22 hours in Germany: Michael W. Smith concert
The highlight of my two-day trip to Germany was Michael Smith’s concert. He’s one of the artists who had a big influence on me during my teenage years, and I generally enjoy his concerts and his style of performance. The concert took place on June 22, 2022; I traveled there on the day of the concert and returned the next day via Memmingen. A total of 26 hours of travel, 22 of which were spent in Germany! 🙂
A “TINY” PROBLEM
I've been planning this trip for a month and the whole time I thought that my flight with Wizz, with number W64317, was from Sofia to the airport in Frankfurt, i.e. Frankfurt International Airport. I had just passed the inspections at Terminal 1 in the Sofia airport, when the thought dawned on me that I might actually have something wrong somewhere. Well, yes! What an amateur mistake, I couldn't believe it. To say that I have not flown by plane, ok, but such a stupid mistake... In reality, it turned out that the flight from Sofia would have landed at Frankfurt Khan Airport, which is located 120 km from Frankfurt and 180 km. from the town of Wetzlar, where the concert would be.
All my preliminary plans for routes and schedules came crashing down, and now I had an extra 120 km and an hour and a half to contend with. I was standing in Terminal 1, in a total panic about whether I’d even make it to the concert. I searched online for every possible way to get there—trains, taxis, shuttles, buses, Uber… I tried to piece together some routes using the trains, but it always turned out that I’d be late for the concert.
Finally, shame, no shame, I started asking some of the people who were waiting for the flight with me in which direction they were when they arrived in Germany to check if there was someone with a car to take me closer to a Vetslar. Word for word, I met a pair of young people (the woman was Bulgarian) who traveled to Wiesbaden, i.e. in the direction of Fankfurt and agreed to take me there.
I thought there was no more messy airport than Sofia Terminal 1, but here it is, and it's a Franfurt-Khan with the following characteristics: in the middle of the field, half an hour of waiting to get luggage, walking at least 200 m. to reach the building. Terminal, lack of air conditioning and disgusting toilets... No words! The pair of young men, along with the boy's parents, took me to Wiesbaden, as if on the way, in the car, everyone really tried to find the best train route to get to Wetslar.
From the train station in Wiesbaden, I boarded a train to Frankfurt. My first trip on the famous German railways was marred by a broken air conditioner on the train, closed windows —> 40 degrees, and, as a bonus, mandatory masks…
Finding myself at the Central Station in Frankfurt, I was in real shock! A huge station, hundreds of people running to and fro, dozens of trains. In all this atmosphere, I had 3 minutes to make a shift and catch the next train. I went to the board with departing and arriving trains and there was no such train number at all. It turned out that the train numbers are written on the board in a different way than on the site of the German Railways. Totally a mess! I asked different people who were in a hurry, did not know English and could not help me. I missed my train. I cried.
Finally, I decided that I would turn to the information counter at the station. I was amazed at the speed with which they serve the passengers - they realize that people are in a hurry and literally in less than a minute they showed me on the screen the best route for me from where, when and what train to take and gave me to take a picture of it on my phone. Sticking to this route and after changing 2 more trains, I finally reached the Wetzlar - the city where the concert was. From there, whenever I went to a station, I immediately turned to the counter for information, because there they really reacted extremely adequately, very quickly and with the most up-to-date information about delayed and canceled trains.
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The Concert
In the end, I went to the concert during the intermission, i.e. In the middle of the concert. And yet I was able to attend some of my favorite songs. The concert itself was a bit lean in such a sense that Michael Smith had only come with his band, five people in total, without choir and without any special effects and attractions. After the concert, the guitarist gave me a sheet of songs that they had watched during the concert. As I joined, the entire audience was standing distributed throughout the huge gym, but after the BIS, many people, including me, of course, moved to the front right in front of Michael Smith. I was at the front, on the front line, less than 3 meters from it, and it was a very pleasant experience for sure.
After the concert, I went to the hotel B&B Hotel Wetzlar, which was a full 20 meters from the hall - I just cross the street and I'm there. For the first time in my life, I checked absolutely on my own. I used a machine that looked like an ATM, and instead of a key for the room, I had a code on my screen that I had to remember accordingly and there was a place on each door in the hotel to enter this code. The room was pleasant and with a view of the cargo sector of the hall.
