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greenbagjosh · 2 years

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Friday 8 November 2002 - Frankfurt to Nuremberg by plane and to Hamburg by train and where the Beatles started it all

8 November 2002 EN Hi everyone. Twenty years ago today, I made a rare return to Europe for the third time in a year. I flew into Frankfurt am Main from Washington Dulles. Then I went to Nuremberg and north to Hamburg. It had been five years since I returned to Hamburg, and I was very happy to be there. Here is my journey from that day.

DE Hallo allerseits. Heute vor 20 Jahren bin ich zum dritten Mal in einem Jahr nach Europa zurückgekehrt. Ich bin von Washington Dulles nach Frankfurt am Main geflogen. Dann ging es nach Nürnberg und in den Norden nach Hamburg. Es war fünf Jahre her, seit ich nach Hamburg zurückgekehrt war, und ich war sehr glücklich, dort zu sein. Hier ist meine Reise von diesem Tag.

DK Hej allesammen. For tyve år siden i dag vendte jeg sjældent tilbage til Europa for tredje gang på et år. Jeg fløj til Frankfurt am Main fra Washington Dulles. Derefter tog jeg til Nürnberg og nordpå til Hamborg. Det var fem år siden, jeg vendte tilbage til Hamborg, og jeg var meget glad for at være der. Her er min rejse fra den dag.

SE Hej allihopa. För tjugo år sedan idag gjorde jag en sällsynt återkomst till Europa för tredje gången på ett år. Jag flög till Frankfurt am Main från Washington Dulles. Sedan åkte jag till Nürnberg och norrut till Hamburg. Det hade gått fem år sedan jag återvände till Hamburg, och jag var väldigt glad över att vara där. Här är min resa från den dagen.

FR Salut tout le monde. Il y a vingt ans jour pour jour, j'ai fait un rare retour en Europe pour la troisième fois en un an. J'ai atterri à Francfort-sur-le-Main depuis Washington Dulles. Ensuite, je suis allé à Nuremberg et au nord à Hambourg. Cela faisait cinq ans que je n'étais pas revenu à Hambourg et j'étais très heureux d'y être. Voici mon parcours depuis ce jour.

Guten Morgen! Good morning! On Friday, 8th November 2002, I had arrived at the Frankfurt am Main airport about 6:40 AM, a little early according to the schedule, so it was okay. I had to go through customs and passport control. It took a little time to go through passport control. I turned on Z98 (98.7 FM for Frankfurt), listened to some music, including "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne, and then I tuned the radio to HR3, 89.3 FM in Frankfurt. I listened to two songs that I still listen to today in 2022. One was "Müll(er) Pur" by Andreas Müller, which was a satire on the music of German-language band Pur. The other was the HR3 Weckermarsch that went "Guten Morgen, guten Morgen, singe ich nur für dich, leise in dein Ohr" which was played kind of as a joke, and included the bleats of Manfred the Rhön-sheep, that I had remembered from years ago when I listened to HR3 while working in the district of Nieder-Eschbach. Eventually my passport was stamped with "Frankfurt am Main" with the usual Schengen stamp and "D" surrounded by twelve stars. I was free to exit the airport, but I had to bear in mind, that my flight to Nuremberg would take off in about two hours. I went to the underground grocery store close to the Regionalbahnhof for the S-Bahn. Back then, the Fernbahnhof, the long distance train station, did not even exist. And even Gateway Gardens, opened in late 2019 was not even an idea, back in 2002. What did I buy in the grocery store? A one-liter bottle of Schoppenpetzer Äppler, or Apple Wine. Apple Wine in Frankfurt tends to be more sour, more on the level of vinegar, than British or French cider. But I liked it since 1993, so I bought myself a bottle to enjoy on the train ride. I packed it in my backpack, and returned to the security area for Terminal 1 concourse A. They did not mind that I had a bottle of Äppler, as at that time, I was flying on a domestic flight to Nuremberg, and security was not as tight as it were for an international flight. It was not a concern until 2006.

I made it back in time for the flight to Nuremberg, airport code NUE. It was on a Lufthansa flight, on a single-aisle Airbus A321. The flight left Frankfurt around 9 AM and arrived about 10 AM in Nuremberg. The airport was quite small at the time. The airport had proper gangways from the aircraft to the terminal, and walking distance to the baggage claim was fairly short, compared to Frankfurt. I was able to get my wheeled bag, get out some money to buy a ticket for the U Bahn, and headed to Nürnberg Hbf.

