Hi everyone!!
Wow, today was pretty much incredible. However, it didn't really start out that way.
I got up a little after 5:00am because I had a 6:52am train and I didn't want to be late. On top of that, I wasn't sure how to get to the station using the tram. So, I got myself together and headed downstairs to check out. The people at Hotel Allegro in Vienna are very nice, they look nice, smile nice, but on the whole, not very helpful. Maybe it was a language thing, but still not really helpful. I ask the lovely lady at the desk how to get to the train station that I needed to be at and she instructed me what to do. Told me what trams to board, etc.
So I headed across the street and started to look for the tram I needed. And I looked, and I looked. I found numbers that matched what she told me, but as for the direction, nothing was right. I was up and down stairs so quickly to look for the tram I needed. I couldn't piece together what I needed to in order to board the right tram. PANIC set in. So I hauled myself back up to the street and went back to the hotel and told the lovely lady that I could not make sense of what she told me and to please call me a taxi. She kept saying, "it's right over there (pointing to the station)" I thanked her and told her "I'm sure it is, but I don't have time to find it"
The taxi got me to the right station on time. I bought some snacks and got on the train. I asked for a window seat, which I got, but this was my view....
Big fail. Oh well, no pics from the train. I was alone in my seat until a group of English senior citizen tourists got on, and a lovely little English lady who when she talked sounded a bit like Angela Lansbury sat next to me. A little while later, their tour director came and said there was a seat farther back at a table of four if she wanted to sit with her friends. So, she left, and I had the row to myself again.
A word about trains in Europe (and I think I have mentioned this before, you have to have a ticket, and if you want a seat, you have to have a reservation. So, say if I boarded a train and there was someone in my reserved seat, I would have to ask them to move. Also, there will be times when people are strewed out in the aisles or the corridors without a seat - and that, I guess is ok. So, this lady, in a way, was taking two seats, one next to me which she wasn't using, and one that wasn't reserved for her. So, when people asked me if the seat beside me was taken, I had to say yes because I knew someone actually had that ticket reserved. Some guy even tried to argue with me, I told him that someone had that seat, so he put his luggage down and sat on it in the middle of the aisle blocking the way. The conductor came by, they conversed in German, and he left, while the conductor muttered something about a tour.
Anyway, I made it to Frankfurt. I got some more snacks and then boarded the train for Bochum
The ride from Frankfurt to Bochum was short, the train was basically empty. I got the Bochum and I took a taxi to my hotel, checked in and relaxed for a bit before my dinner reservation.
Hotel room at the Renaissance Inn by Marriott
And this was in the lobby
Dinner ended up to be a buffet, and it was included in my hotel stay. Not much to get excited about, so there are no pictures. However, my stay did include the "Starlight" cocktail, which I'm pretty sure was a grapefruit something-or-other.
The next section needs some music.
After dinner, I walked up the street to the "Starlight Express" theatre. This is what I saw outside the theatre.
Kinda cool. This is the front of the theatre
Ticket!
Several different places for snacks, two sets of restrooms, etc. I tried taking more pictures, but I wasn't sure if I could because someone kept blowing a whistle. Not sure why but it happened as I was about to take a picture of the Guiness Book of World Records sign for the longest running musical in Bochem at one theatre. I think it was 13,000+ performances.
However, in the theatre, people were taking pictures. So I took some, also!! (in the US, you'd be kicked out if you took pictures in the theatre, or at least your camera taken away - or Patti LuPone calling you out in the middle of a performance.)
The theatre was in the round, with ramps all around the theatre. When there was a "race", the barriers would raise and lower, which was cool. In the areas in front of me, the seats were on swivels so they could spin around and see the action. It was really cool. The design was designed by the same people that designed the original London Production, and the design included this cool bridge that floated over the playing area, almost like a character itself.
Here's a picture of the bridge that I stole from google images.
The show was in German, of course, but who needs English when you already know the words? For me, it was more of an experience to see the original design, costumes, etc then knowing what they were saying. I saw the touring production in 2004 and of course, it pales in comparison. I'm glad I got to see the show in what is probably as close to the original London production as I could.
I could go on about music, songs, etc.... but I won't. If you want to know more, let's have coffee and I'll tell you all about it.
After the show, I headed back to my hotel room worked on the blog and went to bed. The last night in a hotel!! Tomorrow will be the last train ride also, as I'm headed to Amsterdam and am fortunate to spend some time with my cousin Melinda and her husband Rob and see Amsterdam.
Auf wiedersehen, Germany.
Maestro
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