Week 1 of my 5-week interrailing trip round Europe

End of first week – Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich

Monday

Train to London – fine (nice to get an early one without paying a small fortune)

Waiting a lot at St Pancras as vey early (better early than late). Bought a book and some snacks.

Eurostar to Amsterdam. Absolutely fine. Fell asleep and completely missed going into the tunnel.

Arrived Amsterdam and got out of the gate with my QR code (apparently Netherlands is the only place that works, though!)

Exited the station the wrong side and ended up walking all the way around and ending up in front of the station. But that’s fine as got to see the water and North Amsterdam on the other side.

Walked up, using Google maps, to the hotel. Lots of canals. Busy streets. LOTS of bicycles – watch out for them, they ignore red lights. Got some cash out. Found hotel. VERY steep steps to reception. Thankfully room on the same floor as reception. Nice woman behind reception. Room is TINY and a bit worn around the edges, but fine. Got some food (vegan burger at Flower Burger – yummy). Went to sleep.

Tuesday

Had breakfast at hotel. Could only face a croissant and coffee, and probably shouldn’t have, but it was included. Wandered round Amsterdam all of Tuesday morning and into afternoon. Was wet (actually snowing at first). Beautiful. Love the canals so much. Love the plants outside people’s buildings. Love the bikes parked up against walls and along the canals. Walked down to museum district and ate some chips and mayonnaise. Outside. Very cold. A pigeon was eyeing up my chips but lost out. Didn’t go in any museum, because they all charged over 20 euros and none of them jumped out enough to make me want to pay that. Went in a museum bookshop and window shopped lots of lovely art books. Bought some bits and bobs from a supermarket. Went back to the hotel and had a nap. Wandered into town in search of food and ended up having chips and mayonnaise again. Nice enough, but really filling! Wandered back to the hotel and went to sleep. May have watched some TV. Don’t remember. Talked to Chris, but can’t remember if it was in the evening or in the day.

Wednesday

Train to Berlin. Nice train. Didn’t get a reservation. Quite busy. Got moved about half an hour into the journey. But then the seat I found was fine (confirmed by conductor). Nice and comfortable. Got a tea from the buffet and proud to have spoken German with no problem to the guy working the buffet.

Arrived Berlin. Easily got the S-Bahn to Charlottenburg. Very pleased to find out I could use interrail pass for S-Bahn journeys. Never got asked to show my ticket, but apparently they are super strict if you get caught without a valid ticket.

Lovely hotel room. Big room. Comfortable bed (two of them, though I only used one!). Great shower. Ate at a very basic Italian across the street from the hotel and had a pizza and a beer. Nice enough. Cash only. Thankfully I had some cash on me!

Thursday

Started by wandering down through Charlottenburg. I wanted to find some jazz bars in case I felt up to going to one in the evening. Took photos of nice buildings. Got the S-bahn at Zoologischer Gardens and went down to the east to see the Eastside Gallery (part of the Berlin wall that is covered in loads of artists’ murals). Then wandered further looking for a free art museum place. I found it, but couldn’t work out what was going on inside. Saw a photography exhibition of different sides of Istanbul which was interesting. Wandered further until I got an S-bahn station (can’t remember which one) and got on, planning to go back to the hotel but took a spur of the moment jump off at Hackescher Market which was nice – little artisan market and there was a nice looking Italian restaurant there so I had a very late lunch/early dinner – HUGE mixed salad and then spaghetti pomodoro. And a beer. Then went back to the hotel and hung out for the rest of the evening, with a couple of cans of gin and tonic and finished watching S2 of Harlem.

Friday

I had looked up different areas of Berlin and had some ideas of places to look around. I wandered down to Tiergarten and then decided to walk all the way through the park, which was lovely. I forget how much I can miss nature when I’m on a city break, and given I’m pretty much on a five-week city break I need to fold in some nature time, for sure. Ended up in an area with lots of huge buildings which was quite interesting. Went back to the hotel and had a nap. Ended up just grabbing McDonalds and bringing it back to the room in the evening. I felt a bit like a second day was overkill, although I totally could have explored more and gone to a few more of the places on the list I had.

