I arrived in Berlin after an uneventful flight. Let me rephrase that. The flight was excellent. I was lucky enough to get into Business class and basically spent the entire flight being stuffed with great food and coddled. I managed to sleep around 3-4 hours. Since I had only slept around 3 hours the previous night, it really wasn't enough, but I expected I could catch up on the train to Warsaw.
Berlin: Beautiful city. I took a bus from the airport the the train station (The wrong train station...) and we went through around 6-10 miles of the city. Lots of beautiful old buildings mixed in with very modern colorful structures. I was pretty uncomfortable at first. I have never even tried to learn a word of German before so I couldn't fake my way around like in France. The signs had no obvious meaning to me. And I don't like bothering people in English. I feel guilty when I'm in a country without knowing the language, and in this case, I felt like if I asked for help, I would need to justify that I am merely going through Germany and would certainly learn the language if I had any intention to stay there more than a day.
I arrived at the main train station only to find that it was another station I was supposed to go to. It was just one stop away, easily remedied. So, on Gesundbrunnen train station. This was a pretty big station, and most of it is underground. I had a hard time at first finding the ticket booth. Turns out it is located inside a convenient store/del above the station. The counter attendant didn't speak English but she saw what I needed from a copy of an email that my friend had sent me with train instructions. And we managed. But, there is no checked baggage on this train. There is no place to store bags either. So I was stuck with my two huge suitcases, backpack and purse.
I was limited in the area I could travel. For around 2 hours I sat in an outside cafe area and drank coffee. I had a book to read and it was ok. But it was also really cold and wet. After a while I couldn't stand it anymore and decided to brave the stairs down to the giant mall. It was worth it. There was must more to do and see inside and it was warmer. One shop inside had cheesecake slices the size of NYC pizza slices. It was impressive, but I don't know who could eat all that. I stayed away. There were some nice stationary stores and such. I picked up some post cards and writing tablets. I had to draw a picture for the clerk to find envelopes, but it worked out and we found them, me all apologies as usual. But the people I encountered were patient and friendly. What more could I ask for.
I basically walked circles around the mall for 3 hours, bags in tow. I needed this. After so many hours flying and the coming 7 hours on the train, my legs needed to stretch out and move.
On the train:
My seat was in a cabin, which it seemed this whole train was cabins. I guess that makes sense for longer trips. I was by myself for one stop. Then a girl from Poland joined me. Her English was as good as my Polish and we mostly smiled and nodded to each other. Although occasionally she would ask me how to say something and I would ask her to help me with some words as well. We got along fine. I took a nap for about an hour, then a man came into the cabin with us and took the seat where I had stretched my legs. A couple of stops later the girl left and 2 more men entered the cabin. These two talked to each other and played video games on their cell phones. I was unhappily awake myself, but the man who had entered earlier was visibly upset. I guess he needed to sleep more than I did. A little while later, another two men entered the cabin. One of them was yelling on his cell phone for the next hour. After that, he yelled to the two younger men who had been playing cell phone games before. And the first man, went outside the cabin and sat on the floor, obviously annoyed.
Throughout the trip, I listened to my language book and music. I never spoke to any of them and they thought I was either dumb, unfriendly or frightening. I can see how I might have been frightening after 30 hours of traveling and no sleep. My eyes had bags as big as my luggage.
Arrived in Warsaw at 11pm. My two new roomies greeted me happily at the station. And it was the biggest relief of my whole life! I had no previous idea that a full day without internet or a cell phone could leave me feeling so vulnerable and strangely lonely. Plus I realized at some point that Karolina had never known for sure that I would be on this train. I was so glad she showed up.
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