Germany, Here I Come!

Unlike France with its dominating capital Paris, Germany is more like an amalgamation of powerful cities and regions that are competing with each other and highly specialised in their respective fields. So, when it comes to choosing a city, be it for holiday, studies or business, Germany has a lot of choices.

Eventually, I settled on Münich for its lovely atmosphere and the fact that I know some people there. Compared to the other major cities in Germany, Munich definitely has a southern feel: the city’s architecture was profoundly influenced by its proximity with Italy. The southern feel doesn’t end with the architecture. The city is known for its cheerful biergarten culture, and they take that very seriously. With easy access to some quaint little Bavarian towns, the Alps and numerous lakes, Munich sounded like the perfect place to relax and learn German.

And as those of you who know me would know… I hate flying! So, I decided to travel by train to Munich. Luckily, when I checked up on the Deutsche Bahn website, I found a good deal for a train from Paris to Munich via Stuttgart. The Paris-Stuttgart stretch is done in TGV, while the Stuttgart-Munich stretch is done in ICE. Actually, there are several direct TGV trains from Paris to Munich everyday too, but they are slightly more expensive. Thanks to the inconvenience of changing trains at Stuttgart, the single ticket I bought was only €64,90 – that makes it on par with some cheap return flights between Paris and Munich that cost approximately €100. Only that the journey takes about 6 hours, with a 1hr transfer in Stuttgart. Maybe that is why I did not find a similar deal on the SNCF website… The French national railway company seems to filter some hits depending on the convenience of the travel.

Coming from Japan, I just love travelling on high-speed trains. They are an ecological, convivial and comfortable way of travelling, especially for shorter distances within Europe. An airplane can do Paris-Munich in an hour and a half, but flying involves going to the airport, registering for the flight, checking in luggages and queueing at the gate like crazy… In the end, you end up spending at least 4 hours on the whole ordeal. In the train’s cafe section, I met a Russian couple travelling to Stuttgart and a Swiss guy travelling from Paris to Basel (transferring at Strasbourg). And I chit-chatted with the SNCF and Deutsche Bahn staff onboard the train in French and a bit of German, while admiring the beautiful sceneries all around… It’s so much more fun to travel by train!