Saturday

Train to Munich. I was originally going to get the 9.30 train but realised that it would probably be busy on a Saturday so looked up to see if I could get a reservation and couldn’t get one until the 11.30 train, so switched things round in the pass and paid for the reservation, which I’m glad I did, as the train was very busy. The journey was fine, except I had a window seat that had no window. I read lots and enjoyed the journey and only dozed a bit. Arrived Munich after 5. Found the hotel, and was a bit concerned it seemed like a rough area, but I think it was purely that it was a really busy time of day. Beautiful hotel room with lovely wallpaper and comfortable bed. Went out looking for food and a wander. Happy wandering around the (very busy) old town and catching glimpses of beautiful buildings. Found a restaurant (Italian. Again.) and was very glad that they seated me despite it just being me, as it was busy and they sat me at a table of for three and at no time tried to hurry me out. Lovely food – spinach ravioli followed by tiramisu (which I don’t normally like, but this was delicious). And this time I had a glass of Prosecco instead of a beer. Found my way back to the hotel without having to check Google maps at all. Was very proud of that.

Sunday

Lovely day. Wandered lots in Munich, starting in the old town and took loads of pictures. Then wandered down to the river and walked alongside it for a while until I got to the Bavarian National Museum. On a Sunday it only costs one euro, so I spent maybe an hour and a half wandering in there. I didn’t take any photos as I wasn’t sure if you were allowed to. But saw some stunning tapestries, extraordinary statues in a variety of media. What struck me most about the statues was the exquisite detail on hair, and in particular beards. Also quite a bit of porcelain and crockery and ornate furniture. Lovely. I don’t think I saw it all. Was a bit of a maze. But I was starting to get too hot and didn’t have my water with me as you had to leave your bags and coats due to security risks. After that I found my way back to the old town, where I had a haloumi sandwich and sat and ate it very messily. Then wandered back to the hotel, stopping for a mocha in Starbucks as I was really really cold. Then I had my requisite nap. I wonder if I am taking on my mum’s old habit of needing a siesta every day. Then had a long chat with Chris, and ate some crisps and jaffa cakes while watching Mrs Maisel and drawing nothing much at all on the iPad. (I have definitely not become a travel sketcher – yet, at least. Nor have I become a travel novelist. Mostly I am just a traveller, and that’s actually probably enough!) Now typing this out, which ideally would go on the blog, but then I’d need a picture for it, and I don’t have time to draw a picture. Maybe I’ll put it on the blog anyway and retrospectively add a picture. And now I realise I need to do a Duolingo lesson and then get to bed, because I have a 7.30 train to Bologna in the morning. Finally I will be able to eat Italian food in actual Italy!

General thoughts

Have had lots of lovely phone calls with Chris, hearing about what’s happening back home and telling him about what  I’ve been doing here. We think we missed talking on Wednesday. I do like having that touchstone to home.

I haven’t felt lonely (though maybe I would if I didn’t have those calls). I like the time in hotel rooms reading and watching and drawing (have not been doing huge amounts of drawing, though – would like to do more).

I’ve been tending to eat one meal a day and then have other snacks around that. I’m not getting overly hungry and that seems to be working out fine so far. The next hotel (four nights in Ferrara) includes breakfast, so will see if I can bring myself to have some, so as to save some money.

It feels like two nights is my optimum, apart from the two specific events I’m booked for (Bologna Book Fair next week and then Fallas in Valencia a bit further on). Though that might just be because I wasn’t as taken with Berlin as the other two places so far. I don’t feel like I’d want another day in Munich though, even though I really enjoyed today’s wanderings. We’ll see.

Hotels have been fine so far. This one’s the prettiest, Amsterdam was the one with the most character and Berlin the most comfortable. So far.

Trains have been fabulous so far.

Some potential issues coming up with the French strikes. Will not know for sure until Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning whether or how they will affect me, but I have found some ferries to Spain, should I not be able to get through France. Fingers crossed it will be fine though, because I REALLY want to see Nice and speak a language I can speak REALLY well.

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