6 - Nottingham - Germany

Day 6

After an extra day in Nottingham visiting the castle, it was time to return to London. My plan was to reach Germany via Paris from Nottingham in one day. That meant leaving early in the morning. My brother took me to the station and I caught a direct train to London. As the Eurostar only takes just over two and a half hours to get to Paris, leaving London any time before midday would allow me to reach Pforzheim in Germany easily by the evening. I arrived at St. Pancreas station mid morning and joined the Eurostar ticket queue. I am told there are no tickets for Interrail customers until June, over a week away. Buying a normal second class ticket will cost me over two hundred euros!

Eurostar restaurant car exits London

At first I am stunned, with thoughts of having to book a hotel in London for a week, but of course the Eurostar ticket would be cheaper. I complained once again about having to pay when I already had an Interrail ticket and questioned what students would do confronted by this situation. The woman seemed embarrassed about it and checked her computer again. I pointed out Interrail was about 'Europe' so the Euro'Star' should be setting an example. She blamed Interrail for not making it clear in their brochures and maybe she had a point. The Channel tunnel was and still is a costly enterprise that would never pay for itself if everyone got cheap tickets. However had I known beforehand I could probably have traveled by train to Calais and got a ferry for free with my Interrail pass, saving me 400 euros on a return trip. She offered me a later train, at a price, but I would have arrived in Paris too late to get to Germany. Finally she agreed to put me on the next train, departing just after midday as a standby customer. I pay 266 euros and must wait at the information desk in the waiting lounge until 5 minutes before departure to hear if they can get me a no-show seat. I waited in vain, all seats were taken. When I entered the train even the fold down seats in the corridors, which I was supposed to get if nothing else was available, all appeared to be occupied. I parked myself in the restaurant car and sat on my suitcase. The restaurant was empty and sat on my suitcase wedged between two tables was surprisingly comfortable. Once the train had pulled out of the station I ordered a coffee and relaxed for the high speed journey.

Traveling on these 300 kph high-speed trains can be quite breathtaking. It is one thing to fly through the air in a jet, but quite another to travel overland at such speeds cutting through the landscape like a knife through butter. It really felt like a magic carpet ride as cities silently flashed by and mountains merged into desert landscapes in minutes (see Switzerland-France post later). This incredible sensation of speed is rarely if ever experienced in an aircraft. An hour and a half later we emerged from the Channel tunnel into the blue skies of France. In many ways the restaurant car was probably the best place to be, especially if you had your suitcase handy. You can sit or stand, walk around and refreshment (at a price) was always on hand. We arrived at the Gare du Nord in Paris early afternoon giving me plenty of time to sort out my three hour journey to Karlsruhe, from where I would get a train to my hotel in Pforzheim. The Karlsruhe train departs from the Gare de L'est, a short walk from the Gare du Nord. When I exited the station it was mayhem outside with masses of people heading in all directions. Large groups of youths, presumably unemployed, hung about on the street corners. It was an intimidating scene and one I had rarely if ever experienced before. Maybe it was typical for the Gare du Nord, but it was certainly no place to linger.

I have been to Paris many times and often by train, yet I had never seen France looking so down and out as on this trip. There were many beggars and everything looked drab, even the food, which once put the rest of Europe to shame. Not having followed the French economy news I was unaware of its present problems and a bit surprised and saddened by what I saw. One thing that stood out and probably went a long way to causing these problems was their dislike of everything English. This comment does not apply to the French people, as most of them who I encountered were very friendly and spoke very good English. It applied to the officialdom of international signposting in railway stations, information centers and such like. In other words it's a bureaucratic and political motivated dislike of things English. This contrasted dramatically with other European countries I visited, all used at least English as a second language to help visitors even if a particular country was not pro English. France's obsession with its own language and reluctance to embrace other peoples creates huge problems for visitors and in the end I am pretty sure backfires on the country by stifling the economy.

You do not believe me? Here is one example I experienced later on my trip between Lyon and Barcelona. The RENFE-SNCF train had no English announcements while traveling through France but once the train had crossed the border into Spain the same train suddenly had announcements in English.

It is a pity because France has so much going for it with a great language, food and culture.

I had booked my hotel via Booking.com using the free SNCF station WiFi. SNCF had saved France's reputation by being the only country I visited on this trip where free WiFi consistently worked. It enabled me to check the train times, routes and distances, as well as sending out and receiving emails. At the ticket counter in the Gare de L'est the clerk informed me the direct train I wanted had no seats left for Interrail travelers. He offered me a later train but with several changes arriving too late for my connection to Pforzheim. I pointed out that I had a hotel booked and felt pretty sure there were plenty of seats available on all trains. Eventually he relented and found me a train with one change in Strasbourg due to arrive in Karlsruhe around 19:30.

I would like to point out here to other potential Interrail travelers that although some trains required reservations most don't. The problem with booking a reservation or even asking about trains, is each train only has a certain number of seats allocated to Interrail customers. So the ticket clerk may say it is full, when in fact there are still plenty of seats available. I never had any problem finding a seat (except for EuroStar) and rarely reserved a seat. Also ticket clerks invariably fob you off with the easiest solution, so it pays to be persistent when trying to get what you want. 

The TGV to Strasbourg left on time, but while I was still connected to the SNCF WiFi I discovered the hotel I had booked required guests arriving after 18:00 to telephone. A strange request and as the train pulled out of the station the Internet disconnected leaving me with no way of contacting them. I would have to cross that bridge when I got to it. Another smooth journey through the French countryside and we arrived in Strasbourg with minutes to spare for the Karlsruhe train. A quick change to a double-decker train with improved views of the countryside and 90 minutes later we rolled into Karlsruhe and an ongoing German rail strike. My normal connection to Pforzheim had been canceled along with a few other trains. I asked at the information desk about getting to Pforzheim and an arrogant clerk reluctantly handed me a printout of the S-Bahn trains. I was in luck, they were running but it was still dark by the time I finally arrived in Pforzheim. A taxi took me the short distance uphill to the hotel The hotel appeared to be shut so I asked the driver to wait in case I needed to find another hotel. After ringing various doorbells, a friendly Italian arrived from a neighbouring house and let me into the hotel. The large comfortable room was great value and after flicking briefly through the TV channels I was soon in bed and fast asleep.

Just to sum up my Eurostar experience: The trip cost me 378 euros, lets say 400 euros after a couple of coffees and a biscuit.

Paris - London 112 euros, first class (thanks to the French)
London - Paris 266 euros, no class, no seat (no thanks to the English)

I thought at first I had paid 180 euros for the trip back, but it was in fact 180 pounds, coverting to roughly 266 euros.

London prices are a joke ... !

If the Eurostar company had anything about them, they would provide a bargain basement cattle-truck type train service once a day for students and other penniless folk. At first I thought Eurostar was terrific but when I added it all up, all I can say is that I shall not be traveling by Eurostar again at that price. Bearing in mind I had already bought an Interrail pass for 30 'European' countries. Maybe Britain should get out of Europe instead of pretending to be in it, then at least we all know where we stand.