My last visit to Nuremberg was in June 1998. At the time, Herrnhütte was the northernmost station on the U2. The last two or three years hence, an extension had been built to the airport. The airport station is underground and has a central platform. I had just missed the train by a minute, but it was an old DT1 built in the 1970s, about the time the Munich U Bahn built their A-series rolling stock as seen in the 1985 Percy Adlon film "Sugarbaby". There would be another U Bahn coming in the next ten minutes. I did not care much, which train to Hamburg I would catch, so I waited ten minutes for the next one. The next train was a more modern DT2 built in the 1980s. It had automatic station announcements, although in comparison to 1998, the one starting 2002 was female. I boarded the U2 for Hauptbahnhof. Between Airport and Ziegelbrücke, the train was single tracked, but the rest of the way it was double tracked. Only every other U2 train went from Ziegelbrücke to the airport, the other turned back to Röthenbach via Hbf and Plärrer. The train even passed Nordostbahnhof and Wöhrder Wiese before stopping at Hbf. I did not really rush to the long distance train platform. I went to the ticket office to validate my rail pass. My rail pass was good for Germany, Denmark and Switzerland but not Sweden. There was a 11 AM train going to Hamburg Hbf, which would arrive around 4 PM, so I took the ICE train and boarded first class.

The train left Nürnberg Hbf for Würzburg, Kassel, Braunschweig, Hannover and Hamburg Hbf. After ticket inspection, I was thirsty. In first class, the conductor or some similar staff member, can bring items from the dining car to the passenger's seat at no extra charge. I ordered a whole grain bread sandwich of salami, turkey and gouda, to go with my Äppler. That made the journey nice.

While I was on the train, there was an entertainment system where you just plug in your headphones and enjoy music or watch the seatback TV screen. They had a program with music that I liked, that included songs like "Still in love with you" No Angels "Get over you" Sophie Ellis-Bextor "I O I O" B3 (cover version of the same song by the Bee Gees, released in 1970, long before their Saturday Night Fever fame) "Rhythm of the night" Loona

There was another program that followed from an artist named Ryan Adams, who had absolutely no relation to Bryan Adams from Canada. He was promoting his Demolition CD which was released in 2002. The music was not to my taste, but I listened to it along the way to Hamburg.

The Äppler kind of made me doze off after the train left Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe, so I missed out on Braunschweig and Hannover. I woke up about the time the train was about to arrive at Hamburg's Harburg, which was the first place in Hamburg to connect with the local S Bahn. Upon arrival at Hamburg Hbf, I exited the train, looked for the Hamburg North U Bahn station for the then-U3 to Horner Rennbahn. My youth hostel was at Horner Rennbahn and about a half mile walk towards the eponymous horse racetrack. I had not been to Hamburg since more than five years, so my memory was maybe adequate to find the right train platform. The south U Bahn station is easier to navigate than the north one, as there is only one central platform. The north station has two side platforms. The south U Bahn station even has a ramp for wheelchairs and to a lesser extend also for people with wheeled bags. That is where I boarded the U3 for Horner Rennbahn.

The trains at the time were a bit old, namely they were DT3 refurbished similar to the DT4s which were newest back then. They actually had automatic train announcements. The train left Hbf for Berliner Tor, and then went on to Mümmelmansberg, which is now operated by U2 after line configuration. Most of the line was underground except for a short stretch between Burgstraße and Hammer Kirche. I exited the train at Horner Rennbahn and walked north to the hostel. It was a decent hostel, owned by the DJH, the German affiliate of YHA, and the room at the time was under 30 Euro a night including breakfast, with Hostelling International membership card. I dropped my wheeled bag off on the bed I was assigned, then took my green bag and went back into downtown.

First I took the U Bahn to Landungsbrücken, took some photos of the port, and then went on to St. Pauli. Many years later there was a memorial to the Beatles, located at Reeperbahn S Bahn station, but not in 2002 yet. St. Pauli if you remain on Reeperbahn, is safe, but the side streets are the dodgy part. I took the S Bahn to Altona, then Sternschanze. Some of the new S Bahns, had automatic train announcements installed, and with none other than the voice of - you guessed it! - Ingo Ruff. He would say "nächste Haltestelle" as in Hamburg they don't say "nächste Station" or "nächster Halt", for next stop. For a transfer he would say "Übergang" and not "Umsteigemöglichkeit" as they would in the south. I changed to a U3 and then a U2, and took some photos of the narrow platforms. No one really said a word to me at the time. I remember in 1997 having a ticket inspection at Sternschanze. I went to Lutterothstraße to see what was going on. It started to rain, so I went back inside the station and took the U Bahn back to Hbf. I bought a reservation for the next day's train to Copenhagen, I think the one departing at 9:30 AM.

