· A couple of missed points...Hamburg, Germany · 9th Jan 2007 · Posted by Annie
Chris forgot to mention a couple of funny points regarding our stay in Amsterdam and getting to Hamburg, so I thought I'd fill you all in.
First of all, let me describe the hotel we stayed in in Amsterdam in a bit more detail. Apart from the fact that there were notices left right and center telling us to lock our doors at night, and that when we looked out our window all we saw were prostitutes, pimps and porn, there was also a nice soundtrack that went with all this. Every night we were lullabyed to sleep to the lovely sounds of... well, how can I describe it better than "oontz oontz oontz"? Lovely. That together with the screams of drug-deals gone wrong, pimps arguing with their pros, and very drunk/drugged up party people throwing up their meals on the sidewalk. Mmmmmm yeah, Quality Inn that one.
Ok, so after about 4 hours sleep there, occasionally interrupted by loud explosions of sound emanating from said street, we caught a 6:50 a.m. train to Hamburg. Or so we thought. Chris and I were very proud to have found ourselves a nice little compartment all to ourselves when we heard a dutch voice announce "something" over the speakers, "something" which seemed to take a lot longer to say than "next station is ...". Having no idea what had just been said, we looked around and noticed everyone bar an asian girl in the next compartment had disembarked onto the station we had stopped at. And she was being asked to get off by a train officer. Doh. So we threw our 15 ton bags back on our shoulders and followed suit. We joined the large group of people standing around looking bewildered and finally found out that there had been an "accident" involving a person on the train tracks just up ahead and that our train would not be going any further. Double doh. Now what? Well, wait 4 hours till the next train apparently. I don't THINK SO. A very friendly canadian couple (Josh & Bonnie) asked us where we were headed, a bit confused about the situation themselves. Phew, we weren't the only scared little backpackers around. Although they were actually on their way to Hannover, they decided they would hang out with us until things sorted themselves out. A kind gentleman who did not work for the Dutch railway but seemed to have found his new calling in life as a train conductor was able to help us heaps - he said there was another route to Hamburg, but it took a bit longer. It was, however, leaving soon so perhaps we might like to try that instead. A lady at the ticket office told us something similar, so we decided we'd follow their advice and take the alternative route. That was of course, until there was another announcement which when translated back into English for us by the same kind gentleman turned out to be informing travellers that the train tracks had been cleared and we could continue on the same train. Kinda. There was a catch - we had to get off at the next station (Hengelo - except when said by the Dutch it sounded more like Hang Low, which caused much amusement for us confused English speakers of course), and then our original train would come and get us from there. SWEEET!! What followed was something not dissimilar to the Blair Witch Project. Josh, Bonnie, Chris and I all hopped on this train and got off at Hengelo (aka Hang Low). All good till this point. The train leaves, another one arrives, we stand around like muppets while this one in turn leaves and THEN we wonder, "hey, was that our train?". Chris runs off to ask a train conductor which train is going to Hamburg to which the train conductor promptly responded "ja, that was it!". Triple doh. Great so basically at this point it's Josh, Bonnie, Chris and I hangin' low at Hengelo with NO ONE ELSE around. Stranded. When's the next train to Hamburg? Oh, in 4 hours of course. Some quick thought was involved and we just hopped on the next train that came by, who knows where it was going but it was going in the same direction so that's gotta be good right? Well, yes, except for angry train dude who yelled at Josh and Bonnie for being in the first class compartment when they only had 2nd class eurail tickets. Doh.
Eventually, some 4 billion train changes later, we were finally on our way to Hamburg with Josh and Bonnie, and enjoyed a great conversation with them about Canadian politics, temperatures that get down to -100 celcius (omg) and Family Guy. They left us at Hannover and we carried on to Hamburg, finally arriving there 2 hours later than anticipated, but safe and sound.
So, sorry guys, no Blair Witch video of my nostrils needed for that part of the trip :P
First of all, let me describe the hotel we stayed in in Amsterdam in a bit more detail. Apart from the fact that there were notices left right and center telling us to lock our doors at night, and that when we looked out our window all we saw were prostitutes, pimps and porn, there was also a nice soundtrack that went with all this. Every night we were lullabyed to sleep to the lovely sounds of... well, how can I describe it better than "oontz oontz oontz"? Lovely. That together with the screams of drug-deals gone wrong, pimps arguing with their pros, and very drunk/drugged up party people throwing up their meals on the sidewalk. Mmmmmm yeah, Quality Inn that one.
Ok, so after about 4 hours sleep there, occasionally interrupted by loud explosions of sound emanating from said street, we caught a 6:50 a.m. train to Hamburg. Or so we thought. Chris and I were very proud to have found ourselves a nice little compartment all to ourselves when we heard a dutch voice announce "something" over the speakers, "something" which seemed to take a lot longer to say than "next station is ...". Having no idea what had just been said, we looked around and noticed everyone bar an asian girl in the next compartment had disembarked onto the station we had stopped at. And she was being asked to get off by a train officer. Doh. So we threw our 15 ton bags back on our shoulders and followed suit. We joined the large group of people standing around looking bewildered and finally found out that there had been an "accident" involving a person on the train tracks just up ahead and that our train would not be going any further. Double doh. Now what? Well, wait 4 hours till the next train apparently. I don't THINK SO. A very friendly canadian couple (Josh & Bonnie) asked us where we were headed, a bit confused about the situation themselves. Phew, we weren't the only scared little backpackers around. Although they were actually on their way to Hannover, they decided they would hang out with us until things sorted themselves out. A kind gentleman who did not work for the Dutch railway but seemed to have found his new calling in life as a train conductor was able to help us heaps - he said there was another route to Hamburg, but it took a bit longer. It was, however, leaving soon so perhaps we might like to try that instead. A lady at the ticket office told us something similar, so we decided we'd follow their advice and take the alternative route. That was of course, until there was another announcement which when translated back into English for us by the same kind gentleman turned out to be informing travellers that the train tracks had been cleared and we could continue on the same train. Kinda. There was a catch - we had to get off at the next station (Hengelo - except when said by the Dutch it sounded more like Hang Low, which caused much amusement for us confused English speakers of course), and then our original train would come and get us from there. SWEEET!! What followed was something not dissimilar to the Blair Witch Project. Josh, Bonnie, Chris and I all hopped on this train and got off at Hengelo (aka Hang Low). All good till this point. The train leaves, another one arrives, we stand around like muppets while this one in turn leaves and THEN we wonder, "hey, was that our train?". Chris runs off to ask a train conductor which train is going to Hamburg to which the train conductor promptly responded "ja, that was it!". Triple doh. Great so basically at this point it's Josh, Bonnie, Chris and I hangin' low at Hengelo with NO ONE ELSE around. Stranded. When's the next train to Hamburg? Oh, in 4 hours of course. Some quick thought was involved and we just hopped on the next train that came by, who knows where it was going but it was going in the same direction so that's gotta be good right? Well, yes, except for angry train dude who yelled at Josh and Bonnie for being in the first class compartment when they only had 2nd class eurail tickets. Doh.
Eventually, some 4 billion train changes later, we were finally on our way to Hamburg with Josh and Bonnie, and enjoyed a great conversation with them about Canadian politics, temperatures that get down to -100 celcius (omg) and Family Guy. They left us at Hannover and we carried on to Hamburg, finally arriving there 2 hours later than anticipated, but safe and sound.
So, sorry guys, no Blair Witch video of my nostrils needed for that part of the trip :P
