Appoppanthaadi- 19

A first class coach of German High speed train

The return from Amsterdam to Frankfurt was by the High Speed Train. The train started at 10 in the morning from Centraal Station. It was filled to the capacity. The man who sat in the next seat to me was a Dutch travelling to Frankfurt. He had been taking out his thermal container and drinking coffee intermittently.




After some time, he started a conversation with me. He told me if I were interested he could offer a cup of coffee. First talked in German and when I blinked he switched over to English. Though people in Europe do not prefer to talk in English, they do not mind using the foreign language except some countries like France.

I politely declined the offer by my co-passenger. In the course of his coffee breaks, I did have a glance of the thing he sips. A pitch dark coloured liiuid- they call it coffee! They take sugarless and cold coffee that tastes too bitter. No milk is added to coffee. I rarely tried to drink a coffee in Europe.

This man was travelling to Frankfurt to buy a German Car for his father. A BMW car of around 25 years old. He will drive it back to Amsterdam. Germans dispose of their old cars to their neighbouring countries. There is a heavy demand for German cars in other European countries. People from Poland are major customers of the German cars. For the neighbouring countries like Poland and Holland buying cars in German Market costs much less than they do in their own countries.

As we were chatting, he told that he lives alone as he divorced wife. At one point of time he referred to two children as his wife’s children. It is very common here. We shall not be taken aback if a man or a woman introduces a child as his/her wife’s/husband’s son/daughter. But it may not sound very strange to us as the unstopped stream of sops on our televisions in our country are mainly rooted in extra-marital relations

As the train picked up a speed of 325Km per hour, I called his attention to the monitor at the end of the coach. He was quiet surprised to see such a high speed. He told, this is the first time he saw a train running at such a high speed.

On week days all trains here run partly filled but on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, all run to their full capacity. On a few occasions, I was the only passenger on a first class compartment! As is Bahn Rail’s (German Rail) wont, this train also did not take me to the destination. The train’s final destination was Frankfurt Am Main Railway Station. On the way, we were informed that due to some technical problems this train could not run up to the Main station. Instead it will be terminated at Frankfurt Airport Station.

Frankfurt that is popularly known as the commercial capital of Germany has a more specific name – Frankfurt Am Main. This means Frankfurt on the Main. Main is the river that flows across Frankfurt city. There is another Frankfurt in Germany though it is little known to the outer world.

When I stepped out of the train at Frankfurt, there stood a young man. He approached me and started talking in chaste English. He said he was hungry and needed some coins. I took a few coins from my pocket and gave him. It must be around 1.5 Euros. He felt so happy and told me that he is waiting for a visa to travel to US. Once he went there, he would have lot of money. I wished him good luck.

On another occasion, as I have been walking out of the Frankfurt Airport towards the airport railway station, an Italian followed me. He too spoke very good English. He told he fell short of 8 euros to fly to Milano. He asked at least twenty five people but no one helped. I told him, 8 euros for Indians is a big amount. I also told in my mind that I would not have given even a rupee coin to a beggar on Indian streets. Still, looking at his old age and the helplessness, I gave away 10 euros. I only wished he was not cheating me.

(Once, in Paris, as I was walking from the Eiffel Tower to the Arc de Triumph,which is situated nearby Eiffel Tower, another Italian cornered me. He was in his car. He stopped nearby me and started talking in English. He gave his business card and then informed that he came to Paris for a visit and lost all his money in a casino. Now he did not have money to fill fuel in his car. He showed two brand new suites in his car. It was really a good  stuff as I felt its lusture.  He offered me these suites for free but I had to pay him for fuel. I told I do not need them, he pressed me further. Then I asked how much he needed. He wanted 150 Euros. I told I had much less money in my pocket. He then took back the business card from me and drove away)

Second time when I returned from Amsterdam, it was an ice cold night. I got an Indian businessman as companion. He had two big suite cases with him. Though I had a reservation, I did not go to my seat. The train was almost empty. We sat together on the train. He was a regular visitor to European countries to promote his cloth business. The two boxes were full of cloth samples to be shown to traders in Europe. We got down at Dusseldorf where we parted our ways. I had to change my train there to reach Mannheim, Germany. He caught another train to some other destination.



The ice covered land

I felt travelling by train in Europe is much more comfortable and enjoyable than by any means of transportation. Once I travelled from Mannheim, Germany to Wroclaw, Poland by train only to enjoy the journey. I got ticket in the first class compartment as there was some discount on that day’s journey. 


Bahn Rail always offers discounted tickets that may have an offer of free food too. A ten hour journey had involved changing trains at Sturtgart and then  atDrenden in Germany. It was really a good experience. I could see a number of villages and vast areas of land covered with snow all over. https://picasaweb.google.com/116557619258339510895/TheIceCoveredLandsOnWayFromGermanyToPoland?authkey=Gv1sRgCOqnvOPRvPacfg&feat=email

Return from Wroclaw was also by train. This time I travelled to Zurich via Frankfurt. I could take breakfast in Poland and by the lunch time I was in Sturtgart, Germany. As I reached Zurich, Switzerland it was ten in the night. I walked into a Mc Donalds at the Zurich HB railway station and had Cheese pizza and coca cola for dinner.

With great excitation I travelled to Poland. Whenever we think of Poland we must remember Lech Valesa. It was his Solidaity Movement that paved way for the exit of autocratic rule in Poland.The trade union leader who shook the Communist rule in Poland is now living an obscure life. I do not think anyone in the new generation knows him.

Though I could not spend much time there, the city of Wroclaw, looked similar to a small city in Germany or France. Big malls, Hotels, wide roads, trams…everything resembled a European city, though not in such high standards.


During the interaction with a few people in Wroclaw however gave me an impression that there are still a lot to be desired in the prosperity levels and bringing up the life to European standards.

Employees there get much lesser salaries than their counterparts in Germany , Swizerland or France do. They have not yet changed their currency to Euro. They still use Polish zloty that is equivalent to approximately 0.34 US Dollar. There was a big Christmas market doing brisk business at that time. The most attractive thing I came across there was Amithabh Bachan’s life size photograph in front of a restaurant. It was not an Indian Restaurant however.

 Have glimpses of the Wroclaw city : https://picasaweb.google.com/116557619258339510895/WroclawPoland?authkey=Gv1sRgCKi508-Y_c-xywE&feat=email

As in many European cities, here too a river flows – River Oder. On the banks of the river, we can see so many old buildings. The Wroclaw Cathedral also is situated on the banks of river Oder.



The dwarf

Wroclaw has another interesting entity to boast of. The Dwarf. There are so many stories about the origin of The Dwarf. However Dwarfs were shot into fame when their images were used by the “Orange Alternatives” to fight communism in Poland. 


Orange Alternative was an organization formed by anti communist groups that saw through the ouster of communist regime in Poland in 1989. We can come across a number of tiny statues of dwarfs all over Wroclaw. I bough a model of dwarf from a curio shop as a memento of my Poland visit.

Vienna was another city I visited. A well arranged city with abundance of greenery, trams, underground metro rail….what not? It is a magnificient city by any standards.Perhaps this is the most attractive city I saw among all the cities I visited so far. I could just go around the city center and click a few photographs. It was so nice to be there in Vienna. Take a photo tour here : https://picasaweb.google.com/ppnatesan/Vienna?authkey=Gv1sRgCI2Xp8n5t6DqUg&feat=email

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