At breakfast we said goodbye to the skaters and rolled our bags across the street to the tram stop. One change and in about 10 minutes we were at the train station.
The train arrived on time, we found our seats just fine and settled in for the hour or so uneventful ride to Agen. Once there we located Richard and Pauline's car in the car park next to the station and unloaded our bags. After an unsuccessful attempt to get into one place for lunch we opted to return to the gare and eat there. The food was fine and service good.
Bordeaux train station
Agen station, currently undergoing major renovations
After lunch we retrieved the car and made our way out of town, stopping at the Intermarché supermarket in Condom for groceries.
squeeze your own fresh oranges and pineapples
From the market it was a short drive to their home in the lovely little village of Mouchan (400 plus souls). We were soon reminded that it was exactly 15 years ago that we were last in this house!
Next door to their home is an 11th century Romanesque church, unfortunately not open while we were there.
Since it was a lovely afternoon, we went for a stroll around the village before dinner.
the church front side (entrance on the far left)
war memorial from the War of 1870 and WW1
the sky portends rain
the front of their house
Pauline prepared a lovely meal of steamed salmon, steamed carrots and green beans followed by an apple croustade.
Although our alarm was set for 0700 we were both up and out of bed by 0600. We cleaned up, dressed and after coffee and breakfast Susie finished packing us up for our departure. Dishes done and put away, garbage and recycles taken out we grabbed our coats, left the apartment keys on the counter and headed out the door.
It was a short walk to the tram station and we no sooner got there than the no. 9 tram pulled up. We got aboard and in less than 10 minutes (per our dry run) we were at the central station. A short walk through a park and were inside heading for the lounge. The tram system is the way to go in Prague!
To enter the lounge we had to show our Eurail pass tickets for 1st class. I opened my phone and right away noticed that my Eurail pass was missing from my phone. The attendant kindley allowed us inside the lounge -- Susie’s pass worked just fine -- and I spent the next ten minutes in an agitated state of frustration trying to grasp what had gone wrong. (I never did.) Restarting the app and rebooting the phone, nothing seemed to work.
So, the next thing I tried was to add the pass again to my app. I had to go online on my computer to find my pass number, added it to create a “new” pass and voila! that worked! In fact, it still had all my original tickets. This made me wonder where all the Eurail data for each pass is in fact stored — on a server somewhere or somewhere on the phone. Who knows. What I do know is that if it happens again, we’ll know what to do.
We relaxed in the lounge until time to board. We found the platform with minimal confusion and our car number.
Once aboard we found our reserved seats and settled in for the next 6-plus hours. The journey would take us through Dresden and Berlin before terminating in Hamburg.
Passing through Elbe River valley we were impressed by the striking landscape of high rocky cliffs covered in black and nicknamed the dirty rocks by my traveling companion. In fact, we would track along the Elbe off and on during ,most of the trip.
A little after noon we crossed into Germany and were told to wear masks (the Czech Republic had no such restriction). Around noon the two of us had a lunch of sandwiches, which I had made the night before, accompanied by crisps (from Scotland) and a dessert of Ritter Bar chocolate.
It came as no surprise that once in Germany our tickets were checked three times and we passed three times.
The train arrived in Hamburg about 2 minutes behind schedule. As we exited the platform we were struck by the enormous crowds of people moving every which way.
But we found our exit and walked five minutes to our stop for the evening, the Reischshof Hotel.
After checking in we found the elevator and were immediately flummoxed by the fact we couldn’t get it to do anything. Recalling something the reception clerk said about waving our room card over the control panel I gave that a try and we could then access our floor number. Once on our floor we walked about half a mile to our room, dropped off our bags and then returned to the lobby bar for a glass of prosecco.
Relaxing over our drinks we watched the people come and go observing that a great many of the clientele seemed to be in our age range (geezer). But it was a quiet place to just sit and sip pondering our next move (where to go for supper). At first we thought we’d eat at the hotel but were informed they were fully booked. Then I pointed out that maybe we should try the Chinese restaurant we passed on the way to the hotel (just a couple of doors away).
Susie was skeptical. She looked across the street and saw a sign that said Mutterland and from the outside she thought it might be a coffee/pastry shop and kitchen store. After finishing our aperitif we walked across the street into the “shop” and realized that the shop was on the first (US: second) floor while there was a restaurant on the ground floor. My companion who has a nose for such things said she felt the place had a good vibe and so we stayed for supper.
The food was very good: we started with house-made sourdough bread accompanied by a lovely whipped herb butter in a smooth herb oil. I had fish and chips and Susie had a wonderful roasted cauliflower dish, all washed down by a glass of dry German sauvignon blanc.
But it was the service that was truly wonderful. Everyone was friendly and seemed to enjoy what they were doing. One young woman who waited on us actually ended up sitting and chatting for a while after we finished (business was slow).
She and her boyfriend were going off to NYC next week and she had never been to the US before so naturally she pumped us for questions and was terribly excited to be there. It was a wonderful evening and reminded us why we travel: the experience of seeing new things, and meeting people who help us learn we are all not so very different from each other.
normally we steer clear of foam and food but this was wonderful
Before bed I attached our next pair of tickets to our passes and experienced a second slight hiccup, this time with Susan’s pass. But after tinkering with her mobile pass for a few minutes it was solved and we were both set to go.
Tomorrow we have an early train to Copenhagen and the beginning of our Scandinavia adventure!
