The day started with us sleeping in later than we wanted to … I don’t know if I hit snooze through the alarms or not, but missed the alarms just the same. We didn’t wake up until around 9:30am this morning and by the time I got myself ready, we missed breakfast brunch downstairs. The hubby got a call from a fella he was talking to at the conference and asked to meet up this morning at Messe Nort, so hubby went even though he thought of not going and thinking of spending the day with me, our last day in Hanover. Once there, the hubby discovered that the train line, Deutsche Rail was going on strike tomorrow which is when we were scheduled to travel to Berlin! … So, he calls me and says, “We have to purchase a ticket to Berlin for today instead of tomorrow.” I told him I already have the ticket (purchased in Canada before we left) – we just have to get to the ticket office to change our seat reservation to today. I pulled out the ticket from our baggage and told him I would meet him at Hanover Hbf/Central Station. So, off on a foot trek I went and beat him to the station, praying the whole time that I could change my reservation to later this afternoon that also gave us at least a two-hour window to get back to our hotel, pack up and check out and get on the train. We were now on a time clock. I went to Deutsche Rail’s office and pulled a number to be waited on while waiting for the hubby to show up.
I looked at my queue ticket and … a half hour wait. Ugh. It was already around noon I think. I started praying again asking the Lord to provide us the new seat reservations we needed to get to Berlin. There was a good many people in that office looking to change their tickets. And of all the people in this place, a nice German lady came to me and placed her queue ticket into my hand, and, no kidding, within a minute after she left, that queue number was called. Another God-incidence. God incidence number one was the hubby finding out about the train strike which he wouldn’t have learned of if he didn’t go to the meeting he had this morning.
I went to the ticket window and another lovely woman looked into changing my (already 1st class) ticket from tomorrow to today. I told her anytime works for my hubby and me as long as it’s at least two hours from now as we need a two hour window to get back to our hotel, pack and check out and then get back here. She looked through all the seating up until later tonight and the only two seats she had left were for 3:30pm – or as the Deutsche would say, 15:30 as they use 24-hr clock times here – I told her I would take those – she printed me the ticket (just one ticket with both our names on them) and as I was walking out of the office, the hubby was just walking in. And there it is, another God-incidence. (My life is full of these.)
Something I didn’t know, and now do, that I think is important, is that when I booked our tickets, I did purchase ‘flexible’ tickets – when you buy this kind, you have paid for your ticket but it enables you to change your seat reservations when you need to. This is something to keep in mind when purchasing train tickets here. If you don’t choose ‘flexible’, you will not be able to change your seat reservation and will have to purchase more train tickets. Going to Hanover from Berlin on April 16, 2023, we had to change our train reservation twice and each time cost somewhere in the ballpark of €10,00 to €11,00 which is far less than an actual new ticket. Today, with the strike looming, there was no charge today for changing our reservation.
We sped walk back to the hotel where the hubby started the check-out process while I went upstairs to pack everything. We got everything packed up quickly and then handed in our card keys before leaving the place. Upon leaving we decided to take a cab to Hanover Hbf so we weren’t lugging baggage for over at least a 20-minute walk back to the station. The cab showed up quite quickly and had us to the station within 5 minutes! By the time we got into the station we had two hours before train departure time. We decided to get coffees and share a bratwurst sausage at Wurst-Basar – this was our second time there – so good! Definitely a place to eat at if ever at Hanover Hbf (Hauptbahnhof/Central Station). It was around about 2:45pm when we were approached by a fellow English speaker – she overheard us talking about train times and she approached us asking if she could help. She was originally from California and had been living in Germany for some time so was familiar with the trains. We asked her about the strike and she said that the Deutsche Rail union is who is striking and she said this had been going on for some time. She also said that they are only striking until 1pm tomorrow which we didn’t know prior to changing our tickets. Even though our previous reservation was for 1:30pm, we were glad we changed our plans, just in case of some other kerfuffle. She tried to see on her phone if she could give us more of a head’s up with train times but wasn’t able to. Lovely lady to stop to try to help us though. It was 3pm when our train was finally posted so off to platform 10 we went for getting on the train to Berlin – this train ride was three hours long with multiple stops. Train travel is the way to go and wish Canada had such a train system. It’s a more smoother and more comfortable ride than driving a car.