I took the U3 back to Horner Rennbahn and went to sleep. I would have a nice train ride the next day to Denmark.

I hope you will join me for when I take the train across the Baltic Sea from Puttgarden on the Fehmarn island to Rødby Færge in Denmark, and eventually Copenhagen for the Christiania visit. And of course some very tasty pølse.

Gute Nacht! Good night! Godnat!

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greenbagjosh · 10 months

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Wednesday 13 August 2003 - stopover in Frankfurt for a bottle of Äppler - long direct flight to SFO - bless the new BART extension to Caltrain in Millbrae - the last SamTrans bus 251 back home - everything's fine at the apartment

Wednesday 13 August 2003

Good morning! Today we will fly home, kind of in an irregular way. I would usually fly from SFO to Washington Dulles and Munich, and Munich to Washington Dulles and San Francisco, but somehow I could not book that flight, so I did the next best thing, to manage a return flight through Frankfurt Rhein-Main Airport. I left the secure area to buy a bottle of Äppler to take home, and nearly missed my flight home as a result. That would not have been good. I made my flight and ended up back home, and the BART, Caltrain and Samtrans got me home in good time. It is not quite the last story for this vacation, I have a small family affair to write about for the coming weekend. Hope you will enjoy this story.

Guten Morgen! Heute fliegen wir, etwas unregelmäßig, nach Hause. Normalerweise flog ich von SFO nach Washington Dulles und München und von München nach Washington Dulles und San Francisco, aber irgendwie konnte ich diesen Flug nicht buchen, also tat ich das Nächstbeste, einen Rückflug über den Frankfurter Rhein-Main-Flughafen zu buchen. Ich verließ den Sicherheitsbereich, um eine Flasche Äppler für die Heimreise zu kaufen, und hätte dadurch beinahe meinen Heimflug verpasst. Das wäre nicht gut gewesen. Ich flog und landete wieder zu Hause, und BART, Caltrain and Samtrans brachten mich rechtzeitig nach Hause. Es ist nicht ganz die letzte Geschichte für diesen Urlaub, ich habe für das kommende Wochenende eine kleine Familienangelegenheit zu schreiben. Ich hoffe, Ihnen wird diese Geschichte gefallen.

Bonjour! Aujourd'hui, nous rentrerons chez nous, de manière irrégulière. Je volais habituellement de SFO à Washington Dulles et Munich, et de Munich à Washington Dulles et San Francisco, mais je ne pouvais pas réserver ce vol, alors j'ai fait la meilleure chose à faire, pour gérer un vol de retour via l'aéroport de Francfort Rhein-Main. J'ai quitté la zone sécurisée pour acheter une bouteille d'Äppler à ramener à la maison et j'ai failli rater mon vol de retour. Cela n'aurait pas été bon. J'ai pris mon vol et je suis rentré chez moi, et BART, Caltrain et Samtrans m'a ramenaient à la maison à temps. Ce n'est pas tout à fait la dernière histoire de ces vacances, j'ai une petite affaire de famille à écrire pour le week-end à venir. J'espère que vous apprécierez cette histoire.

Dobro jutro! Danes bomo leteli domov, nekako neredno. Običajno sem letel iz SFO v Washington Dulles in München ter iz Münchna v Washington Dulles in San Francisco, vendar tega leta nekako nisem mogel rezervirati, zato sem naredil naslednje najboljše, da sem uredil povratni let prek letališča Frankfurt Rhein-Main. Zapustil sem varovano območje, da bi kupil steklenico Äpplerja za domov, in zaradi tega skoraj zamudil let domov. To ne bi bilo dobro. Opravil sem svoj let in se vrnil domov, BART, Caltrain in SamTrans pa me je pravočasno pripeljal domov. To ni čisto zadnja zgodba za te počitnice, imam majhno družinsko zadevo, o kateri moram pisati za prihajajoči vikend. Upam, da vam bo ta zgodba všeč.

