16092018 : 24 hours spent in Eckernforde, Germany to see my sister. She was in Eckernforde for the Greenscreen Film Festival. As I have not seen my family for a long time, I decided to fly to her for the weekend.
15092018 : Flight from Stockholm to Hamburg.
16092018 : Train from Hamburg Airport -- Hamburg City Centre -- Kiel -- Eckernforde
17092018 : Flight from Hamburg to Stockholm
I flew from Stockholm to Hamburg via Eurowings (on a Friday evening) which was delayed by an hour. There was no direct flight to Eckernforde and I had to switch 3 trains from Hamburg to Eckernforde.
I arrived Hamburg at 10.30pm. It was an 1.5 hour. I had booked a bed in Airport Hostel because I was going back to the airport the next morning. It was the cheapest hostel I could find for EUR14. I paid EUR14.50 because the EUR0.50 was for city tax. I could not find my directions to the hostel although it was very simple (because I have the world's worst sense of direction). So, I stopped a man who was coincidentally a pilot and he was on his way to get his car, but he did not know of this hostel and he offered to drive me there. What a kind man! He is a pilot for Luftansa Airlines and I complained to him on my 1.5 hour delay with Eurowings.
When I arrived at the hostel, it was 11.15pm. All my roommates were asleep. It was a 6-female bedroom. The room was quite spacious and the bathroom was big too, although the shower head was not very user friendly. I did get a warm shower, regardless.
The next morning, I checked out by 5am and walked to the airport. It turns out to be quite near and I just had to follow the direction towards the Airport Control Tower. I reached the airport by 5.20am. I bought a sandwich for EUR3.10 and small coffee for EUR2.10. Then, a German man sat next to me and he could not speak English but we managed to have a small conversation. He spoke to me in German and I spoke to him in Swedish because both languages are supposed to carry a lot of similarities. We could understand each other eventually. He was flying to Russia to learn English because for some reasons, he knows Russian. We left each other, in smiles.
I had bought my train tickets online and there was a ticket deal from Hamburg to Eckernforde. I did not have to buy separate tickets. Just one single ticket for EUR27.90 / SEK280 / RM140. In Malaysian standards, this is expensive but in Swedish standards, this is affordable. I boarded the 6.33am train from Hamburg Airport to Hamburg City Centre.
Train station in Hamburg City Centre. Here, I met a German girl where we took the train together towards Kiel. She asked me if I thought Germans speak bad English. She explained to me that they only learn English as a subject and it is not commonly used. Therefore, most of the Germans are not very fluent in English. I have my fair share of experience where I needed to communicate to a taxi service in Eckernforde (from Sweden) and the person on the other line said that she can't speak English and hung up on me. I wondered if they don't expect tourists to visit Germany or they expect tourists to be able to speak German...
The next train station - Kiel.
The last leg of the journey - to Eckernforde!
I reached Eckernforde at 9.09am and met my sister at Stadthotel. Eckernforde is a cosy little town by the sea. The Old Town has more cobbled streets than the one in Gamla Stan, Stockholm. I explored the town while my sister was busy with her stuff.
Went into a Farmer's Market where they sold so many different types of tomatoes. I did not know that tomatoes could have so many varieties.
There was an indoor flea market in the Town House.
I got to eat German Sausage in the Farmer's Market. Yay! EUR2.10 / SEK22 / RM11.
The place that my sister and her boss stayed was an AirBnb which was a very neat apartment. It is the green building that is covered with the green crawlies. It is located on the highest floor. It was a 3-floor apartment. It is called Fewobaltic and it is located opposite Stadthotel.
There is even an emergency ladder if needed.
That was how my 24 hours looked like. This place is definitely bubbling with tourists during the summer because there is a beach. And for the other seasons, I can imagine how quiet this town will be.
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