the travels blog

Europe 2011/12 - Day 1 - Frankfurt & Düsseldorf

after 28 hours on the plane, I have finally arrived in ze land of Germany

totes feel a sense of deja vu - it has not changed in 5 years :)

freaking epic story behind this. so i was waiting for the train to Köln to which I was waiting at Platform 6 (say that it was adjacent to Platform 7). I was told that my train was in 20 minutes, so I took my my time sitting down and waiting. To which, closer to the time where my train was supposed to come, there was (1) announcements in German mentioning Köln (2) there was this old train just parked on my platform for the past 10minutes (im supposed to hop on a new-ish train) (3) there were people cursing and getting angry, and decided to go up the escalators. 

So I figured something was up - went to two people and asked what is happened “sorry i dont speak English” was the response I got. So i decided to take initiative, be a sheep and follow the crowd up the escalators. Turns out they moved from platforms 6&7 to 5&4 - so I figured - hey, it must have moved platforms. and I saw this train on Platform 4 which was going to leave in one minute - so i rushed to it and saw on the side of the train it said (Köln HBF, Karlsruhe HBF). Yeap, I thought, this train is going to Köln. Hopped on, and not sure why, I asked the dude next to me whether he spoke English, and to ask confirmation that this train was going to Köln. “Errrr nope, this train originated from Köln, and heading south to Karlsruhe.” Dashed out that train like theres no tmrw. HOLY CRAP ALMOST GOT ON THE WRONG TRAIN GOING THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION.

So i walked around platform 5 instead, asked around, and turns out, that is where my original train was. It got moved platforms and is a bit late. Phew, I got on the right train by being a sheep, asked 20million people, and after almost getting on (well i GOT on) the wrong train. Epic.

This is what happens when you start your trip in a non-English speaking country.

The bottom photo of the two at least shows I got the right train and got my connection to Düsseldorf haha..

Düsseldorf christmas markets! Living proof I made it on the right train haha

pork knuckle for dinner! so so awesome - and cheap too! I guess this is what happens when you meet locals - they totes know where to go :)

Rheinturm - the city’s clock tower. it has a unique way of telling the time, with the dots you see down the middle of the building

view from on top of the clock tower

teehee christmas is truly here

and wow I just crashed after this. I guess just hopping off a long distance flight in the morning does this to you =P