We got on the train – 1st class – in the quiet car (I didn’t know we booked a quiet car) and were on the upper level which was pretty cool. We got ourselves settled in and off we went. The scenery is beautiful and it still amazes me how big the wind turbines are and how many solar panels – some are set up in fields and a good many homes here have them on their roofs. This train also had wifi so it was a perfect time to text home to let the rest of the family know what was going on. The train ride is so nice as you get to see so much countryside when you travel – there was so much beautiful graffiti art but we were moving too fast to photograph it – but did manage to catch these ones but wish I could have captured the more beautiful stuff on the way. So many beautiful homes and we passed a really large lake as well.
It was a nice stay at our hotel in Hanover. We stayed at The Mercure Hotel and it was a lovely stay. It was quiet and close to a lot of amenities and historical buildings – the staff were warm and friendly – we really enjoyed our stay there. Their breakfast brunches were awesome! It was also really clean and I especially loved that it was in a quieter area of the city. I just wanted to mention that here.
Since leaving Hanover, I now started praying that our hotel in Berlin could accommodate us for an extra night being we are now a day early. I had tremendous peace the whole day that the Lord had us.
We arrived at Berlin Hbf (Hauptbahnhof) ‘Central Station’ at around 3:40pm. When we got off the train we could not figure out exactly where we were and the maps at the station didn’t indicate where you were so our sense of direction was completely thrown off. We decided to cab it even thought we knew we were quite close. It took maybe five minutes to be driven there.
We entered the hotel to see if we could get a room for tonight and then move to the room booked for tomorrow until Monday. Again, I was totally at peace that we were okay and we were. The young man who helped us was very accommodating and booked us another room with a river view which we had previously booked for tomorrow. He said that when we switch rooms tomorrow we will be in a higher floor. Tonight we are on a lower floor with a king size bed which was fine with us. We were just so glad that there was a room available to us. The young man even gave us a coupon of sorts for two complimentary drinks in the lounge – which we didn’t use. And there it was – another God-incidence because there were conferences happening in the hotel. We went up to our room and then decided to get something to eat as we only had half a bratwurst each at the Hanover Central Station today.
Across the river from where we are staying there are a good many restaurants to pick from. We chose to eat at a steak house that boasted Argentinian dry hung beef – can’t remember the name of it. Dry hang is popular in Alberta, Canada when you buy your beef through a butcher instead of the stores who typically sell wet hung beef. Because I can eat wheat products here, I chose a pasta dish with beef, in gravy (yes, gravy!), with grape tomatoes topped with baby arugula – it was delicious but only ate half the pasta as I cannot eat large quantities. I started with an appetizer which was bacon wrapped dates served with candied walnuts over a bed of baby arugula – this was a culinary treat. The hubby started with an onion soup which was not ‘french onion.’ His main course was a steak and it was wonderfully seasoned and served with a baked potato with all the fixings. (I totally forgot to take photos of our main courses.) The food was excellent and the restaurant was located along the river, kitty corner to our hotel.
Again no bloating from the wheat product here – I cannot tell you how much better I feel eating here. Why is the bread so different here from in Canada? After eating in Germany after only a few days, I am feeling better and for the first time in a really long time, my torso around where my stomach is, is no longer bloated and rock hard. I feel amazing! The hubby met a fellow Canadian at the Hanover Convention that experiences the same thing when he comes to Europe. Furthermore, the water here – no additives like in Alberta – it was like drinking quality bottled water out of the tap.
When we were on our way to the restaurant, we crossed a bridge to get there and on it I noticed padlocks locked onto the bridge. I remembered this fad from some years ago in France but forgot what the story was about and so googled it when we got back to our room.
The locks on the bridge are called ‘Love Locks’ – in-love couples padlock the key to the bridge rails/fence. The lock represents their love apparently that will stay there for all eternity. While they do this they make out a bit – smoochy-woochy – and then together throw the key into the river from the bridge. This is being done here on this bridge in Germany aka Deutschland.
Our hotel room is lovely – we have a king size bed for our first night – a door that opens fully where you can see the river and the movement of locals making their way to where they need to go. The room also has a fridge of refreshments and snacks … and the bathroom! A toilet and a bidet! I have never stayed in a hotel with a bidet before and never used it because I don’t understand how it’s supposed to work. The bathroom also has a full size tub and I think I have to partake in a tub soak as I don’t do it at home because my ‘tub’ is a huge jacuzzi tub for two and it takes too long to fill. I had never slept in a king size bed before either – this was a challenge for the hubby and me as we have always slept with separate duvets, but because of the size of the bed, we managed to share the one duvet.
There is quite the nightlife here – people everywhere and a good many pubs and lounges. It was around 11pm tonight before it started to quiet down. And because we are beside a river – the chatter and laughter really carries across the water. I loved it.
Until tomorrow …
Risé Brette
The Weary Traveller 