booking.

Ten minutes for the connection in Lund. Ten minutes for the connection in Copenhagen. What could possible go wrong?

Well, I got to Lund only two minutes late and my connection was on the board and due in on the same platform. However, it was marked as two minutes late, and that delay grew to about fifteen minutes. I got into Copenhagen about ten minutes after my connection left, just before six in the evening. Two weeks after missing a connection in Copenhagen, it had happened again.

I found the ticket office, which was busy, and also had a different queue for international travel. It was a take a ticket system, but there seemed to be no advantage in getting an international ticket as the same positions seemed to be dealing with both.

There was another train to Hamburg that night. The trouble was it didn't leave till 22:55 and got in at 05:28. But I had no choice and the new reservation was made. And I now had nearly five hours to kill in Copenhagen station.

I found an organic pasta place in the station. The guy who served me turned out to be from Leeds and I then found myself talking to an Irish woman whose husband was in Copenhagen to take part in an iron man contest. After that I found a seat and started to read.

Copenhagen station is a lively place on a Friday night. There seemed to be a fad for teenagers who had self-graffitied. At first I thought it was really bad tattoos, but I noticed it was on their clothes as well. I don't know if this is some Danish clubbing thing or something to do with it being Copenhagen Pride that weekend.

The train wasn't too crowded. There were a lot of early stops where people were getting off. But it was difficult to sleep and the guy opposite me snored loudly. He also wanted to stretch out his legs which meant I kept kicking him as I moved around. Finally he moved to another seat where his snores weren't so loud. I think I got some sleep.

The train actually got into Hamburg station just after five. Hamburg station and its surrounds look different at that time in the morning. I had a hotel booked and paid for, and it was just over the road from the station. There was the first glimmer of light of the start of dawn as I crossed the road.

They'd kept the room for me so I got about three hours sleep in a proper bed before getting up for breakfast. I didn't seem to be able to get an internet connection though. Then it was off to catch a train back to Cologne and the same hotel I was in the first day of my trip, seventeen days ago, which is where I am now. Back home tomorrow.

Day 2 was Cologne to Hamburg. Getting up an hour earlier than normal due to the time zone change made me tired most of the morning. Still, the train wasn't due to leave till 11:09, giving me plenty of time to have breakfast, go through my e-mail and read the paper. And then the train was ten minutes late getting into Cologne. Something to do with damage to the overhead lines.

As it was, the train made up much of the time on the trip. As might be expected, I had my nose in a book for most of the time and then I heard the tannoy announcement that we were arriving in Hamburg. (Announcements were in both German and English.) I rushed up and got my case but as soon as I got on to the platform I realised I'd made a mistake. I was last in Hamburg a couple of years ago and I remembered that the main station is covered. This was an open air platform. I looked at the sign and saw this was Hamburg-Harburg, which is some distance south of the city centre.

Fortunately I had time to lift my case back on the train and get in before the doors closed. The young guy I'd been sitting next too and who had very good English found it very funny that I'd got off at the wrong station.

I'm staying in the same hotel as two years ago and had no trouble finding it again. Then I went for a walk and found somewhere to eat.

As it happens, my fear of heights was not my only problem in catching my train.

I'd left myself an hour to get from my hotel to the station. In fact, the hotel desk had a button to call a taxi and one arrived within five minutes. And it was about 15 minutes to get to the station. (I find it slightly ironic that it is difficult to get to the new station by U-bahn. There is an underground station there, but the line only goes three stops, as far as the Brandenburg Gate, which is about five minutes walk away. It would take two changes of train to get there from the underground station right next to my hotel. However, Unter den Linden is one long roadwork where they are building a new line.)

I sat down to read for a bit on the ground floor with the seat facing away from the drop to the lower level. I then thought it would be a good idea to check my seat reservation. German stations have displays telling you where to stand for your allocated seat.

But when I checked my ticket, I discovered I'd failed to reserve a seat. I asked at the information counter near where I'd been sitting and they told me I didn't actually need one to board the train, but I could still buy one from the ticket office on the next floor up.

So I was able to ascend the escalator without too much difficulty and trundled my case along, as far away from the edge as I could, and entered the Reisezentrum, which at least was enclosed. It operated a ticket queueing system. I still had about 20 minutes to my train and my number was soon called. They could still sell me a reservation for €4.50.

