7 - Pforzheim - Hamburg
Day 7
I awoke to a fine day in Pforzheim and for a change a comprehensive breakfast. I had acquired 'Whatapp' recently and had used it via the hotel WiFi to contact old acquaintances in Bad Wildbad. They had offered me a place to stay for a few days. So after a quick walk through Pforzheim town center I took the S-Bahn to Bad Wildbad. It is a scenic 40-minute ride following the river Enz as it winds its way down through the dense Black Forest. Bad Wildbad is the last stop at the end of the Enztal valley. My friends live high up on the Sommerberg plateau at 730 meters and getting up there required either the funicular or a steep 2 kilometer drive by car or a one hour slog up a zigzag path through the forest. After shopping at the local supermarket next to the station I opt for a taxi, conveniently waiting outside the station. The taxi driver was an old face who has driven me up to Sommerberg many times.
As we cruised up the steep winding road in his beige Mercedes taxi he told me he had not been up to Sommerberg for a long time and it was now very dead up there. I learn the ski lift no longer functioned as it needed a new cable costing 3000 euro. He seemed justifiably disgruntled money was lacking for the ski lift cable yet not for a recently built multi-million euro tree walk. Once on top the new car park caught his attention and after I had paid he appeared reluctant to leave this tourist spot. I spent a few days with my old friends and sorted out some oddments still stored with them. When I come to leave a few days later I am taken to the station yet again in a Mercedes, but this one belongs to my friends. The car park was full as we passed by and many people were walking up the road, something I had rarely seen before while living there. Clearly the tree walk was attracting visitors and the place was not so dead after all. At the bottom they had even blocked off the road to stop more cars driving up.
At the station I am in two minds about filling out my Interrail pass. I had promised to visit family in Hamburg today or tomorrow but contemplate stopping over in Pforzheim or even heading south instead. In the end I am committed as my pen fills out the date box on my Interrail pass. In Pforzheim I change from S-Bahn to a double-decker Interregio train, which whisks me into Karlsruhe within half an hour.
It takes the ICE less than 6 hours to reach Hamburg and the trains are very smooth and comfortable, but once again the advertised onboard WiFi via Deutsche Telekom failed to connect to my mobile. I had mislaid my sister's new address and had asked her to send it, but once I had left Sommerberg I had no Internet connection and no way of receiving emails. Having visited once before I had a rough idea of how to get there so I was not too worried. After a very relaxing journey we cruised into Hamburg Hauptbahnhof early evening to a stunning rainbow on a background of billowing black clouds. Once again it was chaos as people departing and arriving mingled in a confusing mass on the station concourse. I asked at an information kiosk about the ICE WiFi but the woman told me they had nothing to do with it. I was advised to try MacDonalds one floor up. I had no joy there, not even signal, unusual for them. Then I spotted a coin call box and managed to reach my sister's answerphone. I had not used a public phone for 10 years or more but it worked fine. I was unsure of what to do next when I noticed there was a new guy in the information kiosk so I returned downstairs to ask him about the ICE/Telekom WiFi. As I was explaining the problem the Telekom webpage came up on my screen allowing me to register. I thought problem solved, but no, with Internet nothing is ever simple. Registering required giving half my life story, I then had to request a special PIN number, to be sent via SMS. Not easily deterred and having already parted with a great deal of personal information, I filled out the remaining form and awaited my personal PIN. Well the SMS never arrived. I put this down to having no Internet, Catch 22. I returned to the call box and rang my sister again and left a message to let her know I had decided to try and find her place and was on my way.
The first mistake I made once I left was to take the S1 instead of the U1, but after two stops the S1 came to a halt due to maintenance work. Everyone had to get off and take a special bus waiting outside. However having already realised I had taken the wrong train, I was unsure about taking the bus. In the end the bus took me to Bambek station from where I could get the U3 to the U1. At Kellinghusenstrasse I was back on track, I knew the U1 line well, except I still did not know which station to get off at. While I was considering getting off at Langenhorn Nord, I suddenly got an SMS. Not from Deustche Telekom as I had hoped but from my sister with the address and only just in time ... I had to get off at the next stop ...
Yes Telekom, I am still waiting for the SMS with my personal PIN number...
... and so in the nick of time I alighted at the correct station and found a place to sleep for the night.
Low flying jets near my next stop.
It takes the ICE less than 6 hours to reach Hamburg and the trains are very smooth and comfortable, but once again the advertised onboard WiFi via Deutsche Telekom failed to connect to my mobile. I had mislaid my sister's new address and had asked her to send it, but once I had left Sommerberg I had no Internet connection and no way of receiving emails. Having visited once before I had a rough idea of how to get there so I was not too worried. After a very relaxing journey we cruised into Hamburg Hauptbahnhof early evening to a stunning rainbow on a background of billowing black clouds. Once again it was chaos as people departing and arriving mingled in a confusing mass on the station concourse. I asked at an information kiosk about the ICE WiFi but the woman told me they had nothing to do with it. I was advised to try MacDonalds one floor up. I had no joy there, not even signal, unusual for them. Then I spotted a coin call box and managed to reach my sister's answerphone. I had not used a public phone for 10 years or more but it worked fine. I was unsure of what to do next when I noticed there was a new guy in the information kiosk so I returned downstairs to ask him about the ICE/Telekom WiFi. As I was explaining the problem the Telekom webpage came up on my screen allowing me to register. I thought problem solved, but no, with Internet nothing is ever simple. Registering required giving half my life story, I then had to request a special PIN number, to be sent via SMS. Not easily deterred and having already parted with a great deal of personal information, I filled out the remaining form and awaited my personal PIN. Well the SMS never arrived. I put this down to having no Internet, Catch 22. I returned to the call box and rang my sister again and left a message to let her know I had decided to try and find her place and was on my way.
It may be a city but there are still plenty of rural areas in Hamburg.
The first mistake I made once I left was to take the S1 instead of the U1, but after two stops the S1 came to a halt due to maintenance work. Everyone had to get off and take a special bus waiting outside. However having already realised I had taken the wrong train, I was unsure about taking the bus. In the end the bus took me to Bambek station from where I could get the U3 to the U1. At Kellinghusenstrasse I was back on track, I knew the U1 line well, except I still did not know which station to get off at. While I was considering getting off at Langenhorn Nord, I suddenly got an SMS. Not from Deustche Telekom as I had hoped but from my sister with the address and only just in time ... I had to get off at the next stop ...
Yes Telekom, I am still waiting for the SMS with my personal PIN number...
... and so in the nick of time I alighted at the correct station and found a place to sleep for the night.
Hamburg a city of contrasts ... early evening at the Reeperbahn a few days later.
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