Talk:Pforzheim, Germany

Upcoming locations, plans

Thomcat visit 2017

Hello all, I will be visiting Sindelfingen in early December to speak at the ESE Kongress. Happy to fit in a geohash, either here or near Frankfurt. --Thomcat (talk) 19:19, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

Hi :) Somehow this came through to my email... seems nobody ever edited this page since I dropped out of the game. Sindelfingen is rather close to Tübingen. However, chances to get me going somewhere heavily depend on which day, and which direction. Also there exists a girlfriend with veto rights now, and she might use them ;-) --Ekorren (talk) 19:37, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

A worthy personage! Full itinerary follows - arrive Frankfurt 5 Dec roughly 6 pm, train to Sindelfingen. Visit Wichtel in Boblingen to see cars and drink beer. Attend conference 6 Dec and 7 Dec. Travel to Wetzlar to meet a customer on 8 Dec, then return to Frankfurt for airport hotel. Depart noon on Saturday 9 Dec - early morning geohash possible. --Thomcat (talk) 22:08, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

2010-10-19 48 8 (tuesday)

Robyn is thinking of trying this one, if local advice confirms likely doability.

Tomorrow isn't a good day for me to go hashing. I should have known that a day earlier (I know, hash o'clock and such...). I already confirmed some appointment at Tübingen. Same will apply to wednesday. I'm free on thursday, friday, saturday morning, and sunday this week. Hope for another chance, may also be in another graticule. Mind that the ticket price will be usually the same wherever you go within of the state of Baden-Württemberg, so if time is not so much of an issue there is no need to keep to the nearest graticule. Call if you need some information fast. --Ekorren 17:28, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

The point itself doesn't look too bad, you could take a bus from Pforzheim to Mönsheim and then walk out to the hash. As for a ticket: If you are two people the best will probably be a Baden-Württemberg-Ticket for 28 EUR, valid for 5 people. This is a daypass for almost all buses and local trains within of the state of Baden-Württemberg, valid from 9 am to 3 am for unlimited travel. It's available for that price from most bus drivers and ticket machines. --Ekorren 17:28, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

I just see that you'll be alone and want to bike. Bike transport is free in that area in local trains (NO bike transport in buses!) after 9 am. The Baden-Württemberg-Ticket is also available in a single person variant for 20 EUR. It's usually the easiest since once bought you're free to roam the rest of the day, however, it's not the cheapest for your trip. If you don't need the bus from Pforzheim to the hash, there's a way to make it considerably cheaper but it's a bit weird (and takes a little bit of extra time, I'll explain on request). You may also want to consider to go to Mühlacker or the station Niefern-Öschelbronn instead of Pforzheim, it's both closer and cheaper.

Btw, 2010-03-18_48_8 was only one village away from that hash ;) --Ekorren 17:42, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

Cool. I would definitely be interested in the daypass, and great that I don't have to buy a bike ticket. You say can get a Baden-Württemberg-Ticket for 20 EUR to go on more trips in the day. That's fantastic. If I go to 48 8, I will go to to Niefern-Öschelbronn station. I was just following the train tracks on Google Maps to look for train stations. Any recommendations on where else I should go on it, to see nice tourist things? Where is there a map that shows me the boundaries of that ticket? This is exciting! Wednesday I will go to Heidelberg, and only geohash if there's something reasonably convenient. Thursday and or Friday I will be standing by waiting for you to tell me which graticule I should aim for in order to meet you. My German geography is so terrible. I should geohash here every day and then it would improve. -Robyn 20:28, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

map Do you have any plans concerning timing yet? Pforzheim (also Niefern, which seems indeed closer) is easy reachable for me, but I only have time in the afternoon (after about 15:00). Koepfel _talk 20:53, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

Koepfel, I 'm so sorry, your message was lost next to Ekorren's wall o' text. It so happens that I WAS there just before three, but it wouldn't have worked for a meetup, anyway because I had a lot of trouble with the trains and was there much later than I intended. Tomorrow will work out better. -Robyn 21:27, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

The Baden-Württemberg-Ticket is valid on basically all local transport (no fast trains, though - always request "Nur Nahverkehr" when researching timetable information) within of the state, and on a few railway lines outside. Here is a PDF map of railway lines it is valid on. The color coding shows approximate service frequency at the stations on weekdays: red means at least two trains per hour stop there, yellow means there's usually one train per hour, blue one train about every two hours, white sporadic service. Some of the white stations only have summer weekend service. Around Karlsruhe a few lines are missing, along the orange lines some stations are not shown.

Mind that the free bike transport is only valid in some regions. It's quite complicated. Where it isn't valid, or if you go before 9 am on Monday to Friday (which is not allowed with the Baden-Württemberg-Ticket anyway), you can buy a bike daypass for 4.50.

Along your way the first "must see" which comes to mind is Maulbronn, a town and medieval monastery that's a UNESCO world heritage site and IMHO indeed a "must see". The nearest station is "Maulbronn West" which is about three km from the town in the middle of the forest. Reasonable marked bike trail and bus connections available from the station as well as from Mühlacker.

If you rather want to save a few euros than get the all-inclusive-package of the Baden-Württemberg-Ticket it could get as low as 12.60. Problem is that that may mean to skip a train at a small station with nothing to see since it includes to buy several tickets for parts of the trip which can only be bought at their respective starting point. I'm always running low on money, so I know and frequently use all of these tricks ;) --Ekorren 20:56, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

That's awesome. The €20 ticket is within my budget, and it's perfect that the monastery is so close to the geohash. Now to bed so I can get up and packed and planned and ready to board the train at nine! -Robyn 21:15, 18 October 2010 (UTC)