Day One: Bristol to Cologne

Some friends and I planned a long weekend in Copenhagen and I decided to extend the trip and travel there and back by train visiting interesting looking towns en route. My friends’ time is limited so train travel isn’t practical. Ideal for retirees though. It was also an opportunity to try a spot of interrailing something I haven’t done before.

I bought the pass at the end of last year - a 5 day pass to be used within the month. The travel days don’t have to be concurrent so I will only use the travel days between visiting the different towns.

My first travel day involved getting from Bristol to Cologne. The smooth running of the whole journey was dependent on everything running like clockwork and no tube driver strikes.

The first leg of my journey was Bristol to London Paddington via First Great Western. Second stage was the Eurostar. It’s been a long time since I’ve been on the Eurostar to either Paris or Brussels. It was busy at St Pancras but was pretty organised with lots of staff to help. It’s a bit like the airport as you have to go through security first. One thing worth noting for UK citizens is that the new EU travel rules are creating slightly longer queues. They are collecting biometric data through facial scans and fingerprints.

Once through that, the departure lounge was heaving. I guessed that all the trains were going to be full. Once boarded the journey took about two hours to Brussels. I was watching the clock as I only had 16 minutes to change trains. We were running about 6 minutes late so I got up early and waited by the exit door so that I was first off the train to leg it to my next train to Cologne. Got there with 5 minutes to spare but it was annoying that the escalator wasn’t working meaning so I had to lug my case up the steps.

It was a very comfortable train which was moderately busy. Everything is pretty self explanatory - lots of signage so that you know where you are and how long to the next station, which platform you are coming into and which side you’ll be getting off. First Great Western could learn a thing or two.

Finally after nearly 9 hours I arrived in Cologne. A journey that probably takes a couple of hours by plane but feels more civilised by train.

I checked into the Brandenburg HOF hotel. It’s basic but fine for one night with the added bonus of being 5 minutes walk from the station.I had a wander around and found a really good vegan restaurant called Sattgrün which was a few streets away from the cathedral. It was similar to the place I went to in Zurich last year but instead of by weight, this place charged by plate size. It was pretty good food - I would have liked to have tried everything.

I followed this up with a walk around Cologne before heading back before it got too dark. No tea making facilities in my room but the guy on the desk got me a mug of hot water to take to my room so I could make some tea. Staying hydrated is a challenge on these sort of trips.

And then it was early to bed ready for a very early start at 5am the next day.