Dobro jutro! Danas ćemo letjeti kući, nekako neregularnim putem. Obično bih letio iz SFO-a za Washington Dulles i München, i iz Münchena za Washington Dulles i San Francisco, ali nekako nisam mogao rezervirati taj let, pa sam učinio sljedeću najbolju stvar, organizirao povratni let preko zračne luke Frankfurt Rhein-Main. Napustio sam sigurno područje kako bih kupio bocu Äpplera za ponijeti kući i zbog toga zamalo propustio let kući. To ne bi bilo dobro. Otišla sam na let i vratila se kući, a BART, Caltrain i SamTrans me vratio kući na vrijeme. Nije to posljednja priča za ovaj odmor, imam malu obiteljsku aferu o kojoj ću pisati za nadolazeći vikend. Nadam se da ćete uživati u ovoj priči.

Buongiorno! Oggi voleremo a casa, un po' in modo irregolare. Di solito volavo da SFO a Washington Dulles e Monaco, e da Monaco a Washington Dulles e San Francisco, ma in qualche modo non potevo prenotare quel volo, quindi ho fatto la cosa migliore, gestire un volo di ritorno attraverso l'aeroporto di Francoforte sul Meno. Ho lasciato l'area protetta per comprare una bottiglia di Äppler da portare a casa e, di conseguenza, ho quasi perso il volo di ritorno. Non sarebbe stato bello. Ho fatto il mio volo e sono tornato a casa, e i BART, Caltrain e SamTrans mi hanno riportato a casa in tempo utile. Non è proprio l'ultima storia di questa vacanza, ho un piccolo affare di famiglia di cui scrivere per il prossimo fine settimana. Spero che ti piacerà questa storia.

It must have been 6:30 AM when I woke up, to take a shower, get dressed, and reorganize my luggage. I had to store the Keglevich bottle in a way that would allow my other clothes to be safely transported. In 2003, there was no restriction on carrying liquids in carry-on luggage. As long as I could carry everything in my two bags, that was the important thing. I went down to breakfast with my luggage. I put them in a safe spot next to my table. After breakfast, I checked out of the hotel, walked to the Hauptbahnhof S Bahn station, and boarded an S Bahn for the airport. It was one of the newer ET 423 series. It had air conditioning, so opening the window would have no benefit. The train passed through Karlsplatz/Stachus, Marienplatz, Isartor, Rosenheimer Platz, Ostbahnhof and then up through Englschalking, Johanneskirchen, Ismaning, the Visitor's Park station and finally the Airport. Finding the way to the terminal was easy.

I entered the airport terminal, and then checked in my wheeled bag. They said I would receive it only when I arrived at San Francisco, so that is one of the things that needs to be taken into account, when there is no connecting flight on the East Coast of the USA. The flight would depart about 11 AM for Frankfurt Airport, and there would be a 3 PM direct flight from Frankfurt to San Francisco. After I checked into my flight, I went to buy some candies for my work colleagues, then I waited in the waiting area, listened to Bayern 3 on the radio until it was time to board the flight to Frankfurt. The flight was an Airbus A321. There would not be any meaningful entertainment on board, and the inflight service was limited to drinks and snacks. I landed about 1:15 PM.

When I landed at Frankfurt, we had not gone through Schengen customs, so I was still technically in Germany. That would change, when I went to check into my flight for San Francisco, where an exit stamp would be necessary. I had left the terminal, just to go to the S-Bahn station grocery store (I do not believe it exists anymore) that I also went to on 8th November 2002, to buy a bottle of Äppler. I was able to buy the Äppler for about € 1,50. Going back to the terminal entry for my flight to San Francisco, I had a bit of a challenge. I had to let the security guard know that I had a flight to San Francisco that left at 3 PM. He was able to get me to the front, where he could check to see that I did not have any unnecessary metal items that could not legally go through the X ray machine.

I was able to get to the Schengen passport control desk in time for me to board my flight. The flight had started boarding, but I still had some time to find my seat. The airplane was a Boeing 777. It was built for long distance flights, particularly to the West Coast of the USA. The flight took off about 3:15 PM. It flew over the Rhineland, Belgium, Netherlands, northern England, Northern Ireland, and about 100 miles south of Iceland. I don't know exactly how high it was, but I think it flew as high as 39,000 feet, or 11,000 meters high. I watched maybe a couple of movies but not much. The inflight meal was fine. It had some German food, I think mild gulash, and I had a Beck's beer. I had to fill out the customs declaration card and say how much I bought and what countries that I visited. I did not visit a farm, so I was okay.

