On Friday 30th we got up early in Ebersburg to get the final cleaning done before our departure. We left before 9am and got to Magdeburg around 4pm and unpacked. We took the smaller bedroom on the first floor to avoid having to climb a further flight of stairs. There was little storage but I managed. Kerstin had left a fricasse for us which I heated up and accompanied with spaetzle - after all we were in Germany.
Next morning we got up at 8.30 am, had breakfast and braved the tram which was a 5 minute walk or so from the house. We had to wait almost 20 minutes. Got into Magdeburg city and went to a very limited tourist information centre. We went to the train station to get some information about trains to Berlin but the woman at the information desk had no English. She showed us some times for Monday. Then we went into the ticket office where I was told when I approached an available desk that I had to get a ticket. For the queue. This I did. I noted how forbidding all 3 information attendants were. When the next desk was available I approached the attendant and was greeted by a spiel of German. I said "I'm sorry, I do not understand". She continued to shout at me gesticulating wildly. I caught the word monitor and realised there was a queueing system - hence the ticket - which was screened on a monitor. But I had been sitting under the monitor and had not noticed that there was a large number of people ahead of us. I obediently sat down again. She then dealt with a young black man who leaned on the counter trying to make himself understood. I noticed when he left that she took a cloth and cleaned the counter. She hadn't done that for anyone else - smacked of racism I thought. We finally left deciding to get our information via internet. We took the tram back home and did some research but got very limited information.
We went to Edeka to get food for 2 evenings. Then some more research and a quick uninspiring trip to Burk and on to Jericho and back
It was sweltering today - temperatures reached 37 degrees.
