One year ago BerlinRomExpress was born, on a hot Roman evening. Time goes by, many events have unfold since then. The Crisis. The total disappearance of the Palast der Republik in Berlin and the appearance of a big green meadow. The Macro opening postponement in Rome. And so on.
We took this picture 2 years ago, during our holiday in Berlin in August 2007. Would it be crazy, we thought, to consider Berlin like our home away from home?
An excel spreadsheet, A3 format, full of travel details, business meetings and appointments with friends after work.
It’s one of those trips…there are business meetings in a couple of european cities, and since a flight is a flight, some optimization of logistics and CO2 reduction call for saying hallo to friends in between two stops without coming back to Rome in between! And at the end, a weekend in Moscow with MeinMann!!
In 1998, right in the middle of the Ruble crisis, I crossed Russia on the inspiring Krasnaya Strela. What a beautiful experience. The first page of Philip Roth’s “In Russia” – one long whistle blow gets lost in the night, the ship of the taiga leaves for and endless ocean of land.
No Red Arrow this time round. Just the crisp apron of the skies, Lufthansa . Still, I’m leaving with a red train tomorrow, the Frecciarossa. And about the Ruble…we will see!
Busy week in Rome this week. Many celebrities in town. All the bosses from the big corporates were in town for the industrialists’ meeting, and for the seismic waves emanated from it, conferences and the like.
So today at 5pm Mr Marchionne appeared magically (from Detroit? from Berlin? from some Ministero?) in steamy hot hot-house Rome, wearing his Linus-style blue jumper in an appropriately sub-zero air conditioned conference room. He sipped an espresso in religious silence at the speakers’ table in front of a couple of hundreds of eyes. I thought the moment was very Louis XIV.
Bits and pieces. He explained platforms and said that an Opel today has a 80% Fiat Punto skeleton. So the operation should make a lot of sense to the German government, if you know that I mean. (But we’ll see how that turns up over the weekend).
He also said that in the car industry top management either comes from the back – the kitchen, ie the factory - of from the glitzy front, the Geneva Car Show. But the car industry cannot look pretty and sassy in the front if it does not clean up its ugly kitchen. (For sure there were some greasy c(r)ooks at the helm, in those kitchens…)
He said that the car industry has been destroying value for too many decades. (That makes a lot of sense. If the car industry were the IT one, we would still be running Lotus 123 and playing Pac Man, with advertising on TV boasting “green figures on a black background: cool!”).
He explained the negative Net Working Capital mechanism. You get paid for the sale of the car before you pay the metal that goes in it. Sort of magic. That magic stops when you stop producing.
He said that the car industry did all sorts of monkey corporate behavior. Buy financial services. Sell them. Buy components manufacturers. Sell them. They tried all the tricks. Now it’s over. (Good auto-critique…or car-critique). Continue reading ‘Marchionne’s auto-critique’
The BerlinRomExpress is for the moment only a blog and not a reality. Yet now there is an Autozug linking Triest to Berlin! From the beach of Triest to the beach of Berlin…Wannsee!
Am Autozug-Bahnhof in Berlin-Wannsee werden die Kunden mit Prosecco, Orangensaft und Salzgebäck begrüßt. Während die Gäste die Getränke und die Sonnenstrahlen genießen, werden Motorräder und Pkw auf den Zug verladen. Am nächsten Morgen – nach einer 17-stündigen, sanft ratternden Fahrt auf Schienen – werden sie am Bahnhof in Triest von einer kleinen Musik-Kapelle empfangen, die italienische Schlager schmettert. Dazu gibt es den weit über die Landesgrenzen hinaus berühmten San-Daniele-Schinken sowie Weißwein aus der an Slowenien und Österreich grenzenden italienischen Region Friaul-Julisch Venetien.
E’ arrivato oggi alla stazione di Trieste il primo treno con il servizio Autozug auto-passeggeri di Deutsche Bahn, che colleghera’ fino a ottobre il capoluogo giuliano a Berlino, Amburgo, Dusseldorf e Francoforte. Ad accogliere i primi turisti sono stati i rappresentanti di Deutsche Bahn, Trenitalia, Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia, Comune di Trieste e Agenzia Turismo Fvg, oltre a una banda musicale. I treni (tre o quattro alla settimana) sono composti da quattro carri (per un totale di 48 auto) e da 4-5 carrozze con cuccette, un vagone ristorante e alcuni vagoni letto. Il costo per persona del viaggio notturno parte da circa 60 euro, mentre il trasporto di una macchina costa 149 euro. Il servizio e’ gia’ attivo ad Alessandria, Bolzano e Verona.
I saw yesterday that Rome-Tokyo return is about Eur 387. I am indeed tempted to fly across Siberia, see the dawn on Khabarovsk and land a bit stoned but happy at Narita airport. And if it is as rainy as Rome, walk around Ebisu with one of those Courreges-like plastic umbrellas, then slide my Pasmo underground smartcard and cruise by metro across the bay…
No, I’m not going off-topic, Let me show ya…. all the roads lead to Berlin! Continue reading ‘TTT, or the tokyo temptation’
A few posts ago I referred to the clash between Italy and Slovenia on the never ending story of “war reparations”. The Adriatic is definitely a solid frontier.
