29 September 2023

I had to, right?

It was sad to leave Sophie, Hans Heinrich, Sebastian, the dogs, the chooks and the hedgehogs today. But we are happy to know that in a few short months we will be welcoming some of them (not the animals) to Newcastle. We are looking forward to repaying their generosity.

Sophie and I walked the dogs again this morning, before I retired to our bedroom to undertake the dubious task of packing my back pack and trying to squish everything back in. A task I do not enjoy!!

We said our final farewells at Hanover train station and we were off. Fast!!!

We zoomed westward and were in Cologne in no time. The Hauptbahnhof here is right beside the Cologne Cathedral and there certainly was no missing it when we emerged from the station.

We checked into our room for the night and after admiring the view from our window, set off to explore.

First stop,obviously, was the cathedral.

Facts: The Cathedral took over 600 years to build and was is said to house the relics of the Three Kings (Wise Men). It is currently the tallest twin spired church in the world at 157 metres!! The Cathedral was badly damaged during WW2 but remained standing despite the massive destruction of the surrounding area. The twin spires were an easily recognisable navigational landmark for Allied aircraft bombing.

We walked the Hohenzollern Bridge, crossing the Rhine and were in awe of the number of “love locks” it had attached to it. Back in June 2015 the estimated number of locks attached to the bridge was 500,000 (thanks Wikipedia) and I’m thinking there’s a lot more now. Both sides of the bridge, the entire length are absolutely jam packed. At either end of the bridge, enterprising “lock” sellers with engraving machines were at the ready. And no, Grahame and I saw no need to leave a momento of our love. (I was a little concerned about all the additional weight this bridge was already carrying.) We did however look for a geocache but alas, it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. We left defeated.

We stood, half way, watching the massive barges passing under the bridge. They moved incredibly fast for their size and there was a constant stream of them. Grahame commented that it reminded him of the river in Düsseldorf. It should It’s the same river!!!

We wandered down by the Rhine to explore. It was now that the heavens opened and we simply had to seek refuge in one of the many, many beer halls that were in this area. I don’t know whether it’s because it’s Oktoberfest season or not, but the beer halls were doing a roaring trade. Just watching the waitstaff handling all that beer was entertainment enough for me.

We started heading back to our hotel via the narrow streets and alleyways. Finding our way was easy, we just had to look up! Those spires were hard to miss.

After a quick stop off for dinner, we made our way home and enjoyed the view once more from our room.