Skip to main content

Federal Republic of Germany - by the numbers

 1 week trip. Helps to have a direct flight into München or Munich. Capital of state of Bavaria. In the very south of the country. 

This was one of those inspired solo wanderings bereft of specific timetables but just enjoying the journey. It did help to have handy tech in the pocket in the form of a DB planner that ran on my iOS enabled phone.  This is an app that is hosted by the national railways in Germany. The railway is branded Deutsche Bundesbahn or German Railway.  A complicated network of rail that supports both passenger and goods traffic over 20,000 miles of track.

DB can shuttle people all over the country from its northern fringes by the ocean to the southern borders and lands east and west. Some of its trains run right into neighbor states like Switzerland, Austria and Belgium to name a few.

I happened to visit in its south and western borders for the week I spent. Below are some stunning stats to show how quick one can travel with an efficacious transit network.



Train miles traveled = 3,000 km or 1,864 miles (distance equivalent to Delhi to Kanyakumari)

Countries entered /visited = 4 (Germany, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland)

Rivers crossed on foot (on a bridge) = 8 (of which 7 were in Germany and 1 in Austria)

Wupper in Wupperstal (to see the hanging monorail)

 




Neckar (in Heidelberg)





Rhine (in Basel)





Danube (including the perceived source of this river, Donauschigen in the Black Forest region)





Regen (in Regensburg)





Main (in Frankfurt)



Isar (in Munich)


River Salzac (Salzburg)



Beers drank to nourish the weary feet =  21 (at about 3 a day) :)




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Charges attract

It is said that opposites attract meaning people with contrary viewpoint sometimes find chemistry to be together.  But I'm referring to a modern twist where people are merely attracted towards a common place because their uber communication device aka smart phone is about to die.  The charging station. From airports to hotel lobbies or even bathrooms, when in need they are attracted to this power outlet like moths to a flame or a junkie to a needle. A whole new business of supplying these hyper connected folks is now born whose lifesaver product is a backup charge. Asian tourists perpetually carry a phone sized battery pack stuck to their latest Apple phone updating their status to folks in Hong Kong or Shanghai or Bangalore as they pose for selfies with weird facial expressions and fingers pointed out in a letter V. Vain? PS:  I dis'charged' my blogger duties making this insightful observation as my phone is about to breathe it's last and my flight gets call...

Costa Rica

 Our first foray into Central America. That elongated isthmus that forms the geographic boundary between two vast continents of North and South America. Specifically landing for NYE 2026 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Capital city for this region that does not have its own army, instead relying on its big bro the Estados Unidos to the north is a metropolis of approx. 500K people. Largely wilderness and with both a Pacific and Carribean/Atlantic coast the country is rich in bio diversity. In Spanish it means the rich coast so named by Columbus landing in early 16th century and being mesmerized by the local tribes sporting gold jewelry.   Our stay included visiting the foothills of a large strato volcano called Arenal and enjoying the naturally heated thermal baths for a while.  Lunching amidst lush forest and watching indigenous species of avian noise makers fly overhead. Toucans, some sort of pea hens, multiple song bird species completed the spectacle. Iguanas and a lonel...

On the go(zay masta) in Japan again

Cool cat the Japanese are Tokyo at dusk  My second visit to this land of the rising sun after almost a decade. Back then clearly I was wet behind the ears product manager and likely didn’t pay attention to all (efficient) things Japanese. But today I did and of course continue to be impressed. It is as much the obvious stuff like on time travel that is both clean and comfortable and all that which makes it possible. The impressive landmark and landscapes that these humans have put together despite their cramped (or because of it) surroundings and precarious geological conditions could amaze a novice architect among us. But it’s also the little things that someone had to think about which have a phenomenal impact on day to day lives that make the Japanese stand apart. Below are few random examples- 1. Providing a very fine machined wooden toothpick in every packet of wooden chopsticks. The said chapsticks are simply set on the To Go counter of any food vendor/ convenience store wher...