Welcome to today's thread - #CrossBorderRail 2026 Tour Day 32 - 5 May - Strasbourg - Rumelange - Kirchberg - Wiltz - Libramont - Bruxelles

[maha@bahn.social]

@jon I will travel to Olomouc at the end of May. Only way: book on ČD app (not possible on DB navigator) and get reservation to Prague from DB.

[jon@gruene.social]

@maha at least that was semi logical as a solution! This is a SNCF train they can’t sell.

[maha@bahn.social]

@jon SNCF showed my connection from Paris to Donostia, but I could only book from Paris to Hendaye. There I‘ll have to buy my ticket for Euskotrain at a vending machine within minutes. Very uncomfortable. But what is even worse: There is a timetable for Euskotrain for May, but not for June, so I have to find out whether and when it is running when I‘ll be there. Google recommends walking to Irun.

[jon@gruene.social]

Lëtzebuergesch is a funny language to read as a speaker of German and English!

[jon@gruene.social]

I know it’s the Lux tram. But *that* lux, with seats that light up?

[maha@bahn.social]

@jon For my journey back to Germany SNCF only shows connections from Hendaye through Paris, although there is a direct train from Bordeaux to Strasbourg. I found it on DB navigator and could even book it on SNCF connect, if I put in Bordeaux as a starting point. The direct connection is faster, less cumbersome, and cheaper, but SNCF doesn’t want to sell it. I wonder why. Why do they force me to carry my suitcase around Paris? Suffice to say that there are lots of available seats.

[jon@gruene.social]

@maha blame UIC. Really. They’ve been incapable for years of getting Euskotren data into the UIC Merits database.

[pitrh@mastodon.social]

@jon "lux" means "light", so makes sense, kind of?

[jon@gruene.social]

@pitrh that’s the play on words I was making, yes

[jon@gruene.social]

@maha You’re a passenger. Why does SNCF care about you? (Sorry)

[rysiek@mstdn.social]

@jon @pitrh trams are just "light rail" no?

[jon@gruene.social]

@rysiek @pitrh ok, keep the puns coming

[jon@gruene.social]

I don’t have any data on these either. But I’m getting closer to my destination: the European Court of Auditors

[timothyroes@mastodon.social]

@jon A ride in that tram is what that side of Luxembourg (city) feels like. Extremely clean, sophisticated music choice, exuding that money-is-no-object vibe, ... yet lacking somewhat in personality, like it's detached from history

[jon@gruene.social]

@TimothyRoes right. Exactly that.

[trison@social.tchncs.de]

@jon Ich befasse mich hin und wieder mal mit Luxemburgisch und habe dadurch Ende 2022 Kontakt um Luxemburger Linguisten Jerome Lulling geknüpft, mit dem ich bis heute in recht gutem Austausch stehe. Immer dann, wenn ich in Luxemburg bin, gerauche ich Luxemburgisch, sofern möglich und switche auf Deutsch, sobald ich an meine Grenzen stoße.

[quixoticgeek@social.v.st]

@jon as someone who's studied German, and is trying to learn Dutch, spending any time in Luxembourg utterly fucks my language centres.

[simonschre@zug.network]

@jon I didn't find those seats very lux(urious). My butt hurt when I sat on them longer than a short ride lol

[szbalint@mastodon.social]

@jon like dutch?

[happydisciple@mendeddrum.org]

@jon Mix in Kiwi for extra fun. “It’s wichtig as, bro!”

(Also: When RTL entered the Dutch TV market with RTL-Véronique as “A Luxembourg TV channel honest *hem* *hem*” they’d have something like 1h of programming in Lëtzebuergesch per day (yay Hei Elei Kuck Elei), which was really confusing. “It _sounds_ like Dutch, but I cannot understand a word of it, am I having a stroke? Is the TV?”)