#aij

I got incredibly bored, so have a picture of Alioth in a dress

Thursday 28 May 1998

Bonjour a tout le monde!  Guten Morgen!

Today would be the day that I rode to Munich from Paris Gare de l'Est.  I already had my ticket in first class ready for the long journey on the "Mozart" Eurocity, which also went to Vienna via Salzburg.  My apartment room in Englschalking would not be available until 5 PM Friday afternoon, so I stayed a night in a hotel along Schillerstraße.

It was about 5:30 AM and the sun was about to rise in Paris' 11ème district.  Breakfast would not be ready until at least 6:45 AM.  I took a shower in a room in the hallway.  THen I went down the spiral steps of the hostel, and went for a walk along Rue Faubourg.  I made sure to take a photo of a 1970s Citroen DS hatchback.  Those DS series have a low hatch which makes their design interesting.

I returned to the hostel, ate breakfast, which was just a couple of breadrolls, butter, jam and coffee, went up to fetch my luggage, checked out and walked along Rue Trousseau to the Ledru Rollin metro station.  I had to take the westbound M8 train to République and change to the M5 for Gare de l'Est.  I went upstairs to the Grandes Lignes platforms and found the train for Munich and Salzburg.  I was in the rear car, that would be good in the long run, as the train would change direction in Stuttgart Hbf.  Note, in 1998, it was not common knowledge, that in the 2020's, an underground through station in Stuttgart Hbf would be built and replace the long distance platforms.  I had a little time to buy the latest "Canard enchaîné" humor newspaper, full of political cartoons.  Its contemporary publication competition is Charlie Hebdo, which has edgier cartoons.  

The train left about 7:50 AM.  I had my trusty Aiwa HS-JS 475 loaded with an audiocassette and two fresh AA batteries.  I tuned into NRJ 100.3 FM, and listened to it as long as I could retain the signal.  While the train passed Pantin/Ella Fitzgerald station heading to Noisy le-Sec, the Festival Roblès show played a parody of Nomads "Yakalélo", called "Yak de Lolo", a comedy song about going to a beach resort on Africa.  The train went along to pass by Meaux.  By that time, the radio was playing "La tribu de Dana" by Manau, a rap group from somewhere near St. Brieuc in Brittany.  I lost the NRJ signal somewhere about 20 km east of Meaux, but I managed to tune in another song.  There was an English-language song playing but I could not quite get the song title or artist.  The following song "tout n'est qu'un rêve" by Alias Lj, was in French.  The train sped up and maintained its speed until it arrived in Nancy.  The following stop was Strasbourg.  The train stopped to change locomotives, from the SNCF to DB.  It soon crossed the Rhine and crossed into Germany through Kehl Hbf.  There was no passport control between France and Germany, but there was a ticket check, which was not bad.  The staff had changed at Strasbourg.

The train did not go to Oldenburg, but went north through Baden Baden and stopped at Karlsruhe.  While I was recording some radio, I did not realize until days later, that I had accidentally recorded footage from the 29th of May 1998 on top of the footage I recorded on 28th May, effectively erasing it altogether.  I recorded part of a 29th May 1998 Voice of America AM broadcast, when Barry Goldwater, and actor Phil Hartman had both died the same day, imagine that.  I managed to stop, before arriving in Karlsruhe, when an original version of "Dreams" by The Corrs was playing, and later "Küssen Verboten" by Die Prinzen, a band from Leipzig in the former East Germany, with Sebastian Krumbiegel as lead singer.  Prior to 1991, they were called the "Herzbuben" or "Knaves of Hearts".    

Karlsruhe is an interesting city, especially for the trains.  If you remember the y = x^2 graph from algebra, this is kind of the track map of the Basel to Frankfurt via Mannheim, conceptually speaking.  Karlsruhe would be at the origin and to get to Baden Baden, you would be going west and then south.  Only in February 2022 did I visit Karlsruhe for a couple of days, and by then, the track orientation made sense.  Prior to that, it was confusing.  After leaving Karlsruhe, the train went a bit east, then north, and east again stopping in Pforzheim, then east again through Vaihingen (Enz) and ending up in Stuttgart Hbf, somewhere in the middle of the long distance train platform area, long before the Bonatzbau would be gutted to dig the new underground platform area, as a result of Stuttgart21.  While I was waiting for the train to change direction in Stuttgart, I tuned into 102.3 FM, which was called Z FM, long before it was renamed "The Eagle 102.3".  There was the Morning Show going on, and they were interviewing comedian Mark Curry.  It was funny.  Also, the song "Love's taken over" by Chanté Moore.  I think before Stuttgart21 draws to a close and the old surface tracks are dismantled, I will always remember "Love's Taken Over" from the time that long distance platforms at Stuttgart Hbf still existed.  Also the year before, Saturday 2nd August 1997, I had visited Stuttgart and bought a new point and shoot camera.  My Vivitar camera broke on Friday 1st August and could not take flash photography but it could do everything else.  I had to make do with the point and shoot camera until I bought the Samsung Evoca 115, a quantum leap ahead of the Vivitar, which could make a timestamp on film.

Eventually the train left Stuttgart Hbf and went to Ulm through Bad Cannstatt, Esslingen(Neckar) and Plochingen.  It was a bit slow but the scenery was nice.  Already in 2023, the section from Wendlingen to Ulm is now high speed and when Stuttgart Flughafen is complete, trains will go underground from Stuttgart Hbf, come out in tunnel partway, stop in the Flughafen underground station, and then go high speed to Ulm.  At least you can experience from my story, what life was like before Stuttgart21.  

The train stopped in Ulm.  Ulm until 2022 was the place where trains to Friedrichshafen and Lindau were required to change from electric to diesel.  Also, trains for Sigmaringen have their eastern terminus at a head platform or "Stumpfengleis" on DMU's, diesel multiple units.  The train left Ulm for Günzburg, Augsburg and eventually arrived in München Hbf.  I had my reservation at Hotel Helvetia on Schillerstraße, not far from the station.  The strange thing about the Hotel Helvetia, is that the lift has to be called from upstairs.  Years later that was changed.  The second floor, or the first floor in Europe as opposed to the ground floor, was where the reception was located.  I had a single room with a shared bath, for about 60 D-Mark, breakfast included.  In Euro that would be 30.00 €.  

Already I had a bank account in Munich, so I did not need to reestablish one.  This would be essential, for receiving monthly wage payments.  I had my ATM card with me, so I could withdraw funds as needed.  I went into town and rode the U Bahn around.  I have some stories about the 28th May 2018 which will say more about what I did that evening.  I remember there was a major exposition of gymnastics going on that weekend.

The next day I would go to the offices of the HomeExchange (do not remember right now the real name of the company) in Munich.  I would receive my key to the apartment in Englschalking and move in.  Hope you will join me for that.

Bonne Nuit!  Gute Nacht!

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A little more from the previous day that I wrote in 2018, you can tell how much time has passed since I had written this.