Bahn, Flugzeug, und Auto, Pt. 1 (Trains, Planes & Automobiles)

It was Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey who said, "You know what the three most exciting sounds in the world are?  Anchor chains, airplane motors, and train whistles."  (It's a Wonderful Life)

Take a trip to Europe - and you have the opportunity to experience all three!  Granted, you have the opportunity to experience all three in the US as well ... it just isn't as common for most folks. 

My grandparents, who lived in Frankfurt, never even owned a car.  They got around just fine on public transportation, by bicycle, or on foot.  Getting on a train to go to another city was just a matter of fact to me when I was a child, visiting them during my summer vacations.  My little brother wasn't able to come over as often; however, he thought riding the train was a great adventure.  This is him in the summer of maybe 1984 or 85....

The German railway system dates all the way back to 1834 when tracks first connected the cities of Nuremberg and Fürth. It has been called the Deutsche Bundesbahn since October 1946, having previously been the Deutsche Reichsbahn since 1920.  

In the photo above, a kind train engineer allowed my brother to peek inside his domain at the front of the train.  

I was able to take my own son to Germany in March of 2012, and he too was pretty excited to experience the German railway system.  (above, at Würzburg's Hauptbahnhof - main train station with a regional train in the background)

In 2012, when we were there, the ICE (Inter-City-Express) trains were in full use.  These are the high speed trains of the DB's fleet which include restaurant cars, wifi, sockets at your seat to charge your electronics, a plush 1st class section - and the fastest, most direct route between major cities.  

I do recall a pretty interesting train adventure that we had when my brother was little (probably during the time of one of those pictures above).  My Opa, Oma, mother, brother, and I were returning from a trip - perhaps to Ravensburg, where we had visited my great-aunt and her family.  The return trip to Frankfurt required a stop in, I think, Heidelberg.  My mother, brother, and Opa had gone on a little adventure to explore the train cars beyond ours ... and the train car they were in got unhooked at the stop over!  My Oma and I unknowingly continued on in our train car -- on to Frankfurt.  Of course, in the days long before cell phones, we had no idea what had happened to the rest of our party- and when we figured it out, we had no way to reach them!  

Thankfully, the helpful train personnel at the Frankfurt train station made contact with our disconnected family, as they had to figure out how to get onto the next train to Frankfurt themselves.  We were all eventually reunited, which was a great relief ... mainly to me because we had a lot of luggage to carry - and my Oma and I didn't want to have to schlep it all ourselves!  

More travel memories in part 2 of this blog series in the next post ....