On Deutsche Welle I was impressed by the reportage on the – not so easy – delivery of the new high speed trains to Russia by Siemens…across the Baltic.
My bewilderment did not came by the fact per se, but by the contrast between the Balticpolitik and the absence of whatsoever Adriaticpolitik. The petty controversy stirred with Slovenia once again by the italian foreign minister. I thought that after all the terrible events between Russia and Germany between the two armies during WWII but more importantly, all the respective massacres suffered by both civilian populations, both government and countries were indeed able to turn a very dramatic page and work constructively. That should not be a surprise, after decades of Ostpolitik and 1989, but Italy is still unable to recognize its wrongdoings and continues with its stubborn victimism and arrogance.
Now, Italy can only lose from this attitude, and the same applies to Slovenia and Croatia. But that’s exactly the difference between constructive pragmatism and arrogant navel-gazing. Decades of Ostpolitik do matter. Frattini is too busy issuing press releases about his flirts, his role model isn’t obviously Willy Brandt…
A bit less than a year ago Bora.la published an article by the italian and triestine journalist Paolo Rumiz. A year later, it is even more relevant, in the current political climate.
Rumiz demonstrates how Italy was not able to link up with the Balcans and not even join corridor five to Kiev and how this comes from the fact that nazism had Nurenberg, whereas fascism is a karst river, running under cover but bubbling vigorously.
Photo: Di Tomaso /Franceschi published on Repubblica
It’s not that I’ve been lazy.
The kick-off with bad macroeconomic news was a bit of a hard start of the year, after the savvy but calm no-man’s-land of the Zwangurlaub, home-sweet-home holidays.
Then it’s been raining almost all week (again!). Manic depression etc.
And on wednesday evening I was almost run over by a motorino, while crossing a street on the stripes. I jumped back – like a wild StripedCat – with a “OooH??” while the girl on the motorino screamed in panic behind her rainy visor “Non t’ho vistooo!!” (I didn’t see you). It’s good to have a feline nickname.
And then some ‘internal consumption” political news on which I will write later on.
Too many emotions this week. Not far from home, this tram/train crash, quite a bit of damage, many wounded, just in front of Porta Maggiore, on roman roads.
One at a time. Please. Too much free riding in Italy…
I’ve just spotted on bora.la some fantastic news: Deutsche Bahn is linking Germany to Triest with the Autozug! Have a look at the post on bora.la and at the DB page!
The BerlinRomExpress is still an imaginary train…but this new DB connection is a leap forward reality.
Last summer I did it. Berlin-Triest by train. I left from the immaculate Hauptbahnhof at 8.55 with one of those fantastic ICE trains. I arrived in Triest with a FFSS surrealist train at around 2am…interesting trip I must admit, but I don’t know if I will repeat it as such. So…ICE terminal in Triest, ja Danke!
From Berlin to Munich it was quite interesting. Fellow travelers doing pic-nic on the train and the usual comfort of the ICE layout. In Munich, time for eating something and stepping out of the station for 15 minutes…the bad surprise was waiting for us on the plaform, the rusty rickety train to Verona. The view on the apple orchards of Trentino Alto Adige made up for the discomfort (a ration of Bavarazzi would have helped!).
Verona station by night is a sort of no-man’s-land. Nobody around, and extremely accessible train schedules as you can see below..As per toilets, luckily the local fast food was providing the service.
When eventually we found some personnel hidden away chatting in an office behind closed curtains, and asked news about “the last train to Venice”, they looked at us and said with a weird smile: “But where do you come from?”. When we said we were coming from Berlin, they looked at us as though we were mad. Strange…railway personnel should be happy that users do use the railway network…or not? Surely those 9 employees had more important things to chat about in the office, rather than providing some sort of “Assistenza Viaggiatori”.
Notwithstanding non-user friendly trains, we first got into Mestre…a station slightly more lively than Verona, but all in all quite abandoned and deserted. Of course full of glitzy advertising.
Eventually we moored at the immaculate Trieste Centrale…at last!
A few days later we were ready for the second stretch of the Berlin – Rome and, this time starting from Trieste, we were definitely luckier.
First of all, travellers approaching the liberty-style Trieste Centrale are welcome by clear, beautifully and effectively informative boards by Solari, in the main hall as well as on the platforms. No korean flat screens by the dozen, vomiting silly advertising and hidding the information on platform like in poor Roma Termini.
The “Assistenza Viaggiatori” has a transparent door guaranteeing privacy but also a brisk pace of service. When we asked assistance for a rather complex modification of a Wagon Lits night train reservation from Triest to Rome the two ladies puffed their ritual mantra of typically triestine “No se pol” (“that can’t be done”) but in a few minutes the matter was settled with pragmatism and common sense.
