No room at the Inn

Saturday 30 May 2009

This morning we started on an ICE train at Leipzig station. We boarded at 10.05am and the train was due to depart at 10.16am for Munich via Nurnburg (and it did with German efficiency).

Speaking of efficiency, I paid one euro at the station to go to the toilet. I was number three in the queue and there was a bank of 12 toilets so I was confident of fast business. But no, the frau in charge was only allowing use of three of the toilets and people were taking forever. She also added the extra service dimension of cleaning each toilet slowly after each use. I got my turn eventually but by the time I left there was a queue of thirty anxious potential female train travelers not entirely amused by the high cleaning service levels at the expense of potentially not being able to catch their trains.

We were en route to Passau to begin our cycling trek down the Danube tomorrow, so we changed trains at Nurnburg for Passau. We travelled first class with plenty of leg room and good space. We travelled at around 150km and the journey was as smooth as smooth. It was not without its moments- procuring some lunch at about 2.30pm in the dining car necessitated a 30 minute queue to acquire two baguettes. It was pretty amusing as a young female Basila Fawlty was in charge. She let the world know pretty regularly that she was not entirely happy with her working conditions- that she was required to make and serve coffee in the adjacent dining car as well as deal with the baguette queue. It meant that neither activity was performed with great grace. Each order was punctuated with a fair amount of stomping and muttering and at one stage there was a refusal to provide change to an older woman (who won the battle of wills and wits). Anyway, our baguettes emerged around 3pm and were delicious if a little lacking in customer service!

It was a bit sad to leave Leipzig which was a great surprise package for both of us- a beautiful old city which is finding its feet and its vibrancy again at the 20 year anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down.

We had great accommodation in the central old town in the up-market Radisson. One morning while heading back to our room after breakfast I noticed a rather gorgeous model-type stylish woman walking towards her room with, on a lead, a rather gorgeous model- type stylish small dog. Sure enough the Radisson rules are dog friendly- the guidelines outline that people and their pets should be able to holiday together. The guidelines, however, did discourage people from bringing their pooches into the restaurant. The pro-four legged philosophy also extended to the city’s excellent light rail system with well behaved hounds on leads sitting obediently as their human owners clicked tickets into the machines.

The peaceful revolution commenced in Leipzig in May 1989 with prayers in St Nicholas Church in the old town- some months later there were 70,000 people quietly demonstrating with candles on the streets which was part of the mass German movement which led to the reunification of east and west.

We were very impressed with the ability of people in Leipzig to talk about the World War 2 bombing experience (10 per cent of the city was destroyed), and the post war East Germany arrangements (particularly the rigours of the communist regime) with equanimity and humour. For example, we learnt that a particular building in Leipzig had been built with “Russian cement” which was allegedly composed of 40 per cent cement and 60 per cent microphones, tapes and cameras!

This weekend Leipzig is hosting a Gothic Festival- not buildings or manuscripts but people. The Goths came to town from all over the world -the city was expecting 30,000 or so Goths. We just saw the start of it with the town squares full of the most amazing extreme black costumes, frocks, hairstyles and make-up. There were big Goths, small Goths, families of Goths and indeed every Goth accent imaginable. There were even some ‘splinter’ Goths in white. We’re not sure what that is about but I guess all big movements have their factions.

My conference finished at lunchtime on Friday so we took the opportunity to take a tour to Dresden in the afternoon with other conference attendees. We had a great female guide- she appears in the photo above in a hat and holding up her umbrella. She was joined by another female colleague in Dresden and between them they moved us through the key sights at a good pace with great commentary.

It was a drizzly afternoon but again what a surprise package of a city. The old town was 90 per cent destroyed by bombing in World War Two but has been rebuilt beautifully. This city of contrasts it a great mix of old and new images with a state of the art VW manufacturing plant juxtaposed with older architecture.

Most of the buildings around the central square (see photo) which look as though they have been there forever have actually been rebuilt since the war, and largely since reunification. President Obama is due to visit this week so a couple of roads were actually on target for completion next Thursday when Dresden central will be in lockdown for the presidential visit.

So arrival into Passau saw no accommodation booked for us at where our cycling itinerary indicated we were to rest our heads. Several phone calls around the city found where we were actually booked in and we subsequently received our cycling instructions, in German, with our kit. Between showers we walked down to the Danube (and it was really down so therefore really up on the return journey) and through the rather beautiful University of Passau set on the riverside.

Our friend Rob Spence (travelling with his two adult daughters Melanie and Jenna) made contact and we will meet on Sunday morning for Day One of the ride. We opted for an in-house meal (one schnitzel, one goulash) and an early night in anticipation of tomorrow’s serious leg work.