Frankfurt
On the second day, my main goal was to reach the city of Memmingen on time, from whose airport I had to board the flight to Sofia. So, at 6:00 a.m. I boarded the train from Wetzlar to Frankfurt. Instead of getting off at the last stop, namely the Central Station, I decided to get off a little earlier at the Frankfurt Main South stop and walked quickly to the station. Literally for half an hour in Frankfurt, between 7:00 and 7:30 in the morning, I saw as much of the city as ordinary tourists see for a whole day. I passed through the Alte Brucke bridge, saw the skyscrapers, the Maine River, the Frankfurt Cathedral, the Romerberg Square with the old German houses, the sculpture with the EU stars and it was quite a pleasant walk.
–> Browse and book a budget hotel in Frankfurt at a discount. See HERE!
A Few Words About German Trains
For my crazy short stay in Germany, I boarded a variety of different trains. The best BG trains look like the worst German trains. On all trains, the rooms were shared, without compartments, and were very similar to buses. For double-decker trains, there is a first class on the upper floor, and second class on the lower floor. Once a child was begging in first class while his father played in the accordion lower floor, in second class. They checked the tickets several times and if you messed up your class, they told you to move, without a fine.
In the summer of 2022, the German Railways had released a truly unique offer, which was a ticket for 9 euros. With this ticket, one can travel on all the routes of the regional trains indefinitely within a whole month. The offer was valid for the months of June, July and August and did not include fast and high-speed trains, nor did it include first class travel. That's why I chose to go by train around Deutschland.
I can't help but praise the famous 'German accuracy' - that is, the trains ran about 30-40 minutes late to the schedule.
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From Frankfurt to the city of Ulm, I boarded an ICE high-speed train, not because I wanted to, or I was given too much money, but simply because all the other trains would take me too late to Memmingen and I would miss my flight. The Strela train was quite luxurious, but unfortunately the German friendly company that was sitting next to me did not match the situation at all - they shouted, croaked, distributed various food back and forth, and they were not swarthy...
I was very focused on the screen above the path where the route was written and the speed at which the train was moving. I started taking screenshots after it was 180 km/h. And the maximum it reached was 250 km/h. The feeling of moving at such a speed was... well, none! On the train it was not at all felt that we were moving at such a high speed. I was very impressed by the toilets on the train, which looked like toilets from a plane and surprisingly (!) - they were clean.
City of Memmingen
From the city of Ulm to Memmingen, I continued on an ordinary regional train. In Memmingen I had about an hour and a half of free time to walk around the center. Memmingen - a wonderful town. A very beautiful old town.
Some of the sights in Memmingen are:
- stadtbach (channel with picturesque houses around it)
– Fischerbrunnen – Fountain
– steuerhaus – square
The distance from the center to Memmingen Airport is 5 km, which I walked in about 40 minutes. Despite the heat, it was a pleasant walk, as the road passed through a beautiful residential neighborhood with single-family houses, each with a more maintained yard.
Memmingen Airport. I have absolutely no idea how they managed to fit all the passengers for four flights into that tiny room. Honestly! It was a miracle. Not to mention the poorly functioning ventilation and having to wait to board the plane under the scorching sun. In the end, flight W64340 took off almost on time and arrived safely in Sofia.
A few things that struck me:
- There are really many Roma in Germany.
– Young Germans speak English.
– Several times in different parts of Germany I saw trains with newly produced new cars on VW
- In the summer, the weather there is as hot as in Bulgaria.
I made it!
In 26 hours I managed to take off from Sofia to Fracfurt-Khan airport and I was able to return from Memmingen Airport in Sofia. During these almost 22 hours on German territory, my time was distributed as follows:
– 10 hours of train travel (I boarded 6 different state regional trains, in which the situation was from deplorably hot without working air conditioning and standing upright) to a completely normal average statistical train. I also boarded an ICE train, which managed to reach a speed of 250 km/h on certain sections of the route.
– 1 hour and 1/2 of the car ride of some of the people we were on the same plane with and who took me to Wiesbafen so that he could get to the concert faster.
– 3 and 1/2 hours for walks – in Frankfurt (1 hour) and in Memmingen (1 hour and another hour of walking transfer to the airport through the residential districts)
– 4 hours and 1/2 – sleep
– 1 hour and 1/2 – Michael Smith concert
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EXPENSES:
- Flight ticket from Sofia to Frankfurt Khan - 10 euros
- Flight ticket from Memmingen to Sofia - 10 euros
- Michael W. Smith's concert ticket at Wetzlar - €39
- Overnight at B&B Hotel Wetzlar – 62 euros
- Regional Train Costs – 9 Euros
- Train costs - arrow ICE - 67 euros
- Food - 25 Euros
Total: EUR 222 = BGN 444.
–> Browse and book a budget hotel in Frankfurt at a discount. See HERE!
