In the space of a week, I have been to Berlin, Ulm and Marbach - three very different places. Of course, the Marbach trip was the shortest and did not involve an overnight stay, and it is a place I frequently go to for work and sometimes for leisure.
But Berlin and Ulm have not featured on my personal map in quite a while, simply because the work-related trips have not happened because of Covid restrictions.
Ulm was the first of the three trips. Last week Wednesday, I finished work a little earlier than usual and took two trains to arrive there at about 7:00 pm. From the main station in town, I could have taken a taxi, but I decided on the bus. I reached my hotel just before 8:00 and retreated for a quiet evening in my room, watching TV and eating what I had bought along the way.
The next day, Thursday, was an all-day course for my work. I very much enjoyed it - the lecturer knew what she was doing, and it was simply great to be able to focus on one topic for an entire day without interruptions or distractions. As I was at that same academy for my training as a Data Protection Officer (DPO) back in 2014, I love returning there for those good times' sake, and went for a familiar walk during lunch break.
After the course, I had more than two hours before my train back, and decided to walk all the way into town - not having more luggage than my overnight bag, and the path leading downhill plus it being dry weather made for a good long walk that lasted until well after sunset.
I have written about Ulm and my time there before on my blog; here, for instance.
Friday was a quiet day at home, working and getting ready for the weekend with O.K. (at my place). I will tell you more about that in another post.
Monday morning, I started a six-hour train trip (on three different trains) from Ludwigsburg to Berlin. The Federal Association of DPOs, of which I am a member, held a two-day meeting there. I arrived at the meeting room at 3:01 pm, so one minute late.
Good job it was all in the same hotel; the meeting, our booked rooms and all the meals. It was really good to see my fellow DPOs again after we'd only had online meetings since last year's spring! I rekindled old friendships and began one or two new ones, plus of course there was a lot of work-related exchange of knowledge and ideas.
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| The train staff were distributing chocolates - it says "Lieblingsgast", favourite guest (or passenger)! |
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| The bed may not be beautiful, but it was VERY comfortable, and I had it all to myself! |
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| View from my hotel room towards other hotel rooms. Well, I was not in Berlin for fun. |
The train trip home was easier as it involved only one change in Stuttgart, and I was back at my flat at 9:30 pm on Tuesday. After a phone call with O.K., I sat down at my computer and worked for about an hour before finally going to bed.
It was a short night, as I got up early yesterday for a "Big Day" in Marbach. Easy to reach - the local train takes me there in about 15 minutes - but I had a lot of work ahead:
I gave two trainings (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) plus had a session with the Data Protection Committee in between. It was all very good, and I enjoyed the day, as I always enjoy my time in Marbach (I have written about it before, too, as you may remember; for instance, here).
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| The room was full for both sessions, with about 40 in attendance each time. They were all wearing masks, and my training was recorded on camera so that those who could (or would) not attend can watch it later from their desks. |
Lunch break was long enough for me to allow for a little walk, and after a foggy and frosty start, it turned out a beautiful day.
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| I spotted this heron as he/she was flying towards that house. Then I heard it calling out, and discovered that there was a pond in the garden with a rather life-like looking plastic heron, and I wonder whether the real one was trying to make the fake on go away so that he could have a look at the pond and its contents! |
By the time I was home again, it was too close to sunset for a proper after-work walk. Instead, I wrapped up work, had a phone call with my boss to report about Ulm and Berlin, and prepared myself something to eat before settling down for the evening in front of the TV, watching a rerun of a BBC "Marple" episode.
Isn't it a glamorous jet-set life I am leading? :-D
Well it is certainly a very busy life you are leading. I feel quite ashamed saing that I had not allocated time to blogging when I read all that you do. I'm sure that I could not have blogged before I was retired. I used to spend a lot of time in Berlin (before and after The Wall) and it was one of my favourire cities.
ReplyDeleteGraham, there is definitely no shame in having other priorities than blogging!
DeleteFor me, Berlin is too vast and too unfamiliar to be among my favourite cities. But I must admit that I don't know it well; all but one of my Berlin trips have been work-related, with no time for exploring.
It certainly IS a jet set life you're leading! I enjoyed reading about all this! You're a busy woman. I noticed that Graham says he could not have blogged before he was retired. I understand that, as it's hard to find time for blogging and reading and commenting on a regular basis when you also work. Thank you for taking the time to share your life adventures with us!
ReplyDeleteReading and commenting is one thing, writing another, which is why it usually takes me weeks to catch up with what I want to write about.
DeleteReading and commenting is part of my morning coffee, just like for others it is their newspaper or maybe a radio program.
It's good to be busy so long as you can have quiet time afterwards.
ReplyDeleteExactly! I knew I was going to be able to balance the busy part with a quiet rest of the week.
DeleteGlad your trips went well and you were able to stay safe!
ReplyDeleteYes - for a change, all went well with my trains :-)
DeleteI think your work life sounds very interesting. I have been to Berlin several times, mostly on my own. It is a very busy city with lots to see and keep one occupied. Like Graham, I have been before and after the Wall. Thank you for sharing your work time.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome, Rachel.
