Berlin is different. There are so many little things that are different to what we experienced in Nurnberg, Regensburg, Cork or Munich. The biggest difference is that almost everyone seems to take the underground every day. Well, it is not really a surprise as it might take you up to an hour to visit friends in another district if you go by care. Traveling by underground is definitely easier.
That is why I go by underground as well either to work or to the train station (from there I take the train to Leipzig or Dessau). This is so much more relaxing than driving by car and while traveling one can either work on the laptop, read e-mail on the blackberry or you can read the latest news (of course with my blackberry apps which I really love). And if you are sick of this digital stuff than you start observing people. You meet all the different nationalities on one day which you might meet in Regensburg in one month.
However, if half of the city depends on the underground (on a normal working day almost 1.3 million people take the underground) delays have an incredible impact. And that is exactly what happens regularly this winter. The old trains from the manufacturer ´Bombardier` are very sensitive to this kind of weather and thus reparations have to be done all the time. Therefore, instead of 600 trains there are only 200 available right now. And not just the trains are sensitive to the weather also the rails. While you can heat them all in cities like Hamburg and Munich, they wanted to save money in Berlin. Seems that was a pretty bad decision at the end.
That is why I go by underground as well either to work or to the train station (from there I take the train to Leipzig or Dessau). This is so much more relaxing than driving by car and while traveling one can either work on the laptop, read e-mail on the blackberry or you can read the latest news (of course with my blackberry apps which I really love). And if you are sick of this digital stuff than you start observing people. You meet all the different nationalities on one day which you might meet in Regensburg in one month.
However, if half of the city depends on the underground (on a normal working day almost 1.3 million people take the underground) delays have an incredible impact. And that is exactly what happens regularly this winter. The old trains from the manufacturer ´Bombardier` are very sensitive to this kind of weather and thus reparations have to be done all the time. Therefore, instead of 600 trains there are only 200 available right now. And not just the trains are sensitive to the weather also the rails. While you can heat them all in cities like Hamburg and Munich, they wanted to save money in Berlin. Seems that was a pretty bad decision at the end.
Well, it does not prevent people including myself to hope every day that there are no delays. Thanks to mobile internet and the interesting people the wait time seems to be short. The only issue is the cold!
Thus with less trains the same amount of people are commuting. No wonder that the trains are packed. And while you have to wait for the delayed train the crowd gets bigger and bigger. The moment the train arrives it is already packed and you believe there is no space left. Well, I was wrong the whole crowd pushes you into the train and when it leaves the station platform is empty.
And thus traveling by underground is a special social event. In rush hours you have business people, punks, hippies, grandma & - pa, farmers and all sorts of people from all sorts of countries… No surprise that Berlin is so extremely respectful and tolerant.
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