The port of Rostock is not a joyous place to be at seven in the morning.
Those of us slumbering in our fabulous sleepy pods were roused at around six in the morning by an announcement telling us we’d be in Rostock in an hour, followed by another announcement, which somehow seemed to come almost immediately after the first, telling us we were in Rostock. There wasn’t much to do except get dressed and retrieve bags, so for on-foot passengers it was a quick escape, mine via the restaurant to refill my water bottle.
This time the pod experience was good and there were no nightclubs involved. Had I been on a day crossing I’d have had the reclining seat (much cheaper) but at 49€ for the pod on top of 20€ for the crossing this was a justifiable expense to keep my possessions safe while I slumbered. The lockers for the reclining seats are tiny and, importantly, not free. It appeared they only work with cash, too, but that could probably be remedied on board.
Unlike Trelleborg where the railway station is adjacent to the port, getting to the train in Rostock necessitated a half-hour wait in the cold, mitigated by a coffee in the bistro and a pleasant chat with a new puppety friend who was on his way back from Kiruna in Sweden. A ten-minute bus ride took us to the S-Bahn from whence a train whisked those so inclined to the station just in time for the 08:25 to Heidelberg.
First class was quite empty but there was a ‘ggf. freigeben’ indicator over my seat instructing me somewhat nihilistically to give up if necessary, so then I worried that I might be unceremoniously turfed from my seat at some point along the six-hour way by someone joining the train later. I decided to pay the Deutsche Bahn 5,90€ for the privilege of a reservation thus immediately guaranteeing that hardly anybody joined the train before I got off in Heidelberg.
In Hamburg we changed direction. That was quite exciting. Other than that, the journey was for the most part uneventful.
I went to the Bordrestaurant for breakfast where I had the cheese omelette accompanied by a lovely mug of coffee, all on china and with proper cutlery. The omelette was nice and I was thrilled to have hot food, but I think the French breakfast option is the best value for money. This decadent streak continued for the entire journey to Heidelberg as I decided to don my slippers upon my return to my seat to ensure my comfort for the remaining five-or-so hours of the journey.
Some people looked at me strangely as I walked to the restaurant car at about lunchtime to have a beer, but I think this was because they were jealous that they didn’t have train slippers. Really, who doesn’t have train slippers?
Although the weather was a bit murky it’s clear that everything is very green. This is quite a stark contrast to yesterday’s journey across and down Sweden which was a combination of mostly-white and mud, but it’s interesting to see how much difference just a few hundred kilometres can make. There was plenty of lovely to be seen through the windowa nonetheless and I was supping on my Bitburger (in a glass) as we high crossed bridges over valleys and peered at the rooftops of the villages beneath us.
All was well and good until Bensheim where, after quite a few minutes of not moving, it became apparent were weren’t going anywhere for a little bit. Our train had decided it was not keen on us getting any further towards our tantalisingly-close destination, and in a final act of desperation the driver’s only remaining option was to switch it off and on again, presumably having already checked it was plugged in.
It takes a long time to restart an ICE3, but we were eventually on our way again once the on-board information displays revealed a version of Windows that definitely needs updating.
By this time we were running late enough that an announcement was made to tell us that trains in Heidelberg would be held, but they were lying. The 16:49 train I was intending to take to Heilbronn had already departed when we pulled into Heidelberg about 35 minutes late, but that gave an opportunity to look around the station a little bit (there was some art) and find the InterCity service to Stuttgart. The 17:13 service to Stuttgart left Heidelberg at 17:38, but still got me in with enough time to catch a regional SWEG service to Lauffen, where Hostess was waiting with plans for a brief walking tour of the town (pretty) and food for the evening when I arrived at 18:50.
In the evening we yummed on Käsespätzle and wine.
