ICE train at Hannover
St. Pancras station
Hannover station front
Eurostar at Rotterdam
And just like that, I ended up back in Staines!
Thank you for following - see you on my next one, whenever that may be...
And no room to sit either, let alone dine!
Oh I spotted that seat today. What kind of restaurant forgets to provide a table?
A kiss goodnight from Hannover!
Pizza and soft drink on board
Stendal station frontage
Entrance lobby on train
Another view of lobby
Due to engineering work, a change in peaceful Stendal is necessary. And the next train is a lovely ICE 2, with the welcoming 'lobby'.
Time to sort tomorrow's travel. DB says no seats available, but if you book full fare there suddenly is. But České Dráhy comes to the rescue...9
A long ICE train
A burger and a beer on board
Leipzig Hbf concourse
At Leipzig, I find a coach to myself in an incredibly long ICE. Unusually, everything is working - and the DB burger is delicious!
Polish train at Leipzig Hbf
Żabka shop
Wrocław Głowny
Train destination board Przemśyl - Leipzig
After a visit to the famous Żabka, my all too short visit to Poland came to an end.
Loco branded Baltic Express
Nice Czech meal and beer
Buffet seating
Buffet car exterior at Wrocław
At Poznań I took the Baltic Express to Wrocław. A lovely meal, but who designs a buffet area with seating like this? One seat doesn't even have a table...
Old concrete station
'Letni' (summer) station
Summer station canopy
New glass station
The many faces of Poznań Główny. The 'Letni' (summer) station is a lovely little surprise.
Dzień dobry! The day starts in Bydgoszcz with a delay caused by a late Intercity. But soon we are on our way.
Apartment block
Schabowy (pork schnitzel)
Bunny and view from 11th floor
You know how you should always bring a small gift when you visit a family? Well, I forgot and so the Gold Bunny ended his journey here, in a small flat in Bydgoszcz...
Bydgoszcz station concourse
Hotel room
Hotel entrance
Hotel Ikar sign
In Bydgoszcz I checked into the elegant Hotel Ikar, a bit out of town.
Pałac Kultury
Zamoyski destination plate
Platform at Warszawa Centralna
Vending machine on train
I could have taken the Zamoyski all the way from Rzeszów, but the catering was just a machine. So I changed onto it in Warsaw.
Restaurant car exterior
First class car exterior
Żurek (a soup) and beer
Compartment corridor
Set amidst the otherwise hourly Pendolini to Warsaw was this special treat - a nice EIC 'proper' train, non-stop to the capital. No supplementary charge, modern coaches, comfy seating, and żurek in the restaurant car. What more do you need?
Czech loco enters station
Choc pancakes and coffee
Tempting menu
Kraków station sign, train, platform
Passing up the temptation to have the full Czech experience, I made do with some chocolate pancakes as I doubled back to Kraków (I wanted longer in bed, hence going as far as Rzeszów!)
Feet and window
Inside breakfast box
Shower and loo
Memorial & statue of Mary at Rzesców
Dzień dobry!
A nice breakfast somewhere near Tarnów, and then a visit to the shower. But I think we can all guess how that went.
A passport check. At Břeclav. Crossing from Slovakia. What? Why?
Feet in bed
Dobrou noc a sladké sny!
Destination board
Sink with tap that swings away
Sleeping car exterior
Compartment cosy interior
Tonight will be the train with many names. And a sleeping compartment with an interesting design flaw.
Concourse at Bratislava main station
Steps to tramway
Exterior
Tram station
ZSSK I know you are clearly trying to run this place down, but it's potentially an amazing building if you had a bit of vision.
And meanwhile, bring back the luggage lockers.
Coach interior
Coach interior
Coach exterior
Coach exterior
I took the newly electrified service to Bratislava. While clearly there'd been no timetable improvements, the luxurious OeBB coaches were a treat after that Railjet thing.
They tend to hang out on the Hoboken - Gladstone route, calling at Newark Broad Street. Getting a 'fast' one out of Hoboken in the evening peak is a special treat. Ride it to Summit, then get any train back to NYP!
They have a lovely retro charm. My favourite is the 'Jersey Arrow', a ancient silver electric unit with a stunningly dated interior.
The conductors are of a similar vintage, with amazing accents.
That's interesting to know! Clearly the manufacturers were new to building outdoor trains...
Well, at that price I hope they at least clean the windows. That was my one gripe when I used them. The Long Island RR was as bad...
There used to be a local bus, but apparently it no longer runs. I took it in 2019.
Wien Hbf station sign
View of hills
Train on viaduct
Wiener schnitzel, chips and beer
As I said, it's back onto familiar territory now...
At Villach I changed to the following Railjet, one with available seats.
But what seats - I thought 2nd class Railjet seats were bad, but these are no improvement at all.
Algeria and money.
To be honest I never fully got it. I exchanged €100 at a bank (yes a bank) by the port and got around 20,000 dinar. Which seemed generous.
That said, I got no receipt or anything.
A foreign debit card won't get you very far - you need cash.