Germany                         Spandau                14 September 2025


   I suppose I'll write about how the day went, while I wait for my
   Magdeburg-Halle train to depart.  My good friend from Berlin and I
   decided to meet up today and wander around the Zitadel Spandau and
   its surroundings.  The forecasters had promised so-so weather, but
   Spandau gave us a rather warm welcome: the sun even peeked out from
   time to time.  The sky, though cloudy in places, wasn't the least bit
   grey.  Schön!  It's been a while since I've felt such a genuine sense
   of delight just from good weather.  Though I think it wasn't just the
   weather, but also the excellent spot for a walk and my friend's
   company.  All in all, it was a good day.

   At one point, just after we'd climbed the tower, the wind blowing
   across the empty square carried the sound of music up to us.  The
   musicians were nowhere to be seen: as we discovered later, they were
   standing right beneath us, which is why we hadn't spotted them.  When
   we came down from the tower and continued our walk around the castle
   grounds, the musicians fell silent for a while.  We joked that as
   soon as we moved away, the chunks with them had unloaded, and that
   was it, no more music.  It was all the more amusing when, as soon as
   we returned to that part of the castle, it was once again filled with
   music.  Living in the Matrix, huh?  That explains why almost all the
   payphones in Germany have their receivers ripped off.

   On our way back to the station, two young girls suddenly came up to
   us and asked if we had any change.  Nope.  "Es tut uns leid, wir
   haben kein Bargeld".  Just as my friend and I were about to comment
   on the absurdity and amusement of the situation, we heard the sound
   of someone lamenting in Russian behind us.  I turned around and
   exclaimed: "You should have just asked in Russian!"  I can't recall
   their exact reply, unfortunately, but they just laughed it off.
   Funny.  I love situations like that.

   Right, the journey home.  Deutsche Bahn, true to form, was being a
   pain.  After arriving at Stendal a few minutes late, none of the
   passengers from our train made the connection, no matter how fast we
   rushed across two platforms: we got there only to see our train
   slowly crawling away from us.  The next one was in an hour.  But why
   would I want to hang around on the platform?  The choice was either
   to wander around town, or to hop on a train towards Salzwedel, get to
   Hohenwulsch, discover that the connection from one platform to the
   other takes five minutes and is built in God knows what way, and then
   catch a train back to Magdeburg.  Why?  Well, for one, it's fun.  For
   another, the train has a toilet and I can charge my laptop and phone.
   And I wouldn't have to freeze on the platform.





              Copyright (c) 2025 contact@renecoignard.com

                       Powered by Weblog v1.18.9