The are valid Monday to Friday from 9am to 3am the following day or weekends or holidays for the whole day. This means the three of us traveled for 11 EUR each round trip. You have to take the regional (read: slower) trains, but depending on your destination the savings far outweigh the extra travel time, which isn't always that much longer.
Sylt is an island (4th largest in Germany) located in northern Germany on the North Sea. It is a part of the North Frisian islands. The shape of the island itself is constantly changing and eroding over time. It's a well-known location for celebrities and wealthy people in general.
8:00
We met at the Burger King at the Hauptbahnhof. We headed right over to the machine to purchase our tickets.
8:20
We boarded our train early and staked out a set of four seats with a table.
8:49
Our train pulled in to Eimshorn with screeching brakes. Seriously, the loudest brakes I have ever heard. We had to cover our ears.
8:55
We boarded out next train and found a compartment with six seats. We were full of chitter chatter, so we thought that would keep away others (particularly older Germans). It worked for a while, but then two women and a man joined us. They had to have known what they were getting into, but the man seemed a little annoyed as he couldn't focus on his reading or his sleeping.
The fun thing about Sylt is that the only way to get there is by train. If you take a car, you still have to put your car on a train. I felt like I was going to Hogwarts. This is almost what it looked like -- tide was out when we came in so, it looked like an empty field.
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| I didn't take this and don't know who did! |
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| our view |
We arrived into the Westerland (Sylt) train station, tooka look around, secured a map, and we headed to the pedestrian zone toward the beach. I gravely underestimated the size of the island as we reached the water in ten minutes.
12:00ish
Ice cream stop at Leysieffer (chocolate in a cup!).
12:05
We made it to the beach and I discovered a whole row of settings I never knew existed on my camera.
12:15
Attempt to go to beach but are asked if we have a guest pass. We do not. We turned around.
12:30
After walking parallel to the beach we decide we should probably just buy a day pass. It only cost 3 EUR.
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| Brrrrr! |
Alisa took off her shoes and dipped her feet in the cold water. I had boots on, so I just put a finger in. Cecilie captured it on film. It was chilly! Yet there were surfers out there.
Then we did a lot of people watching and observing. We watched people sitting in the Strandkörbchen (beach baskets) which you can also rent. Alisa took a lovely series of photos we call, "People sitting in Strandkörbchen".
We also took brief control of an unattended Korb (scandalous!).
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| North See |
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| We did not rent this! |
13:00
You know I'm just making up times now, right? Soon we made our way down (up?) the beach as far as we could go.
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| Volleyball net made me think of my brother |
13:45
After a rest on a bench and a bathroom break, we made it as far as we could go. As far as the boardwalk went at least. With me in boot and Cecilie in mesh Nikes, Alisa was the only one prepared for sand trekking. Instead, we sat down and watched the water.
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| Alisa's art creation |
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| self timer |
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| A nice man took a picture of us -- we all closed our eyes |
We turned around and made our way back to the Fußgängerzone. We looked in a few shops and started our hunt for some food.
15:30
Instead of having a traditional fish sandwich (scandal #2!) we opted for just plain traditional German foot. I feasted on Wienerschnitzel mit Preiselbeern while my friends went for the Currywurst and Prosecco 5 EUR special. I totally could have gone for the Prosecco as it seemed the thing to do.
We didn't think we'd catch the 16:22 train, so we took our time and meandered a bit.
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| windy statues |
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| cars loading on to the train - people stay in the car |
The train coming in to Sylt was late, so it was a mass exodus (remember how much Germans like to wait in lines?) to grab seats. We couldn't sit together in a group, so we sat near each other. This was very much ok because we were all pooped from the fresh air. As soon as a group of four seats opened up we moved over so we could resume the chit-chatting.
20:35
We pulled into Altona, one of the train stations in Hamburg, so Cecilie and I departed to catch the S-bahn. Alisa continued on to catch her train back to Lüneburg. We had planned to attend a friend's birthday party, but we just could not make. Personally speaking, I was sleeping within minutes of hitting the sack.
Overall, it was a really great day trip! I wish I had been able to take any of my visitors there, but it's tricky because you have to have good weather. It's also a lot of walking.
As expected, one of my colleagues was disappointed we only stayed in the area right by the train station as it's not the most beautiful or exclusive part of the island. This just means I'll have to make a return trip. We also didn't make it to either lighthouse which would have been fun. However, we all agreed this was a trip to test the waters and it definitely peeked all of our interest.
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