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Silver service
It is four hundred kilometers, 3 hours and two minutes precisely, and three train station changes from Dusseldorf to Pforzheim. And the same return. It might seem a long way to go for lunch, but it was silver service. Fine wine, delicious soup and a shank each of tender lamb, with sorbet to follow. Such is life for the unemployed,
On Tuesday we met friends Philip and Susan Bagshaw who are in Pforzheim awaiting the birth of their daughter Hannah’s second child, so this was an opportunity both to catch up with them and to take our last long ride on German rail. What better way to spend a day? Pforzheim is unlike any other German city we have visited, modern, or should we say, new. The town was completely obliterated by English bombs in February 1945, just before the end of the war, with 83% of its buildings wiped out, the reason being that precision instruments for the German troops were thought to be being made there. Hannah lives in an apartment right in the city centre with husband Ekaitz, a professional ballet dancer, which raises an interesting point. Most large towns and cities here have their own professional performance arts companies, generally supported by central government. Can you imagine a town the size of Hamilton, which is about the size of Pforzheim, having its own professional ballet troupe, with performances six days a week? Dancing cows maybe.
We arrived back in Germany Monday night, although it was a close call. If getting into England was easy, the opposite was true of getting out through security at Stanstead airport. Very slowly, one at a time, shoes off, belts off, jewelery off, watches off, pockets empty, jackets off, wallets out, laptops out, easy as you go. Only recently, after the All Blacks rugby test against the English, Fleur was so delayed she missed her flight and had to stay another night. Perhaps a policy to encourage illegal immigration? “It was just too difficult to get out your honour”.