It was my own fault really; I should have checked the shuttle drop-off point first but the woman in charge was in no mood for questions and the bus was about to leave. So I got on and it sped off!

		When it finally stopped near the City Hall (see left), I realised it was too far to walk all the way back but with an "S-Bahn" station nearby, I realised that the St Pauli Landing-stage was just 2 stops south. From there I could walk the rest of the way back to the ship. I figured it couldn't be that difficult..... However, at Jungfernstieg station I couldn't see a ticket office or any ticket machines and before I knew it and without a ticket, I was on the platform and an "S-train" came in. So I got on.

The trouble is, I don't speak any German and the station names are so long and complicated! The next stop was Hauptbahnhof (the main railway station), so checking my map, I realised I had gone in the wrong direction. "Never mind," I thought, "change trains and go back."

There was another "S-train" across the platform and assuming it must be going the other way, I ran across and got on. Both trains then departed in the same direction parallel to one another. "Oops," I thought. The next stop was Berliner Tor, a mile-and-a-half from where I started and 2 and-a-half miles from where I wanted to be! Still, at least I was still on my map - just!

This time, I found the correct platform for trains in the opposite direction. But I still had no ticket and by this point I was imagining scenes from "The Great Escape" and expecting any moment to be interrogated by a guard carrying a machine-gun! When the train reached Hauptbahnhof again, I was relieved and stayed on, expecting to go back the way I had come. But the train left and went in an entirely new direction and I finally realised that not all "S-trains" follow the same route!

Studying the map again, I figured-out which line I must be on but rather than getting off at the next stop and trying to go back again, I decided to stay on to where there was a "U-Bahn" interchange for trains going south, back towards the St Pauli Landing-stage. However, I was not out of the woods yet; in fact at Sternschanze, I seemed to be in a park surrounded by trees!

Following the signs for the "U-Bahn", I found myself in a small booking-hall with a ticket machine and a sign saying (amazingly in English) "Entry to ticket-holders only!" With no-one to help and with only German instructions, I decided to buy the cheapest adult ticket I could and hope for the best! (right) Landungsbrücken, St Pauli Landing-stage & historic steamship terminal

Fortunately, this time I found the right platform and took the right train in the right direction, emerging at St Pauli Landungsbrücken, the historic steamship landing-stage and ferry terminal. Back in the 1970's, Sagafjord & Vistafjord were regular visitors here.

Sagafjord in 1966 & St Pauli Landungsbrücken	Independence of the Seas in refit at Blohm & Voss			Queen Victoria at the new Altona Cruise Terminal (opened in 2011)

It was from the Blohm & Voss shipyards across the river that the great battleship Bismarck was launched in 1939 by Adolf Hitler. Today, in the huge dry dock was Independence of the Seas, about to emerge from her 2-week $7m refit. Just as well, as we'll be aboard her next May!

My unplanned afternoon of adventure over, I walked back along the riverside to Queen Victoria, docked at the new Altona Cruise Terminal. It was further than I thought!

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