Germany 2022

Monday 1st August

Put off packing thinking there were plenty of busses I failed to get a shower and almost missed the 96 into Cardiff. Stuffed with food (as a result of emptying fridge) I still couldn't resist the McDonalds offer. Bus was OK, not as easy to sleep as expected.

Tuesday 2nd

London was OK. Arrived 5.30am and walked from memory. Footpathe to the Mall was closed, so had to walk through Regents Park and the down and outs sleeping there. Very sweaty. Eurostar check in crowded and long. They didn't want the case opened. Eurostar was OK. ICE was crowded and I couldn't check in to my seat as suggested, it was supposedly reserved for regular travellers. Then the train was an hour late getting into Cologne, and was cancelled there so lots of unhappy people going to Frankfurt. Refused to pay for loos.

Got to Wuppertal and checked in. Great relief to have a shower. 

Did the Wiperthal monorail from end to end. Worried about ticket till I saw the 9E ticket advertised on their ticket machines. Back to hotel and discovered charging problems. Computer was being sensitive and lead did not work. Phone charged from television USB port. Good night sleep.

Wednesday 3rd

Today I had five trains to catch, four changes, starting at 9am. Every single one was delayed, by anything varying from 10minutes to half an hour. Luckily, all of the connctions worked.It was very hot and humid. Waiting was quite uncomfortable. Wansee by 6pm. Walked to the club.

Thursday 4th

Jury meeting at breakfast was quite relaxed. Jens Villumsen IJ DEN Chair, Dr Rainer KKornfeld IJ AUT, Stephan Zeyn IJ GER, Rurchard Britzke RJ GER and Daniel Wachter RJ GER. No racing as there was no wind. Threats to go out at 6pm did not materialise. Forest fire was the main topic of discussion. Went on boat  trip in evening and saw the smoke, and Potstan etc.

Friday 5th

Long day on the water. Afloat at 10.30, first race did not start until 3pm and he then ran 4 races. Ashore around 7pm. Protest time limit about 8pm. One boat arbitrated? into 30% penalty. ? was discussion that appendix T allows arbitration for boats, not for jury protests. Interesting.

Saturday 6th

Got out on time but with a very unstable notherly it took 4 attempts before the RO was happy enough to let race 5 proceed. At the end of it he put AP over A up and we all come in. Well it was very shifty. Now working on photos etc. Took forerever to sort out the mess Missed doing some and had to renumber and re-upload them, and still havent sent the link to people.

Sunday 7th

No breakfast, and problems getting out of the club grounds. The little blue button was not at all as obvious as the card reader, and why would you have a button to open the gate if you have a card reader. 

Then got on a train going the wrong way, changed to the S bahn at Potstan, and luckily, it wasn't as crowded as the RE Train.

McDonalds for breakfast, Coffee not a success but McRib was nice. A&O hotel check in was 3pm, no early check in but they had a bag room, so that took care of the bag and I was off to Berlin. Saw the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, on way to Technical Museum. Admission was free, Sunday? Great Museum, lots of trains and boats and planes. Came back via Checkpoint Charlie which was a mecca for tourists and beggars. Nice walk back along canal/river. Had to ride the subway, got my 10 miles in. No ice cream at McD's so nuts and chocolate biccies for dinner.

Monday 8th

Having been considering the Goltzein Viaduct and lack of accommodation nearby, decided that the best option was two nights in Leipsig, so booked hotel before breakfast. Good feed and it is 09.30, what to do? 

Got out walked the River Speer, or so I thought. The architeture was wonderful. Turned out I was following the canal, but it got me the pictures I wanted. In order to get the 10miles in I had to go out in the evening and visited Aldi.

Tuesday 9th

Decided to take RE3 and have a 2hr wait in Pasewalk was OK as I could get the RE4, rather than having to get on a bus. It was rather nice. Got to Szczecin and the Moxy was rather nice. Had a drink with Chris Lindsey who is now chair of a World Sailing Committee.

Wednesday 10th 

Fleet Umpire Seminar. All day in the hotel but lunch was included. Finished Aldi purchases for dinner. Came across one of Bill Brockbanks web pages, spent the evening playing with HTML, then discovered I could do similar on Google sites.

Thursday 11th

Another day in the classroom and the Umpire test. Had to rush to get through it. I hate those diagrams, I hate tests. Results tomorrow. Went to the dinner restaurant with the group and then pulled out. Came back to the hotel and did the laundry, in the sink! and started on the Gin.