The flight went on to San Francisco and I think it landed around 8:30 PM local time, so nine hours behind Germany. For me, it was more like 5:30 AM. Before landing, we were served a light dinner, also with a Beck's beer.

It was a long flight, but that would not be my longest flight that year - November 2003 I would have an even longer flight to Hong Kong SAR. When I landed, it was in Terminal G, which was just newly opened along with Terminal A, just in front of the Harvey Milk Terminal which I departed from and arrived at as late as August 1998. I had my passport checked and received an entry stamp back into the USA. Then I went to the baggage claim. San Francisco is a bit more thorough than Washington Dulles when it comes to customs and goods to declare. They did not say much about the Keglevich or Äppler. I was allowed to go to the BART terminal and board the BART Train to Millbrae, where I alighted and transferred to the Caltrain southbound for Hillsdale in San Mateo. I had to buy three tickets in total. Luckily the 251 bus was running from Hillsdale Station to Hillsdale Blvd and Edgewater Blvd that night.

I caught possibly the last 251 bus to Hillsdale and Edgewater. It went past US-101 and crossed the bridge into Foster City. The bus stopped at the corner, and it was just a matter of me making one street crossing and making the last 100 meters to my apartment. Luckily I had already prepaid the August 2003 rent, and when I went into my apartment, everything looked like it was still there. I closed my door with the suitcase and bag inside. I did not bother to look in my mailbox, that could wait until the next day. I was so tired, and I turned on my alarm clock to play 94.9 FM about 6 AM the next morning. I think it was 10 PM when I went to sleep.

The next morning about 5:55 AM I woke up and made some coffee for myself. I would not need to be in the office until 7 AM. The car started up just fine. I went to work, and set out the candies for everyone to enjoy, and I got to work. The rest of the week went by fast.

On the weekend, I went to see my mother, as my father was on a business journey. She wanted to see the C/2003 K4 comet, and she wanted to be sure I was able to see it as well. We went to the Foothill College observatory in Los Altos Hills, as it was one of the best places to see it. But I'll have a better description of it in a few days. Hope you will join me then. Good night!

Am Wochenende besuchte ich meine Mutter, da mein Vater auf Geschäftsreise war. Sie wollte den Kometen C/2003 K4 sehen, und sie wollte sichergehen, dass ich ihn auch sehen konnte. Wir gingen zum Observatorium des Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, da es einer der besten Orte war, um es zu sehen. Aber ich werde es in ein paar Tagen genauer beschreiben. Ich hoffe, Sie kommen dann zu mir. Gute Nacht!

Le week-end, je suis allé voir ma mère, car mon père était en voyage d'affaires. Elle voulait voir la comète C/2003 K4, et elle voulait être sûre que je pouvais aussi la voir. Nous sommes allés à l'observatoire du Foothill College à Los Altos Hills, car c'était l'un des meilleurs endroits pour le voir. Mais j'en aurai une meilleure description dans quelques jours. J'espère que vous me rejoindrez alors. Bonne nuit!

Konec tedna sem šel k mami, saj je bil oče na službeni poti. Želela je videti komet C/2003 K4 in želela je biti prepričana, da ga lahko vidim tudi jaz. Šli smo na observatorij Foothill College v Los Altos Hills, saj je bilo to eno najboljših krajev za ogled. Čez nekaj dni bom imel boljši opis. Upam, da se mi boš takrat pridružil. Lahko noč!

Za vikend sam otišla kod mame jer je otac bio na poslovnom putu. Htjela je vidjeti komet C/2003 K4 i htjela je biti sigurna da ga i ja mogu vidjeti. Otišli smo u zvjezdarnicu Foothill College u Los Altos Hills, jer je to bilo jedno od najboljih mjesta za vidjeti. Ali dobit ću bolji opis za nekoliko dana. Nadam se da ćeš mi se tada pridružiti. Laku noć!

Nel fine settimana sono andato a trovare mia madre, perché mio padre era in viaggio d'affari. Voleva vedere la cometa C/2003 K4 e voleva essere sicura che anch'io potessi vederla. Siamo andati all'osservatorio del Foothill College a Los Altos Hills, perché era uno dei posti migliori per vederlo. Ma ne darò una descrizione migliore tra qualche giorno. Spero che ti unirai a me allora. Buona notte!

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