Writing this in a stifling internet cafe in Cologne. This kind of establishment is hard to find nowadays as everyone has their own netbook or iPad or smart phone. We left our iBook at home at the last minute as it was too heavy to carry – a decision we are already semi-regretting.
Yesterday, Thursday the 11th of August. Sam and Bea drove us to Norwich Station and we were soon heading to London. Disaster almost struck at Stowmarket when the bloody train stopped for half hour due to a leaf on the track (or something). I mildly panicked as we only had two and a half hours to get from Liverpool St Station to St Pancras, but hey, this is British rail and anything could happen. Of course I blamed Sheila for insisting that there would be no problem. She responded by laughing at me and telling me I looked like an angry airedale (it’s the beard). Anyway, of course we made it in time but at Eurostar security check-in the scanner noted my old pocket knife in my pack and I was forced to empty the contents and pray that they didn’t arrest me for possession of an illegal weapon. I gave them the knife as a peace offering and they let us through, but boy did we both need a beer by then.
We met a Welsh bloke and his sexy daughter at the bar who were heading on a similar journey to us – Moscow, Beijing, and Vietnam, but instead of Oz, they are going to India and Sth Africa, all in four months, as opposed to our 12.
On the Eurostar, 14:34
We Travelled across Kent, under the Channel and across France at the fastest speed I’ve ever experienced on land. Very smooth, a real sense of travel and rubbish food from the snack bar, but who cares at this point. We arrived in Brussells and had an hour to kill until the ICE Train to Cologne. We were hot and frazzled by the time we lugged our sacks up to the next platform, but at least I wasn’t packing that heavy laptop. The ICE Train was crowded with no reserved seats so people seemed to wander through the aisle with their bags and back packs, desperately searching for non-existent seats. We were OK though – we shared a table with a Canadian girl and a German guy who, coincidentally, lives and works in Norwich. We said we’d look him up next year when we return.
Cologne, Germany, 21:00
The station is right next to the immense gothic cathedral so we felt like we had seen the sights as soon as we emerged from the concorse. A taxi took us to our digs – Th Bermuda Triangle B&B on Marselstein Strasse. This is a really nice little set-up on the third floor of a modernish building. Very clean, comfortable beds, widescreen telly, a compact and Germanically efficient kitchen and wi-fi access (wish we had the Mac at this point). After showering away the day’s stresses, we walked half a block and found a lovely Italian restaurant where we sat out in the balmy evening eating pasta and drinking one beer each before crawling back to the Bermuda Triangle for the first sleep of our journey. That night I dreamt of writing this blog on my own laptop.
Cologne, 12 August 2011
After breakfast we caught the metro back to the Cathedral platz, checked our heavy packs into a steel box that seemed to eat bags, then proceeded to wander about this large, friendly German city on the Rhine. Cologne is modern and attractive, but must have once been medieval and beautiful, but we bombed the bejesus out of it in the war and now there is little left of its former splendour (At least its cathedral survived, unlike that of Coventry).
We have spent the day wandering about, riding the tourist bus and writing this. However, one of the first things we did was find a computer shop to buy a lightweight PC netbook or something. Result, we found one and were even offered a discount only to discover that the operating system only comes in German. Bummer! Looks like we will have to wait until Beijing when I reckon we’ll be able to buy just about anything we want for less than we can imagine… will have to wait and see.
Our next train leaves tonight at 21:36 and we arrive in Warsaw tomorrow at 11:15. Until we board the sleeper train we are effectively homeless, a far more liberating feeling than you may imagine. However, We still feel like we are on a short city break rather than an epic journey across Euope and Asia. I think our arrival in Warsaw will herald a change of sense, and the ensuring trip across Belarus to Moscow with bring the immensity of our journey home. to us.
Mick and Sheila's Travels 