Monday - Train ride to Hamburg
This morning we woke up early, as usual and finished packing. We went downstairs to the breakfast buffet served by our hotel. It was a beautiful buffet and best of all…. it was waiting for us at 6:30 a.m.. We were the first customers and the service staff was very attentive.
No complaints from us about the Hotel Mark. Our room rate was 95 Euros, which included a 10% discount for Sunday check-in. Breakfast and free Internet service were included. The location was perfect for us, so we felt we got a good deal.
By 7:15 a.m., we were in the Haupbahnhof Train Station. We went straight to the information booth in the center of the station, and found out our train was on platform 18. We went over there to check it out, even thought we were an hour and a half early!
There are several train attendants around and they were very helpful. We spoke to one such young man, who told us we could catch the train on platform 14 to Hamburg. It was leaving in 15 minutes, so we wouldn't have to wait so long to leave. We were assured that seating in the first class section would not be a problem. We rolled our luggage over to platform 14 and boarded the first class car to Hamburg. We had no problem finding a seat. (Reserved seats are marked over each set of seats.) We chose 2 seats at the back of the car so we had plenty of space for our 2 very large suitcases and 2 backpacks.
Our "Ride & Rail" ticket was good for any 2 days of train travel within 30-days. This is the first time John and I have ever traveled like this, and we enjoyed it very much. It's a very relaxing ride and first class has lots of room for your legs, a small TV on the back of the seat in front of you, big windows to watch the scenery go by, wide aisles for walking, personal service for drinks..... to list just some of positives about the train.
Judy working on the train
We ate lunch in the restaurant car.... just a short walk thru several cars. We choose the chicken, noodles & spinach. The food was good and the service was friendly. Watching the countryside pass by the window, we had a very relaxing lunch.
Our only problem was our lack of speaking the language. All announcements are, of course, made in German. We were not sure we would know when to get off the train. We found out there were 5 stops for Hamburg! Luckily, on several of the seats is a DB Mobile magazine and a train schedule for this route. The times listed for each stop was exact to the minute. So this helped us to figure out when to get off.... The HBF station in Hamburg had an arrival time of 13:50 p.m. So we paid attention to the time, and got off the train at the right place.
Hamburg's Train Station looked almost at big as the Munich Station. But we weren't staying around too long. We grabbed our luggage and went in search of Hertz Rental Cars. They recently moved their office out to the train station and had to ask for directions of a few people. Finally, we found the Hertz office across the street from the train station.
This was our lucky day! Hertz was out of the VW Golf we had reserved, so they gave us a brand-new, fully loaded Mercedes. And off we drove.... looking for the Autobahn. The lady at the Hertz counter gave us excellent directions, so it only took us about 15 minutes to get on the highway and be on our way to Fehmarn.
During the drive, we noticed the weather had cleared up and the sun was out. It had been raining lightly all morning. The clouds had turned from gray to small, white puffs. In less than 2 hours, we were on the beautiful Island of Fehmarn.
Fehmarnsund Bridge
This year, we rented a small apartment at 16 Klaus Gross Straße in Burg. During our past 3 trips, we had rented a room with Annie Claussen-Mackaprang, just across the street. But this year, we had called a little too late and her 3 rooms that she rents were full.
Our apartment on Fehmarn
With the help of the Internet, John found a small apartment to rent from Achim Kühl http://www.kuehl-fehmarn.de/index2.html He has a house, converted into small apartments next door to his house. Our apartment included a bedroom with table and 2 chairs, a small kitchen with refrigerator, 2-burner stove, small dining table and 2 chairs, a private bath, terrace, TV - with local German channels only and an alarm clock.
After settling into our room, we went to the grocery store for supplies. It was getting late and we wanted to make sure the grocery store would be open. We went to a fruit stand, then to the new ALDI Market. This was nice, but the selections on some items are limited. So we went next door to the Neukauf Market and did more shopping. We had to purchase food for breakfast, drinks, fruits, breads, bottled water, snacks, soap, toilet paper..... all the essentials for the little apartment.
By now it was almost 7 p.m, so we went to dinner at the Landhaus Kroger Restaurant. They have outside seating set up in front on the sidewalk, as do several of the other restaurants along the main street in Burg. The meal was great and we were feeling better. Food revives me!
We drove over to the Internet Cafe, located behind the Burg Church and rented a computer. We sent out another e-mail to the family and friends back home for about 2,50 Euros. One more stop, before going back to the room, as we still had some daylight left. We went to the Burg Cemetery. John wanted to look for any new gravesites to photograph for his website. We walked the entire cemetery and by 9 p.m. we were done. Lucky for us, it doesn’t get dark till about 10 p.m.
St. Nicolai church in Burg
We went back to our apartment, for snacks, a little typing and a good German Movie!