Friday 12th

Passed the test, but only just, thanks to some silly mistakes. Got to Lidl and collected goodies. Afternoon at the regatta venue and afloat.

Sat & Sunday 

Afloat and Umpiring. Failed to pass the practical. Photos at:- POL Umpire Seminar

Had all day on Sunday with Chris and had to drive every time so had a feeling that something was wrong but with no feedback I failed to change anything - suggestion was get a Team Racing Umpire test, but I know I would fail that on complex situations.

Finished off the Gin and tried to do photos but there were over 600 of them.

Monday 15th

Train to Leipzig. RE at 11.01 to Pasewalk was late but the connecting 11.44 RE3 waited, so I got a seat to Falkenber 15.10 even though the train was crowded. Had to stand on 1600 RE10 from Falkenber to Leipzig (an hour) and the train was late. Then the check in to the A&O took forever and the room was hot.

Finished the photos and got them on line.

Tuesday 16th

The plan was to do the Goltzsch Viaduct which meant 0940 train to Netzschkau. That meant a change
at Werdau to the VBG RB2. Would have worked well but the train was showing Zwickau on it and was leaving in that direction and there had been announcements (which I didn't understand) so I got off. Getting bored I changed platform and got on the next RB2 to Zwickau. Driver was nice and waited for me. It was interesting, the main line train went into town with tram track, sort of dual guage track. It then turned into the train I wanted and got me to Netzchkau. Went over the viaduct but the top looked modern.

Walked 1.6km to the viaduct - it is massive, well worth the trip. Pretty hot walking back into town, and the return train was late (and I was dying for a pee - only possible on the train) 

Decided to visit Dresden as it was only 2pm so off at Reichenbach (Vogtl) ob BF (Nothing to do with Sherlock Homes). Route into Dresden was quite scenic, must find out what the hills are. Dresden itself seemed very modern - so only had half an hour there. Bought a pizza, I thought, turned out I had bought 2, may be a minimum credit charge? As the train left it crossed the Elbe and you could see the Cathedral and the old town - needs a proper visit.

Back in Leipzig by 7pm.

Wednesday 17th

A full day on the trains. Breakfast at 7am and finished off the S5X at 0823 by going to Halle. Next train 09.02 RE9 to Kassel was no problem, apart from my getting on to the wrong train. Luckily I realised in time and got on the right train. The RE 30 was Cancelled but got on the RB5 at 12.15, (the original

plan) slow train to Fulda. It was really packed, but I had a seat. The RE50 at 1407 which was late 1412 and late into Frankfurt. Didn't wander very far before getting the RE2 to Koblenz. The Rhine Gorge was great, really what I wanted but too fast. It was 20mins late and I missed the connection to Dusseldorf costing me an hour. That meant I had time for a pizza, tried for a milkshake at McD's only to be served a plain ice cream with chocolate sauce. Got to hotel which is OK except the internet doesn't work. Internet TV though. Room very hot, opened windows which made it very noisy, with them closed it is OK.

Thursday 18th

Greatly dissapointed with McDonalds as their Breakfast menu did not have a fatburger in it. Bacon or ham and cheese toasty only, but the hot Chocolate was nice even if I didn't get the milk I ordered..

 Morning wandering around Dusseldorf taking photos of statues and watching the boats on the Rhine. Shop at Lidl and had lunch in hotel, further walk and getting bored. Checked validity of ticket - good for trams. However, had intended to go to Essen, but the train was late so went for a tram ride instead. Somewhat surprised when it turned into an underground, but achieved the object of crossing the Rhine. Back from Dortmund Messe on RB39 - also late.

Friday 19th

Reluctant to get up and get going but was out around 10am. Skipped breakfast and on RE1 to Aachen, arrived around 11.45. 

Wandered into town and indulged in McD (Rib, double cburger and large choc). The medeaval centre, cathedral, town hall were interesting, could be worth a visit to the museum. ICE at 14.21 (10mins late) to Brussels. Check in opened at 1600. They wanted to see the leatherman, but were happy with it. More things on sale in the waiting room. 17.56 Eurostar, got into London at 1900. Tube Strike so had to walk to Paddington (40mins) 20.48 was running on time. Milkshake time. Train was noisy and missed the Barry train, so caught the 304 bus. Saved walking up the hill, nice as it was raining - well lightly.

Back in the flat by midnight.

Photo album can be seen Here