The escalator to my platform was right next to the entrance to the ticket office, so I had no trouble going up another level. And there were no precipitous drops nearby. I still had ten minutes to spare.

I'd have been more impressed it they'd manage to re-program the over-seat display to show my reservation, but I had no trouble claiming my seat.

After I'd been travelling for an hour or so, I decided to get up and go to the loo. At the door to the carriage I met a young woman with two kids in tow who asked me a question in German. "Ich sprache nicht deutsch," I said. She said something in reply and turned round and went back the way she came. I've no idea what she'd asked, nor why my not speaking German meant she promptly left.

I travelled from Dortmund to Berlin yesterday. Trains at Dortmund were subject to delays when I got to the station just after ten. My train, due at 10:48 was marked as running five minutes late, but arrive about 35 minutes late. It got into Berlin about an hour late.

Being so used to delays on British trains, I thought nothing of this, but when I came down to breakfast this morning, there was a copy of the local paper on the counter and I noticed a big picture of a railway line. I just googled for news of German trains and I see there were a number of arson attacks on the lines Sunday night that led to the delays.

I went into London yesterday to see a play.  Turned out that wasn't as easy as it should have been.

Fast trains from Guildford to Waterloo normally take about 35 minutes.  However, I checked the national rail website yesterday morning and discovered that trains were scheduled to take over an hour on that route.  That usually means that the direct line from Woking to Clapham Junction is closed for engineering works and the trains are diverted via Chersey, Virginian Water, Kew Bridge and Barnes.  This turned out to be the case.

The train was a couple of minutes late at Guildford, but then, whilst on its diversion, it came to a halt.  The guard announced that there was a trespasser on the track at Barnes and the power had been shut off whilst the emergency services dealt with this.  The train got into Waterloo about 20 minutes late.  I'd left plenty of time to get to the theatre, but it did mean I had slightly less time than I'd hoped to eat before the performance.

It was quite a short play and I got back to Waterloo afterwards about 20:45.  On a normal day, I'd get the 21:00 and be home before ten.  The 21:00 was up on the board, but it was marked as delayed, as was the 21:30.  These were not only the only trains going to Guildford, they were the only trains going to Portsmouth.  The tannoy annoucements said it had been delayed due to disruptive passengers on the incoming service.  The guy at the information booth didn't know anything about this, although he did know about the trespasser earlier in the day.  Apparently, a woman had tried to walk from one station to the next along the tracks.

The 21:00 finally arrived slightly after 21:30.  It was a long train, so there were plenty of seats despite the crowd trying to get on.  It left about 40 minutes late.  But the Chersey line was still blocked up and the train was delayed even more, getting into Guildford after eleven.  However, at one point the guard did announce that the disruptive customers mentioned at Waterloo was actually a fight had broken out on the train.  Can't see any reports of this on the news today, although there are reports of a fight on a train earlier this week involving bagels, of all things.

I was in Kansas City last month attending Wordlcon.  This was actually my second visit to Kansas City.  In 1984, with a couple of friends, I travelled by train from New York to Los Angeles for that year's Worldcon.  One of my friends travelled all the way with me from New York, but the other, Peter, had been visiting friends in Kansas City and joined the train there.

The train arrived in Kansas City about midnight.  Therefore, until last month, all I'd really seen of the place had been the outside of the Amtrak station in the middle of the night.
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I took the train from Milan to Florence yesterday.

Milan Central Station (which doesn't seem very central, but was close to my hotel) is an impressive building, all white marble with statues on the roof.  Judging by  the date inscribed on it (and Wikipedia agrees), its final form was a product of the Mussolini era, and looks exactly like what an ancient Roman railway station would have looked like.

When I got on the train  and deposited my case in the luggage compartment at the end of the carriage, I then straightened up and immediately hit my head on a projecting bit of  the luggage rack - very painful.

Florence was very hot and crowded when I got there.  I wheeled my case through the narrow streets to my hotel and discovered that the entrance to the hotel led to two flights of stairs to get to reception.   I struggled up the steps and was nearly at the top when the receptionist heard me and came and gave me a hand.  He told me that the new lift to the ground floor should be operating next month.