We Got Deutsche Bahn'd!

The sun never shines in Seattle, it never rains in Southern California, and The German trains run like clockwork. All are things people say that aren't exactly accurate. 

Today we traveled from Bielefeld to Flensburg.  It was our longest train journey on this trip with 2 transfers. This is a photo of me before I knew what the journey would end up being. The journey was to look like this...

We woke up in the morning and had coffee and lounged around. I checked our train schedule early and everything looked good, but when I checked it about 1.5 hours before our scheduled departure, everything looked bad. Our first train was late and that would cause us to miss our connection. 

We had prepurchased our tickets because advance purchases are about 2/3rds the cost of day before purchases. It's all done through the DB app, which is really good. 

We rushed over to the station which was about a 3 minute walk and worked with the Customer Service there to get suggestions. The agent was very helpful and printed up, what may be, a quicker route than the app was suggesting. This route included 2 regional trains and 1 express train rather than 2 express trains and 1 regional train and we weren't able to reserve seats. If you book early enough, you can reserve seats for 5.50 Euros, which is well worth it. Billing for the trains is also interesting, if the route you choose is compromised, you can get there anyway you want. You are really just paying for your starting point and your end point. 

This was the actual route we were taking. 

We hopped on our first regional train which started in Bielefeld, so we had an easy time getting seats together. 

This took us to Osnabrück where we were to transfer to our "express" train. Turns out our express train was late but not as late as the same express train scheduled for an hour earlier than the train that we were waiting for. That train that was supposed to be an hour ahead was 2 hours behind so it was scheduled to arrive 10 minutes after the train we were waiting for. 

Lots of text so here is a photo of the, "How is our bathroom?  Leave us feedback" kiosk that is unplugged and not working. I guess they don't want our feedback. 

While waiting for our express train, I went and checked with customer service to see if we could book seats on the train arriving slightly after the one we were targeting. He said no so I asked if there was anyway to tell which one was more full. He said no and suggested that we just get on the next train. 

The platform was full of people so we assumed we weren't sitting together for this 1.25 h trip. We luckily posted up right where the doors for the car were going to be and aggressively boarded after people disembarked. 

I took a photo of all the stops so we could determine what seats were available. 

The seat rows have a little readout in the shoulder of the seat telling the rider if the seat is reserved.  If the readout is blank, the seat is available until the end of the line. We luckily found 2 available seats within an row of each other. We sat quietly and texted each other. A 2nd stroke of luck had my seat partner leaving at the 1st stop so Donna and I were able to sit next to each other the rest of the journey to Hamburg, our next transfer point. 

Hamburg HBF is really pretty and really huge. We used the app to tell us what platform and what zone our train was going to arrive at. We studied the arrival board and since we had luggage, a station agent assumed we were not familiar with our trip and approached us to help. I thought we had it all together but we listened anyway. Turns out that was a good plan because our local train was splitting in half part of the way to our destination with half the train going where we wanted to go and half the train going where we hadn't intended to go to. 

We got on the correct car and had seats together so our journey turned out just fine even though we would arrive a few hours after our intended arrival. 

Our journey took us over this amazing bridge, the Rendsburg High Bridge, that you can't really see in the photo. 

You can see the bridge curving out ahead of us. 

And a look back too. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendsburg_High_Bridge

We ended up curving around and then under the same bridge to get to the station that serves Rendsburg. The trip over the bridge was awesome in a train and there is a trip under the bridge via a suspended transporter bridge for cars and pedestrians. I would definitely try to do this if we return to the area. As awesome as it was, I was still able to find a hilariously bad review for it on Google. 

When we arrived in Flensburg at 7pm, instead of our original 5:45pm we visited customer service again and made sure we got a refund of 11 Euros for our reserved seat that we didn't get to use. We did get refunded which was great. During that time I got a phone call from our hotel asking if we would be there by 8pm. I assured them we would make it. 

Our walk to the hotel was mellow and check in was easy. We were only in our room for a few minutes and then we were off to our dinner. 

We were told all about the Flensburg Pilsner by Spencer. He said there were signs for it all over northern Germany and if Flensburg is representative, he's right!  Sadly the brewery isn't a dinner location. 

We made our way to Hansens Brauerei instead, where we had a fantastic dinner with fantastic drink. 

They have a unique beer that is really good. It's called Opa Marczak Urtyp. Untapped calls it a Pilsner but they don't mention that it's a Pilsner. Here is their description, "A bottom-fermented beer specialty, full-bodied, easy-drinking, with a subtle hop note."

