Sunday, July 11,
1982
After a final
breakfast at the youth hostel, at 7:20 we went to get our 1 GBP/$1.75 deposit back for the room key
and headed to the South Kensington Station. Sue had the change to get a ticket
from a vending machine, while I stood in line at the ticket window. The couple
workers were busy collecting money from the vending machines and did not come
to sell us tickets. Went ahead to catch the Circle Line tube to Victoria, where
I had to go to the excess fare window to pay the whole amount of 40 pence/70
cents. I was given a cash register receipt to give to the ticket collector. We
walked up to the Sealink bus loading area by 8:00 and asked about the bus to
Dover. The answer was “You’re alright!” After a couple minutes there was a call
for the bus to Dover. Our Seapasses were checked and the driver made us put our bags in
the back of the bus. We left about 8:20, crossing the Vauxhall Bridge and
heading straight for Greenwich, beyond which we got on a highway that went on
and on through farmland.
Arrived in Dover bout 10:10, at the bottom of the white chalk cliffs (Ice Age!).
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| White Cliffs of Dover |
We
retrieved our bags that were covered in black dust, and went through a passport
check, ticket check, and boarded a relatively small boat.
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| Dover to Oostende boat ticket |
We went in search of
seats; all those on the deck were taken. Inside precariously stacked suitcases
fell on Sue and scratched her arm. We found a couple seats behind the bar, then
took turns going above decks to take pictures. The boat left about 11:00 and as
far as we can tell it wasn’t on any schedule. Most of the people seemed to be
with a Cosmos tour group, so maybe this was a special crossing. We ate our lunch
of crab paté sandwiches with drinks and crisps/potato chips.
At 15:00/16:00
Belgium time we arrived in Oostende and went through the lengthy debarkation
process with passport checks and customs. We were right at the train station,
and decided to take the first non-supplement train to Köln/Cologne in hopes of
getting a train to København/Copenhagen.
Although our original plan had been to do two weeks on BritRail in the United
Kingdom and two weeks in Scandinavia, because of the BritRail strike we now
have done one week in London, and will do three weeks in Scandinavia.
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| Eurail Pass outside |
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| Eurail Pass inside |
We settled into a
roomy 1st class compartment, while our neighbors kept popping over to ask did
they need reservations, how to open the windows, and finally was this 1st class? The train was scheduled to leave at 17:07, but it must have waited for
the next boat and left at 17:40. Traveled through flat farmland with an
occasional red brick building with a tile roof. After a passport check we were
in Germany and the customs man said “bon appétit!” since we were leaning over
our tuna fish sandwiches and carrots. We were still behind schedule, but had
caught up when we arrived on time in Köln at 21:30. We had time to admire the
Kölner Dom/Cathedral and were checking
out a sidewalk chalk drawing when we heard a crash behind us. A record album
had been smashed. We then noticed people our age throwing vinyl albums
frisbee-style at the Dom where they would ricochet and smash in the pavement
below. We left to avoid injury.
We heard and saw the
celebrations of Italia supporters who were chanting, waving flags, and beeping
car horns in the streets. Wow! Italy had beaten West Germany for the World Cup
in soccer! And we were in West Germany…
We returned to
the train station and determined that our 1st class car would stop at the ‘B’
section of the platform. I heard an announcement that our train would be 15
minutes late, but within a few minutes a train arrived. But only the first
three cars! We boarded the car that was half 1st class and was headed to København. A lady asked me where
the rest of the train was, and a guy asked where our train was going. So I get
to practice German. We were joined by a man and a pair of girls. I thought we
would wait for the rest of the train before departing, but we left on time. We
flew, and we went so fast that our last car jiggled uncertainly. It felt like
we had a runaway driver and we would soon leave the tracks. But we arrived
safely in Dusseldorf where the man got off. We left our compartment door open
for ventilation, and attracted a crowd of guys ogling us four girls. When the
conductor came along, he told the guys to go stand in 2nd class, and
told the Inter-Rail girls to go to 2nd class. Sue and I closed up
the compartment and went to sleep.
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