What better place to be when its raining than in a German train speeding through the green countryside warm and dry watching the picture outside continually changing .
Level crossings with vehicles waiting behind barriers,fields of corn, green forests,track work taking place on the adjoining line. No physical effort on my part ,a great change from yesterday.
Little German villages whipping past,no smoke appearing from house chimnies,but firewood stacked in the yard ready for the approaching winter.
We pass a railsiding with steel fabricated container waggons,for possable transport of fertilizer. Some stations display a lack of care,some even look abandoned,but the train guard's whistle brings us back to reality,our travelling speeds rise quickly.
A passenger opposite displays traditional traits by consuming a black bread and kasse sandwich .
To experience a mocrocosm of how Germany works,you have to watch a rail interchange,this I did at Fulda,5 platforms linked by underground passenger tunnels,with gradual ramps up to the platforms.
I have 15 minutes between trains ,so whipped down to Pappert shop to buy a large cheese and tomato bun and coffee for E 5.50 to sustain me on the next train journey,many people were doing the same ,Germany on the move with the help of D Bahn,very technical very precise.
My fahrplanauskunft displays all the stops that will deliver me to my destination .
On the next ICI train I sit next to a Korean gent , we chat about religion,and family,until the conductor wants E84.00 for my ticket.We decide the slow train would be cheaper so I disembark.
On my next train journey a healthy young German mother with pram and baby board the train.She displays quality care patting and feeding and loving her baby who could be 12 months old, she breast feeds the baby by draping a shawl over her baby's head and displays prudence.
No weiners to day but an ice block at Altenbeken while waiting for the train to Hanover .
I have little idea where I am but the computer has directed 5 different trains from Eisenach to Helmstead.
9am start and 5.45 pm finish.travelling through the German country side viewed through 1.5 meter x 1 meter wide windows . The soil is now darker, I can see large grain silos,my conclusion is Germany is a very green country with wald/forests everywhere.They use the timber as cut firewood is stacked everywhere.
The final train from Hanover to Helmstedt was something special,it had two stories,with lounge chairs upstairs ,it left Hanover at 4.15pm I assume it contains many office workers on their way home.The female conductor asks me to write my name on my ticket,all is done properly.
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At some train stations I encountered problems with automatic vending machines,At one station Peter a fellow traveler assisted me.He asked where I was from,my answer "The land Down Under 'set off an immediate reaction,he was a fan of the song Men at Work, I suspect he may have been a hippie in the 70's. We travelled together for several stations and shared some stories, as he lef the gave me a hug, which was appreciated and made me think modern German have no problem in communicating their feelings
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