Wednesday evening I went to Vienna Westbahnhof, the weather was still very hot. A taste of what I might have to expect? At the train station I was advised to drive the bike to the lower level of the wagon, where it was lashed by railway employees. There were also some Harley Davidson riders. In Hamburg I could see on a poster that a Harley festival took place that weekend. I was lucky on the train and had my own cabin for a couple of hours. The train stopped in different cities, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. I tried to sleep early. From time to time I was woken up. First it was the conductor to check the ticket, then the border police and sometime late at night, another passenger came into my compartment. Although I could lie down and stretch out on the seats, the night was really uncomfortable. From a certain time I did not know how to lie because my back hurt.
We arrived around 9:30am the next day in Hamburg. I avoided the highway and drove on country roads about 120 km to Bremerhaven. First part was beside the Elbe river. But you could not see the river, because the view was blocked by a high dike. Again, the sun was burning down. I reached the given address “Euro Gate” haven terminal in Bremerhaven. The drop off of the motorcycle was quite simple. From the reception I was sent to a nearby building, where I got a smart card, a delivery note and the information where to wait in the port area for staff. The smart card was used to pass through the security gate. In the port area I waited in the specified parking lot. There I met a German who dropped off a glider for shipment to America. We were chatting a little bit while waiting. The port employee came after a few minutes. He directed me to follow him. The motorcycle was parked in a hangar and got a short investigation on already existing damages for insurance reasons. Then I was brought back to the exit. The whole process took less than 30 minutes. The next day I got a phone call from the agent whom I ordered to organize the shipment. He told me that customs wants to have a look at the bike too.
A taxi brought me to the train station in Bremerhaven, where I put my bag in a locker. I had about 3 1/2 hours until my train went to Hamburg and used the time to walk a little bit through Bremerhaven.
I spend the night in Hamburg. As I booked the night train again for the trip to Vienna, I did sightseeing in Hamburg during the day. The few available hours allowed only seeing a small part of Hamburg. I walked through the warehouse district and the new Hafen City and made a “Fleettour” (= boat ride through the canals). A large part of the Hafen City is a construction site. The whole neighborhood gets a facelift. Very cubic, the new architecture.
The old “Storehouse City” is the biggest interrelated warehouse complex in the world. Many of the warehouses are no longer used for the storage of coffee, tea and spices. The buildings, however, were filled with new life by IT companies, marketing offices, dance studios, theaters, museums and many other companies. Shops and restaurants on the esplanade close above the waterline have thick iron doors to protect them from flooding.
On the way home, I had a bed in a 6-sleeper compartment in the night train. I was not much better than on the way to Hamburg, very very close space. Again I was lucky, we were only three. There was a longer stay in Prague past midnight. A lot of passengers entered the train there. As the train made only a stopover in Vienna and then continued to Budapest, there was not always harmony between the passengers who entered the train late at night in Prague and continued to Budapest and those who got out in Vienna.
Her (a bit louder, a bit angry): Do not smash the door, you dork!
Him: What?
Her: Do not smash the door!
Him: Fuck off
Thank you for reading, Jürgen.