Germany
Once I got my fill of Eupen, Belgium I caught a city bus over to Aachen, Germany. I finally got that culture shock I had been expecting since I got there in Europe. Even with several semesters of German in school I could no longer read many of the signs. I also had not picked up a map of the region yet. Lots of people spoke English so I wasn’t completely out of luck. I found a huge electronics store and to time to charge my computer, then I caught a bus north to Hoegen. Unfortunately progress had been a bit slower than I planned. I had planned on walking north out of town to Aldenhoven and then hitch hiking to Dusseldorf. While looking for a ride outside Aldenhoven I was asked to cease by the police. I really wasn’t in the mood to spend the night in jail in an another country. So this threw my plan off a little.
I walked to Julich from Aldenhoven and from there I went to Titz. Since this was the first place I had been to in bit with a bus station. I caught one headed north. The bus drivers took advantage of the fact the didn’t have to wear uniforms in this part of the world. The girl had on boots, tight faded jeans, and a shirt that barely hid her tattoos. She looked like she danced in a White Snake video as the cigarette dangled from the corner of her mouth. It worked for her. Speaking of I am pretty sure they don’t I.d. for cigarettes here, and if they do it doesn’t matter. I watched a girl between 10 and 11 roll up on a bicycle buy a pack from a road side vending machine. There were other people on the street and this struck no one else as odd, so I can only guess this is a common thing. I stayed with a couch surfer that nigh, and a back packer from another country.
Talking to the bus driver she said the easiest way to travel would be the train. So I got a train ticket heading to Frankfurt. Germany has been neither an cheap or easy country to travel in, and it makes sense why the locals bike everywhere. I am having second thoughts about success of my trip by the difficulty caused by the past few days. And the fact I have been getting rained on for the past few days.
I debated my options right now: Circling back to an English speaking country, part of me wanted to steal a bicycle and tour Russia, and part of me is tired and wants to fly back to the United States. While thinking about my options I was informed by the operator of the train that not only had I purchased a children’s ticket, but it was for rural area only train, and I was on the inter-city express. I have flown on planes that were not this nice. It had a bar, a cafe, seat-side service, showers, magazine rack, the whole nine yards. It was pretty impressive. That’s when the ticket checker told me about my ticket I was expecting I was about to get tossed off. I told him that I couldn’t read German and had issues with the machine. He let me go thankfully. If a children’s ticket was 20+ Euro, I hate to think of how much the full price ticket would have been.
The main train station in Frankfurt sits in the basement of the airport. There are several reasons this is bad: airports are never at the center of town, getting away from airports tends to cost more, and considering how bad airport security is getting lately……
I got off a stop before the main station and caught a bus to the south to the train depot. I circled around the rail yard, pitched my tent and crashed, I was tired. I figured with trains passing by I would be up all night, but I was out in a few minutes, and honestly I haven’t slept that well in ages.
Someone in France pointed out that preferred mode of transportation in Germany was the bicycle. This fact was attested to the fact that every German backpackers I saw had a bicycle with them. I saw even more bicycles when I got Frankfurt. There were waves and waves of bikes locked to everything. There is even something called a “Call-a-bike”
Essentially it is a bike rental service, I haven’t worked the details, but from what I can tell you call the number, pick up a bike, ride it for a predetermined amount of time. Then it looks itself and calls home. The part I can’t figure out, is does it give a warning first. People leave them where ever, and it seems like the system sorta works. Freaked me out when I was standing too close to one and the light on it started blinking, my first thought was, “Oh god the terrorist have one won.” While visiting the churches and the museums I saw a sign for the,
“Erotik Supermarket.” Really what trip to germany would be complete with out a trip to the local sex shop. Plus I had skipped out going one in France. First off, this place was huge, second there were a lot more single women floating around this one, and lastly no matter what country you are in they all smell the same. That same scent of cigarettes, cleaner, and body fluids. I ran into the local jizz mopper and felt a bit sorry for him considering he works in a country where pissing in porn is run of the mill. Considering how strange the normal section was I stayed away from the bizarre section.
I also learned that sex clubs and prostitutes are perfectly legal in Germany. I thought about whoring myself myself out to german soccer moms for a bit. But they make up a depressingly small percent of the market. I ended up sitting across from the porn store on a bench for a bit and watching people mill in while listening to the bass line of the bar above me.
After a bit I decided it was time to get moving again. I packed my things and started heading towards the opera house. One the way I found a section of street that had been claimed by a bmx club. I had to stop and watch for a bit. I took pictures of them until it got dark. Then I set out again towards the opera house only to get distracted by a group of mountain bikes riding down rails and off stairs. It was too dark to shoot but fun to watch. As you can tell I didn’t make it to the opera house that night.
The next day I made it by the red light district and by the opera house. They were interesting tours each. After spending an hour navigating the local subway system I managed to find my way to the airport. I had managed to get robbed the night before so I was working on a small amount of money an it was summer so plane flights where at a premium. I wasn’t really ready to quit traveling but I was ready to get back to the United States since I was working on the $400 that had been tucked into my shoe the entire time and plane tickets couldn’t be had for less than $1200 I was disheartened. Trying to find a cheap place to stay for the evening I caught the bus over to the Middle Eastern sector of town. Outside of a punjab store a guy tried to sell me a tandoori cooker. I walked into a bar and sat down and considered my options. The Bar tender say the look on my face and asked me what was going on. I gave him the basic run down while I considered getting myself deported. It turns out the Bar tender was a travel agent to. He offered to take care of me. The quote he offered me to Florida was $200 and some change, much much cheaper than the airport was offering.
Looks like this trip is almost over.
