Around her was nothing but silence. She sat at her desk and took a deep breath. It was seven o'clock in the morning and Katharina was still awake. Next to her was a cup of coffee. The coffee was cold since hours, but she didn't realized it when she drank it. She was deep in thought. She had stayed up all night to read her grandfather's diary. It was a total shock for her to learn so much about the person who brought her up. Parts of his life he never metioned with any word. "It was neccessary to go on this journey", she thought. The journey. The journey which was to be started on this day.

Katharina was tired. She laid her head on the desk and fell asleep.

When she awoke it was already eleven o'clock. Her case wasn't packed yet. So she rushed into the bathroom. After having had a shower she got to her wardrobe took out her suitcase and packed her clothes. "I need a lot of warm jumpers,", she thought, " it's certainly cold in Ireland."

There was no time for a long breakfast. Just coffee. Afterwards, she looked for the tickets. The train ticket to Cologne, the tickets to Brussels, Dublin, Westport and Achill Island. They were in her desk. She rushed to the desk and put them into her handbag. On the desk was still her grandfather's diary. She put it into her handbag, too. There were only two more things she needed: Another book and her walkman with her U2 cassette. This was her favourite cassette when she travelled by train.

The train was full of people. Katharina almost had to fight to get a seat. Next to her sat an old lady who smiled at her.It seemed as she wanted to start a conversation. But Katharina wasn't in the mood for a conversation with strangers on the train. She was stll very tired. So she smiled politely, turned her back to the lady and took her walkman out of the handbag. She listened to the first times of "The unforgetable fire" That was the perfect song for travelling by train.

Soon the train reached Cologne. Katharina got of the train and looked for the platform the Thalys to Brussels was to be leave.

She arrived on the platform and waited for the train. Next to her stood two guys who were carrying their instruments and talked about music [link to team Hamburg ; Steve and Peter 2]

When the Thalys pulled in she took another deep breath. She got on the train and looked for a seat. She found one and sat down. After having stowed her case and her coat she looked at the people around her. She liked watching at other people when she was travelling. Two ladies entered the compartment. They walked by Katharina while discussing about whether they should join Sallowski or not [link to team Hamburg; Wilma and Charlotte] Katharina smiled.

The landscape outside passed by and Katharina was still watching people. There was a man reading a book called "Irish Toffee [link to Team Cologne; Bruno Sattler fourth episode] "What a coincidence!", she thought.

After an hour she went to the dining car. She hadn't had any breakfast apart from a cup of coffee. So she was very hungry.

She was eating and watched the people. Suddenly she heard a woman shouting: "What a sad little pervert you are!" she left a dramatic pause. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself!" [link to Lovetrain; pop-up window with the words.] Katharina smiled. "Poor guy!", she thought, "But he maybe deserves it.

Back at her seat she heard a voice out of the speakers: "Meine Damen und Herren. In wenigen Minuten erreichen wir Brüssel Hauptbahnhof." [link to Simone Klibingat, Team Bonn, "That is no coincidence any longer"