Transportation...

In our travels through Germany, public transportation was a necessity.

My oldest son was an expert and filled us in on the "ropes" of how to ride the rail.

{The following are his pictures.}

There were schedules...

and stations...

and signs.

Speaking no very little German, we learned to read everything very carefully,

especially train names and times.

There were different trains for different lengths and speeds of trips.

During our stay we traveled on:

city buses

regional trains

IC trains

and

Thalys trains

 This station was in Bonn, Germany.

Do you see the two tracks in this section?

  You had to make sure you were at the right place at the right time.

My first trip was stressful. I wasn't completely sure we were on the right train.

As it turned out, we were fine and on our way to our destination. 

On this particular train, seats could be reserved for an extra fee.

Our seat were not reserved.

We only got booted out of our seats once...

it wasn't bad, our replacements were very nice and showed us their tickets.

We quickly found new seats and completed the trip uninterrupted.

On the Thayls train to Belgium, our seats were reserved. Once we found our "wagon" we were set. The train must have raced across the country at speeds up to 200 mph.

It was quiet and smooth, really very relaxing.

Most times, it was very quiet, with small amounts of talking. A lot of people read or even slept.

On the regional trains and buses, no reservations were taken so you just found a seat.

No worries.

Riding public transportation was quite an experience for us, very efficient.

No wonder it's so popular!