hmpf

What's up with the German rail system? Twice in the past two months I've had to wait at train stations that gave the impression that I had accidentally stepped into a time machine, landing me in an apocalyptic future (or, perhaps, not in the future but in Pripyat). A first taste was Flensburg central station, in mid-August:

Lower right corner: see all the grass and trees there? That's not a park or a garden - that's a platform. It's not currently in use - obviously - but even for an unused platform, it's *spectacularly* untended. It's like guerilla gardening taken to a whole new level, or a kind of test run for The World Without Us. Here's another picture. Take a look at those nice wild roses...

And today, I had a ten minute wait at Frankfurt Ostbahnhof. Thankfully - for without those ten minutes, I wouldn't have been able to identify the train station as, well, a train station. Or as a building intended for human use, come to think of it. I kept walking around it, looking for 'the *real* train station'. There are no adequate online pictures of the desolation. This doesn't begin to do it justice. Note that that page is three years old. It's considerably worse now; Frankfurt Ost now has its own version of the Flensburg guerilla garden.

It also smells like a toilet.

frogspace just posted about this, and I think I need to post the link in my LJ, as well, for all you non-German people reading my LJ who may think about coming to visit me someday... ;-)

The Germany Survival Bible:

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,406007,00.html

- full of useful advice on how to survive German traffic, German honesty, and German imaginary diseases.

Shame I didn't do this: http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,416564,00.html (It's fairly unusual for jewellers - more something for carpenters etc. Technically, I *am* a journeyman (journeywoman? *g*), though, and I probably will never be a master as I'm not actively working in the trade and hence cannot gain the necessary experience.)

ETA: This seems particularly relevant:

>>Personal invitations of all kinds are to be taken at face value. "We're having a party, please do come," means "We're having a party, please do come," and not "We feel rude not inviting you in front of these other people, but surely you'll have the grace not to show up." Similarly, "Come over to my house and we'll have tea," means that you should start planning a date and time for that pleasant event. It is not to be confused with the Anglo-American "We should get together sometime," which means "I hope I never see you again."<<

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,416920,00.html

So, when I say that I love having guests, I *do* mean it. (So come and visit, already!)