DeleteLike I said to Graham, I don't know enough of Berlin; my work trips are usually full to the brim and so I only see what I can see from the airport or train station to the hotel and back. My sister loves Berlin and takes any chance she gets for a short stay there, with friends or on her own.
These all sound like interesting trips. I'm sure it was good to see work friends that you had not seen for so long. It was nice too that you were able to get a few walks in despite these being business trips.
ReplyDeleteI was determined to walk in Ulm and am glad the weather was favourable, but I knew from the start that Berlin would be a no-walks trip.
DeleteOne of my fellow DPOs has retired and was only there to say good-bye to us all - it was touching, and he was not the only one to shed a few tears.
It's been so long since I last went anywhere by train, even short distance, that I don't even know how one goes about it to buy a ticket these days... Once upon a time in ancient history (nearly forty years ago) I travelled to Germany by train though. Night train to Hamburg, from there to Koblenz, from there to two other destinations in different directions. And back. Berlin I've never visited.
ReplyDeleteI am sure that just like here, in Sweden almost everything is done online these days, including booking train tickets. Most of my tickets I book from my computer at home, but every now and then I have used the "Bahn" app on my phone. That same app is very useful to check connections while en route, plus it allows me to check in myself on the seat I have booked without anyone having to go near me. That, however, only works on long-distance trains; regional trains have no booking system for seats.
DeleteNight train to Hamburg, that sounds like the title of a mystery!
Not exactly a mystery, but certainly an adventure! :) it was my first time on a night train, my first trip to Germany, and I was travelling alone. The main part of my stay, about a week, was at a Bible school in a village at the river Lahn, with lodging included. But I also made an extra detour to Trier and I remember writing to the tourist office there by letter for info, and also booking a hotel room by letter. It was an adventure worth the effort - it just feels strange now to think back on how one did things before Google and emails and apps and mobile phones! :)
DeleteQuite an adventure! And you are right, the way we did things back then was very different from today. Just the other day, I was talking to my Mum about that and asked her how she found the pension in the Allgäu region where we spent our summer holidays as a family once. She said it had been in a brochure she took home from a travel agency, and booked via phone.
DeleteClaudio Magris wrote about Ulm in his wonderful book, *Danube*.
ReplyDeleteI wonder whether Claudio saw a heron too? The eye beholds beauty everywhere !
I can almost hear the bells ringing out in Ulm Minster, the sound of eternity as John Betjeman once said.
The six hour trip, on three different trains, would not have been a problem for you.
How fortunate to live so close to great places, where so much European history occurred.
I wonder how I should manage on German trains today, with everything automated?
I shall now read your Ulm post from 2016.
Do you have old posts on visits to Berlin and other German cities and towns?
As I write this I am looking at a beautifully designed biography of Helmut Schmidt by Jens Meyer-Odewald, purchased from Oxfam Books here in Glasgow.
It may have come from our Goethe Institute.
The text is in German, but the photos are superb, and the book is a nice object.
I have biographies of Konrad Adenauer and Willy Brandt's autobiography and biography - all in English.
How will Germania fare with Angela Merkel gone?
General De Gaulle spoke of the eternal France, but what would he say of fractured, tribal Europe today?
Jack Haggerty
The heron was in Marbach, not in Ulm. But I am certain there are herons about in Ulm as well, only I have not spotted them. Ulm Minster is one of those places I can visit over and over again and never tire of them.
ReplyDeleteThere is still staff on German trains, but many smaller stations are not manned anymore.
Post about Berlin? Not many. There is one here abd here.
Type "Lindau" into the search box at the top left corner of my blog, and you will find plenty of pictures of that beautiful place. Do the same with "Strasbourg" - yes, I know, it's in France, but it is not so dissimilar to what Ulm might have been like, had it not suffered so much bombing in WWII.
When it comes to Munich and Cologne, you will only find pictures of hotel rooms and trade shows, not of the cities themselves; same is true about Salzburg.
Biographies - I love reading them, as you know from my book reviews, especially autobiographies. Admittedly, none of the German politicians you mentioned have yet interested me enough to read much about them.
Fractured and tribal, that is exactly it. And it worries me.
I can sympathize about work trips to different cities where one is hard-pressed to remember what city you are in. I had business trips all over the US when I was working. Too often, the hotels, (in my case) planes, rental cars, etc, all began to look the same. People would say I was so lucky to travel (and I was) but most of the time it meant 10+ hour work days on site--and then more work in the evening when you returned to your hotel to write reports or catch up with emails. If I was going someplace I was really interested in, I would take a day or two of personal time off either before or after work obligations to see the sites (paying for the hotel and other related expenses on my own dime). Or sometimes, in major cities, I would check out the cultural offerings and buy a concert/ballet ticket to things I enjoyed if I could work it into my schedule. Glad you were able to get out and about in Ulm.
ReplyDeleteI was really looking forward to walking in Ulm and am glad it was possible, both because of the weather and enough time.
DeleteYou did well in planning some of your business trips back then in a way that you could see more of the area and even get in some culture.
All things considered, business travel nowadays is often more tiring than it is useful, and since we can attend most meetings from home, there is not much reason for it.