On My Way To Ulm
I had booked the sleeper to Paris from Munich at 22:50, so as a diversion during the afternoon, I went to Ulm. I had found a restaurant there on the Internet, that said it did gluten-free food, so the plan was to have an early supper and then return to Munich.
I made the mistake of taking a slow train, which took nearly three hours, when I could have done it in just over the hour.
A Fugger Express
As you can see it was called a Fugger Express, which sounds a bit rude to me. I didn’t like the train, as you sit rather high compared to a typical UK train, and when getting in and out of some of the seats, you can miss your footing. The generous European loading gauge may give advantages, but it might not make passenger entry and exit easy. To me, the low European platforms are not a good idea.
Low European Platforms
I don’t have too many problems, but on one station, there was a massive gap between the platform and the train and behind me was a three-year-old who jumped to get off. If they’d missed, they could easily have fallen under the train.
The train also passed through the wonderfully named station of Kissing.
Kissing Station
The next time though, I do this journey, I’ll take a faster train. There are lots of trains and Deutsche Bahn issue a very simple Munich-Ulm timetable detailing them all on virtually a double-sided piece of A5 paper.
The countryside is summed up by pictures like this.
Typical Bavarian Countryside
Green fields and woodland, with the ocassional church poking towards the sky.
But I do wish I’d taken a fast train.
German Rail Ticket Machines
These were excellent and worked in most common languages.
German Rail Ticket Machines
There were also lots of them and the queues were fairly minimal.
From Vienna To Nuremberg By ICE Train
The trip was four and three-quarter hours in the ICE train.
In some ways it reminded me of parts of the East Coast Main Line in the UK, where you travel for miles through flat and green countryside. But as you can see, you do have the Danube appearing at times.
Lokking at the route now, it would have been better to perhaps split the journey into two, with a stop at somewhere like Regensburg, which definitely seems a place worth visiting. So perhaps a sensible rule on a trip like this, is to check where your train stops between your overnight stops. Bear in mind, that the three German cities I explored, all had their stations in the centre.
It wasn’t all German efficiency though, as there was no coffee on the first part of the journey, as the buffet had no hot water.
But otherwise it was a trip that went smoothly.
Would I Go Back To Vienna?
Probably not deliberately, although it is a good transport interchange.
The reason is that I have lots of happy memories there with C, which were partly ruined by the hotel.
I’ve now also seen most of the parts that interest me.
Leaving Vienna
On Thursday, the 11th, I took the train out of Vienna for Nuremberg.
As you can see I got up early and caught one of the German ICE trains at 06:52.
One of the strange things was that the free magazine was hung up on a string in the carriage. But that was also done on Metro trains in Vienna.
From Budapest To Bratislava
On Tuesday, the 9th at 15:25 in the afternoon, my train left Budapest for Bratislava.
It was a very uneventful journey in an almost empty First Class carriage, which was comfortable enough, although a bit slow at fifteen minutes short of three hours. But it’s one of the fast trains.
When the Slovakian Ticket Inspector checked my ticket, I said about the palaver to get it in Budapest. I think he agreed.
A lot of this journey was alongside the Danube. Living in the UK, you don’t realkise how huge it is.
Around Budapest Station
Budapest station is an old station, that was probably built in the grand manner.
Compared to say, a British station of similar importance, it didn’t seem so busy. Perhaps, rail travel isn’t as important in Hungary.
A Ticket To Ride Out Of Budapest
I hadn’t bought my ticket before I left London and it was the right thing to do. The reason, I say that was that I enjoyed Budapest a lot and if it hadn’t been so cold, I might have stayed another day.
But I almost regretted it, as buying a ticket was a bit of an obstacle course.
In the first place, there was no automatic machine.
You first had to get the time of the train, by getting a numbered ticket to go and ask what the times were. I had an idea that the train left at 15:25. Eventually I got this confirmed and then got another numbered ticket from the machine so that I could actually buy my ticket to Bratislava.
A Ticket To Ride Out Of Budapest
As you can see, the ticket was like an old-fashioned airline ticket of forty years ago.
I would advise that if you’re taking an international train out of Budapest, that you give yourself plenty of time. You can buy them before the date of travel, so if you’re going on the 25th and you’re there on the 23rd, it would not be a bad idea to purchase the ticket early.
The ticket I had, was valid on any train on the day I travelled.
The Trip Out To Budapest
I’ve just returned from Budapest by train, after flying out on Monday, the 8th. I outlined it here.
I took the Overground, as I indicated I would and it was easy. I also found out, that all trains for Gatwick Airport leave from platform 13 at Clapham Junction station.
All Trains To Gatwick Go From 13
This makes things easy to remember. Unfortunately, we were delayed due to someone falling on the line.
The flight out was uneventful and my only complaint, was the uncomfortable seat. but that’s really down to me, rather than the aircraft.
The Anonymous Widower 