Last Updated：2023-08-08
The originally planned overnight train journey to see the sunrise in Venice ended in failure.
The international rail pass I purchased in Taiwan needed to be activated with a stamp from Deutsche Bahn AG (DB) during their business hours. Due to a delay in my schedule, when I arrived at the station from the airport, it was already well past 8 PM, and the staff of the German railway had already finished their work for the day. I had to wait in the station's waiting room until the next morning to catch a train to Venice.
As the night grew later, the people coming in and out of the waiting room became more diverse, and the questions asked became increasingly strange.
"Can I borrow your Wi-Fi?"
(As a foreigner, it didn't make sense for them to ask me for WiFi, did it?)
"What time is it now?"
(There were plenty of clocks in the station; couldn't they see them?)
"Do you want to go out and have some fun?"
(Who would accept such a casual invitation?)
Then, the most astonishing thing happened. A man entered the room, rummaged through the sleeping passenger's belongings, took a few things, and then left. We all saw it happening, but all of us who were awake dared not utter a word.
In contrast to the safety of daytime, nighttime in Munich might have felt like another parallel universe.