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To Prague
Finally, 2007-August-18, getting on the train at the my local station at 17:36, the trip officially started. Actually I suffered a terrible headache, which I attributed to the day before, carrying back a very heavy bag from Stuttgart. I had two notebooks and an assortment of cabling, books, etc. in that bag which made it so heavy. However, the luggage I took with me onto the trip was even much heavier. So how would this turn out?
Within only an hour and half, I was already in the third country; having started out in Switzerland I entered Germany 
after having been in Austria for a few minutes. The route from St. Margrethen to Bregenz and on to Lindau is very beautiful, right along the shore of Lake of Constance. Especially in the evening, during sunset, it makes for a very beautiful view.
On the night train from Augsburg to Prague, I had booked a sleeper. Surely I didn't want to miss that train. From my frequent trips to Stuttgart over the previous twenty months, I did have some experience with Deutsche Bahn, experience with was not quite reassuring in terms of punctuality and surcharges. So I took the precaution to go to Augsburg well ahead of the time I really needed to be there, just in case there would be some delay on the way. It turned out to be a wise thing to do, because indeed there was a delay from Lindau to Ulm.
Even though I was assured there would not be a surcharge in the ICE from Ulm to Augsburg, I was ordered to pay a surcharge again on the train. If only they once could decide whether this surcharge is to be paid or not and handle it the same all the time...
Despite some headache, delays and the surcharge, I made it safely for the overnight City Night Line to Prague. While most of the people in the carriage seemed to be Koreans, there were two Germans in the same compartment as me. While for them it was the last part of a long trip, coming home by train all the way from Namibia, it was the very beginning of my own trip...
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