Kiel-Hamburg-Nuremburg: do trains award frequent flier miles?

We left Kiel, a place of comfort and rest, a place of long talks over
sushi and wine to go south. we had found our way to the local bakery
each morning to purchase fresh rolls and croissants. We had
breakfasted in peace and jazz  around a table with friends. We had
sampled fresh cheese and bread, wandered among restored farm houses,an
art exhibit and an old-fashioned county fair with the children. we had
eaten gallettes and drank beer shanties once more in an outdoor cafe.

Our first stop after kiel was hamburg, an hour away by train.  Karin
and her kids meet us at the platform. we watched as a film crew filmed
a mock assault, presumably for a television program. stowing our
luggage at a locker in the station, I feel like an international spy.
How would I pass this key unseen to my fellow agent?

we make our way by trolley to Planten und Blomen, a local park
featuring water slides, hand-driven waterpumps and the usual array of
swings and see-saws. Karin was so thoughtful and brought a bathing
suit for my daughter as hers was inconveniently located in our luggage
at the station. Most probably a spy was trying on her bikini at that
exact moment.

the children do not gel. hers are still tired from their recent
vacation and my 6 year old, just between the two in age, saw no reason
to befriend anyone who did not jump immediately into the sprinklers on
such a hot day. Karin and I chat, drink coffee and nibble on local
pastry. My mother reads a novel.

then we sweep the kids toward the bus and make our way across town to
meet her husband, my friend David. We can eat lunch with him during
his lunchtime near his office. sadly, we get off the bus a stop too
soon and drag ourselves over the molten sidewalk along the harbor.
protected from the water, our way is surprisingly long and breezefree.
we arrive bedraggled at clever young professional hangout called the
Beach Club. Imported sand and boardwalks try to trick us into feeling
tropical. the service is terrible and the food forgetable, but it is
good to see David again. He tells us about his new job, his
achievement in landing at the firm is another triumph of luck, balls
and persistance.

then we are on our way back to the main station to retrieve the spy
luggage and our a 4 and a half hour trip to nuremburg.

we are met at the station by grandpa and wife. they hug, we receive.
we take a trolley to their car. my 6 year old and I follow the
stepgranny home while mom rides with grandpa and the luggage to the
flat where we will spend the next two nights. we share a little fruit
and conversation, then retire for the night.

After breakfast at our pension, we meet grandpa and ma for a day in
the city. We admire the longest stretch of existing Roman wall in
Europe. this while survived the Allied forces destruction of the city.
The castle has been well restored and provides a view of the city.
churches and bridges are the city's well known landmarks. my daughter
and I spend time people watching during some of the church visits.

We then eat Nuremburger sausages and kraut, washed down with beer. Our
next stop is ruins of another castle within the town. Finally we enjoy
a kidfriendly visit to a toy museum and cafe, complete with plenty of
hands-on play. stepgrandma and I sneak into a toy shop to choose a
present for my daughter's upcoming birthday.

In the late afternoon we return to the grandparents apartment where we
meet Luisa and her mother. Luisa is a sunny seven year old who
immediately befriends my daughter. the two take off on scooters around
the neighborhood, then spend time climbing barefoot and coloring
pictures. We pry them apart for dinner, but they soon reunite for more
play. eventually our new friend must go to bed as she will have school
the next day. grandpa, daughter and I take a walk with the scooter
along the river Pegnitz to another ruined castle. In a grassy field I
step into a hidden hole and fall hard to my hands and knees but am
unhurt. my daughter scrapes herself for the tenth time while pumping
the scooter and this time draws a fair amount of blood. I carry her,
grandpa the scooter most of the way home. with bandaid and booboo
cream she recovers.

we say our goodnights and spend a mostly peaceful night in our tiny
but comfortable rooms. we have a shower and sink in the room, which is
a wonderful asset, but the toilet is along the hall, past a steep
staircase. every time my mother awakes for the bathroom, I panic
thinking my daughter is wandering half asleep in the corridor. she had
woken up the night before at 2 am, bursting for the bathroom but
unsure of where it was and where she was. I'd wager she also did not
know the room or city where she awoke either.

morning brought one more breakfast at the pension. I cannot believe
that I am actually sick of white bread. my gut and I have finally had
our fill of the charming bread rolls and I long for my healthy cereal
at home. grandparents pick us up with the car to visit st john's
cemetary, the largest and most noble in Nuremburg. Both have
grandparents and parents interned there and I am startled by the size
of the imposing monuments to both families. we enjoy lunch in a
Baroque Garden and the food and service are excellent. Mom enjoys
pasta with local mushrooms in season. my daughter and I devour an
enormous salad with grilled chicken. I sneak off to pay the bill,
grandpa is insulted. My daughter falls again with the scooter, I patch
her up again. She is at this point in the trip, covered in bruises and
scabs. I wonder if she falls so much because she needs more attention
or is this a growth spurt in which she no longer knows the length of
her limbs and extremities? Questions haunt a parent.

I explain that lunch was my treat because we needed to celebrate their
upcoming 40th anniversary. Mollified, grandpa says, "But that's not
until next week." I reply, "We won't be here next week."

We are delivered to the train station. we thank them for their
hospitality, they thank us for coming. Their gift is bringing their
granddaughter, says grandpa. we promise to stay in touch.

we have time for a treat in an ice cream parlor, purchasing a birthday
card and browsing the bookstore. then we find our train for the 4 and
a half hour ride to berlin. I review the events in my mind, how I have
done my duty in bringing my daughter to visit the somewhat estranged
grandfather in the old country. I recall how, before sitting down to
dinner grandpa gravely presents an envelope containing "the money he
owes his granddaughter for the last three birthdays." I decide I have
earned a few points on the big heaven scoreboard and settle in to
reading Pippi Longstocking aloud to the almost birthday girl.

Comments

[Philip Jackson]

In Japan, some Shinkansen (bullet trains) offer travel miles too, just like airlines. That's because a lot of people are regularly traveling by train. I once traveled the Trans-Siberian Railway from Vladivostok to Perm, and even though the train was slow, I had no complaints because the vastness of Siberia is just beautiful beyond words. You can see a lot of things that you would never see from the air.

[Serena Schreiber]

Oh how I love train travel. Someday I'll do the routes you suggested. I've done the Canadian Rockies Calgary-Vancouver and Madrid-Paris. So many tracks, so little time!