Once the nightclub directly next door to my head had closed, I think I got a good night’s sleep in my wondrous little pod.
I hadn’t noticed anything about there being a nightclub, trams, or Audi wankers with phat exhausts continually banging up and down Kaiserstraße when I booked online, but I was actually so tired by the time I crawled into my pod I had fallen asleep before I had mustered the energy to care about the noise and got a good night’s sleep. This is a valuable lesson to learn: check the map around your sleepy place for noise-making potential.
All things considered, I think that on balance I enjoyed my pod experience, even if I’m not sure it’s one I’ll have again unless it’s particularly cheap. I liked that my first hostelling experience didn’t require me to sleep in a room with other people, because I met a couple of them in the morning and some were a little bit, well, for want of a better word… odd.
This morning I had grand schemes of getting up and doing some tourism, but was a little lethargic and instead decided to have a wander to the Schloss as it was more or less on my way to the station.
The Karlsruher Schloss (palace) was built in 1715 by Jakob Friedrich von Batzendorf and the city has since grown around it. The palace tower stands in the centre of the city and 32 streets fan out from it, giving the city its nickname of the “fan city” (Fächerstadt). The palace has been rebuilt or fiddled with a few times, most recently after Allied bombings destroyed it and a lot of the city around it. Sadly, I didn’t really have time to explore the palace and its grounds as I was short on time after a leisurely morning shower, so walked down the Ettlinger Straße to the station, stopping off to look at things along the way. The Stadtkirche is nice.
During the purchasing of ICE reservations (save yourself 2,60€ on the reservation by checking the DB site for seat availability then booking them on the České dráhy site, or live dangerously and don’t buy a seat reservation at all) there was a best-made plan that I would amble around Karlsruhe in the morning, leisurely soaking in culture, then get on the 10:45 ICE to Cologne on which I would spend at least the first half hour of the journey in the dining car, feasting on a DB breakfast served on proper plates. When I asked for a menu, it became apparent this was not to be and, sadly, that there was no breakfast to be had.
The fact that there were no menus to be seen in the dining car should have, I was told, alerted me to the fact that there was no food because “if we didn’t put the menus out it’s because we have no food.” It’s difficult and a waste of valuable calories to argue with that kind of logic, so resigned to my fate I got a decent-sized cup of coffee (still slightly regretting that Aeropress decision) which I consumed with an emergency pack of biscuits and clementine from my rucksack.
A little bit later, by way of an apology, I was awarded a free DB consolation biscuit.
Cologne eventually hoved its magnificence into view just as the train manager was announcing another delay to our arrival. I have never seen an arrival time change on a train literally pulling into the station, but we duly waited until our displayed arrival time to complete the final few hundred metres and arrive late, but on-time late as announced. The delay was only a few minutes, so I still had two hours to wander round the cathedral, down to the river and then eventually back up to the station via a bridge full of padlocks.
Construction of The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter started in 1248 but work wasn’t finished until 1880. It is imposing and justifiably holds many records for being superlative in one way or another and ultimately, records or not, demands at least a walk around. I arrived post Mass, so was greeted by a wonderful lingering whiff of incense and sensation of calm. A couple tried to wheel their roller bags around the chancel discreetly. And failed.
In the south transept there is a stained glass window which contains 11,500 uniform pieces of coloured glass organised to resemble pixels. It was installed in 2007, replacing the plain placeholder window which had been there since the original was destroyed in the second world war. There has been much controversy surrounding the lack of an ecclesiastical theme, but it is quite pretty.
In the remaining time before my train to Essen, I decided to avail myself of the DB first-class lounge and breezed purposefully to the desk, only to be defeated at the first hurdle by the man behind it refusing to let me in because they don’t do Interrail passes. I asked him to check (in case he was new) but his colleague — equally unmoved by my breakfast trauma — confirmed it. I defiantly stood outside the door Karenly flicking at my phone, as if somehow able to summon an update to the DB site indicating I was allowed in and was even allowed to steal furniture, but alas the update did not come and my fate was to trundle to platform three with my tail between my legs to await the 15:37 to Essen.
I shall return to Cologne (and probably Karlsruhe) on my return trip to pick up a fridge magnet.
ICE 1151 to Essen left on time and had a dining car which was empty, so I consoled myself with a beer in a proper glass and a vegan wrap on a proper plate and pretended it was my own private first class lounge. Who needs free peanuts anyway?
There was a party train on the platform at Düsseldorf as we pulled in, but it left before I could get a photo or any details of its destination. In Essen I was met by Hostess who informed of her observations of the party train which had been through the station just before us. I like the idea of a party train; it looked like an old train with windows that can be opened and fun to be had.
After a quick touristy look at essential Essen-type things, I was whisked to the Philharmonia for an evening of “Max Reger at 150″, as Mr Hostess was in the chorus.
The opening concert of the Saalbau Essen took place in 1904, conducted by Richard Strauss. I didn’t quite grasp the Reger connection to Essen, but he premièred his Böcklin-Suite here and they seemed pleased to have him back. Like so much, the original building and the city centre was destroyed during World War II and subsequently rebuilt, and renovated most recently in 2004.
With planning we missed the first fifty minutes but timed our arrival to the first interval and got to enjoy the best bits (probably). I was particularly fond of the Symphonische Phantasie und Fuge.
The programme was as follows:
- Orgelsonate Nr. 1 fis-Moll, op. 33
- “O Tod, wie bitter bist Du” aus Drei Motetten, op. 110
- Streichquartette Nr. 2 A-Dur op. 54 Nr. 2
- Prälludium, Fuge, Basso ostinato, op. 69 Nr. 1-3
- Choralvorspiel “Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht”, op. 67 Nr. 26
- Choralkantate Nr. 4 “Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht”
- Drei Duos, op. 131b
- Perpetuum mobile f-Moll, op. 80 Nr. 9
- Klarinettenquintett, op. 146
- Symphonische Phantasie und Fuge, op. 57
- “Acht geistliche Gesänge”, op. 138 (only four parts)
I am now here for a few days.