Triest station increasingly gives me a swiss feeling. Not only you can SEE the time of the departure of your train on the platforms from afar (analogic and digital, quel chic!), without visual pollution from advertising…
…you can also choose between having your premium panino at the local cafe’, or buying groceries and get them ready at the local supermarket where there are microwave ovens and tables. That’s quite civilised, I think.
On the Wagon Lits the crew was welcoming, and our separate wagon-lit reservations booked at different points in time had been pooled together and so we could have a 2 bed compartment for us. The wagon lit was immaculate and comfortable. Why do you need to be surprised when things actually work in Italy? This wagon lits experience was definitely zero-default and espresso-rised.
Sunrise approaching Rome…and a good cappuccino together with Repubblica.
We were very lucky. Curiously enough, we had decided to arrive in Rome on Saturday morning, instead of Sunday morning. Had we arrived on Sunday morning, we would have met a few thousands supporters devastating the stations in Rome…This is unacceptable. Still, it happens all the time.
Berlin-Rom was an interesting experience, I was fed up with air travel. But I had time on my hands and could choose to travel 100% by train without being concerned if that would take a day more or a day less.
So, for the time being the BerlinRomExpress remains an imaginary train, and the orange logo of the EasyJet “bus to berlin” is the only viable option for bridging Rome and Berlin. But for Adria-Germany, the new ICE from Triest is definitely on my wish list for 2009…welcome to gemuetlich and brazilian Triest…
Let’s fit a slice of Bavaria in the blog tonight, since it’s right in the middle and our (still imaginary) train – the berlinromexpress – drives right through it.
Yesterday, elections in Bavaria. Deutsche Welle says that “The result of the state elections in Bavaria is like an earthquake shaking German politics. The CSU’s absolute majority in the state was considered to be a law of nature but now that law has been smashed and the CSU must find itself a coalition partner — it’s something only old Bavarians know from the 1950s”.
I wonder if the elections in Germany remain a political act or have become a tv byproduct like in Italy. If the church (even in Bavaria) interferes as much as it does in Italy …remember: Rome=divided city.
Whatever. We’re all tired here in Italy of the political paparazzi, the endless talk shows, it’s a perpetual campaign…less paparazzi, more Bavarazzi! Can anybody possibly celebrate Brennero and Autogrill? Bavarazzi manage to do it… “combining Reggae, Polka, Mestizo, Folk, Caribo & Oriental-tunes in one pure style”…have a look at their website http://www.bavarazzi.com
I quite like “Brennero”…it reminds me of the first time we did the opposite migration, coming back home from Berlin by car, rather than heading south towards the sun like the 2 bavarians. Mein Mann and I still had the nail-polish red Alfa Romeo and had decided to bridge Berlin to Rome over a weekend. But then we became too gourmands and spent all our saturday in Berlin…that meant crossing Europe over just 1 day. As we got to Brennero we had to stop 3 times with our eyes bulging out…we were no longer used to the high-speeed swinging videogame italian traffic. Nightmare! “Parlez-vous Istanbul” and “Reggae Ragazza” are also my top tips for tonight. If you like multikulti that’s it…
That makes me think of the latest Brennero crossover, this time by train, Berlin-Munich-Verona-Triest-Rome last august, on beautiful ICE trains, impossibly rusty Ferrovie dello Stato Intercity and (believe it or not) brand new Wagon Lits…
What a week in the financial markets…my blog on Rome and Berlin – already running late – came to a complete halt due to the sleepless nights spent looking at Reuters pages and bad news unfolding rapidly. Let’s hope that Merkel’s call for better and more geographically balanced controls (ie where Europe has more to say, than just Wall Street and the City) will produce some sound measures.
On another note, talking with german counterparts about the forthcoming Deutsche Bahn IPO, I recorded that their opinion on the quality of service is the opposite of mine. “Maybe you only take the ICE, that’s why you find the service quality good! But try taking other trains…Foreigners will like the IPO, because of the globalization, the logistics and so on…but not locals!”.
Well…I’m sure that even a good service has room for improvement. Maybe they never took italian trains. For sure italian trains are out of the spectrum of comparison and that seems quite logical eh eh! “Nivelisation par le bas” is not a good way to judge, as there’s no limit to bad service.
For sure they are comparing with the Swiss train system, or the Shinkansen. Good benchmarking.
Nevertheless, this won’t stop me being enthousiastic about ICE. My very personal Alitalia boycott and the nice holiday ICE experience prompted the start of a new season for my business travel. From now on, between Paris and Frankfurt it will be white/red ICE and not even charming bleu outremer AirFrance or VorsprungDurchTechnik blue/gold Lufthansa. Still, CDG is one of my favourite airports…but avoiding the rush to the peripherique, what a luxury! And did you notice that the last G8 meeting started on a TGV taking the ministers from Paris to Avignon? Subliminal logistic message…