After dinner we headed back and watch some pinball on YouTube. It's been a few hotels now since we have been able to watch YouTube on the TV. 

If I had to sum up my thoughts on the Deutsche Bahn experience, it would be that it works way way way better than Amtrak. If your plan doesn't work out, there are other routs you can take. The trains are clean and run fast when you are on them. I highly recommend a reserved seat for the low price and the peace of mind, if your plan actually works out. Another thing that mystifies me is that we paid for 2 express trains and 1 regional train and we got 1 express train and 2 regional trains for the same price. Our tickets were only scanned on the express train so the regional trains have no idea we rode them so how do the regional trains get their share of our fare?  I asked Spencer about his transit pass and he, along with many others, buy a monthly 63€ pass that is good for all regional and local public transportation across Germany. This may be why we never got scanned because most people have a transit pass. 

That's a lot of words and few pictures for this post, but it may be helpful for you future German tourists. Here is a photo of Francis taken by my sister who is sitting him for 3 months to reward you for reading all of this. 

Embracing the Cold Embrace of Winter

 Minneapolis, MN

6 Degree, Feels Like -12 Degree Selfie

Living The Cold Life

Our Minnesota winter is going well.  Temperatures have gotten cold but it has mostly been dry so we have only had 2 real snows.  We do get surprise dustings of snow and a Factory Created Snow (read about that here). For the past 20 years or so, I have wanted to experience cold in a place that makes cold livable.  I often talked about spending a winter in Montreal so part of the appeal of living in Minneapolis was to experience The Cold.  I feel like we are doing a pretty good job and we have gotten to experience some pretty low temperatures.  We also really appreciate being connected to The Skyway so we don't have to experience the cold when we don't want to.  We can get to bars, restaurants, and go grocery shopping at Target without ever having to go outside.  Historically, January 17th is the peak of cold here so, if history repeats itself this year, temps are on the upward trend.  Days are already starting to get noticeably longer as well.

Kind people knit warm wear for our unhoused population that somehow manages during these harsh winters.

Our busses and transit run reliably in the snow.

There was a tattoo convention in the hotel behind our apartment and someone took their best attempt at spelling Tattoo.

There was also an attempt at the use of you're.

People are required to keep the sidewalks clear and some fail at it spectacularly, while others do a great job.

The Minneapolis skyline is really pretty at night, especially when it is foggy.

Donna made us a Minnesota Hot Dish to keep us fueled up for winter.

We also purchased stylish balaclavas.

Francis keeps warm in is fluffy blanket

Both my eyebrows and my glasses frosted up walking to play pinball at LITT the other night.

We try to stay in when it gets this cold.  We don't want to mess around with frostbite.

We even have a saying here that may or may not be borrowed from some Scandinavian country, "There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing".  

That's it for today.  If you missed, Pinball Tournament Winner Winner #1, check it out.  I won a local pinball tournament.

Spam Spam Spamity Spam! Museum

 Austin, MN

Spam Museum

Today we went to The Spam Museum in Austin, MN.  Donna checked out the website and it said traveling dogs are allowed in the museum as long as they are carried or in a carrier.  This is what ALL roadside attractions should do.  Most of the people visiting The Spam Museum are on a road trip and many of those people have dogs.  It's a smart move and I applaud it.  With that knowledge, we brought Francis and he had a great time, we think.  The Spam Museum is free and you get free Spamples (Spam Samples) while you walk around.  You can also buy Spam that is only sold in this store and it other countries.  

There was a Spam food truck in the parking lot but we already had lunch plans.

They had displays of cans of Spam from around the world.

They celebrated Spamalot 

They also had The Monte Python Spam skit running on loop.

I got to meet Sir Can-A-Lot

Francis is about 5 Spam Cans tall.

No snouts and hoofs

We got to sample Tocino flavored Spam from The Philippines 

I love me some Hormel Chili

I think I remember this advert.  

And they had a gift shop so we bought some stuff since admission was free.

We also got to sample Korean BBQ flavor.

I bought a shirt and 3 flavors of Spam.  The cans are meant for a family of five.  We will have to eat these over time.

We went to Tendermaid Hamburgers for lunch, a local hamburger stand.

Francis waited patiently for a taste of burger.

I got the chili cheese onion burger.  I had to eat it with a fork.

We also picked up Dodge County on this trip.  We are chipping away at the southeast corner.

That's it for today.  If you missed, Wisconsin Pizza Farm, check it out.  We went to a Pizza Farm with Francis.