Koblenz

Another great day..as warm as yesterday!

We caught the 11:07 Inter City Train (ICE) and travelled to Cologne (KOLN). As planned we didn't use our rail pass for this trip as that would have meant usage in 6 countries and our pass only permits 5 countries.


The journey was very pleasant and comfortable. We shared a sandwich and drank water. We arrived in Cologne around 2:00pm and visited the Cathedral which is immediately outside the train station. A very impressive structure with magnificent stained glass windows. We were back on the train within an hour headed for Koblenz. We were about 15 minutes late in departing because of a train which appeared to be disabled not being able to move off our track. They switched our track and all the passengers were given a complimentary soft drink to compensate for the delay. The journey to Koblenz took about an hour and the scenery was gorgeous as the route ran alongside the Rhine for much of the way.

Once in Koblenz we found our hotel, a leisurely 5 minute walk from the station. The hotel is very nice, quite modern and again only a short walk from the banks of the Rhine. We took a stroll through the town which is beautiful and very clean. There are numerous pedestrian precincts and lots of outdoor patios. We ate on the patio of a non touristy pub and Una enjoyed a bowl of pea soup with german sausage and a salad while I had a schnitzel with fries. Very tasty and quite reasonable too.

I got talking tonight to one of the hotel staff here and he is a frequent visitor to Toronto. He has some friends in the city and was last over in February when he went snowmobiling. Small world and on top of that we both share the same birthday although he looks to be a few years younger than me!

Tomorrow we cruise the Rhine down to Mainz. Hopefully the great weather will continue.

The pictures above were taken tonight in Koblenz and I also uploaded a couple from Amsterdam which I have added to yesterday's posting.