Cologne

Cologne

Next day we left for Cologne in Germany. We had to first take a Regional Express (RE) train to Trier in Germany just beyond Luxembourg border and from there switch to another RE train. Reservations are not required in RE trains. There was just 8 minute difference at Trier and train was on another platform and it was raining as well. Somehow we managed to catch that train. The train had few passengers.

It went through green countryside along the Rhine river. At some locations, the forest was thick and foggy. The train stopped at all the stations some of which were like ghost stations with hardly anyone to get on or off. We enjoyed the ride thoroughly. Just outside Bonn, the train stopped for good 20 minutes reminded us of stoppages at outer signal of Indian Railways. But the trains were unlike Indian ones.

We finally reached Cologne and took a cab to go to our hotel. Our hotel was Hotel Lasthaus Am Ring located at Hohenzollerning 20, Altstadt-Nord, a short distance from Cologne HauptBahnHof which means main train station in German.

After checking in we immediately went to our tour point KD Landing Peir, Rheingarten. We booked a package tour via Viator which include HoHo bus tour and Rive Cruise on Rhine river. It was overcast, drizzling and chilly weather. We had two days at Cologne so decided to do cruise on first day and HoHo tour on the next day. KD means Koln-Dusseldorf. Koln (Cologne in german) has a twin city of Dusseldorf. We had some time to kill before the next departure which we spent loitering around the place. We walked in the Altstadt area where there was a farmer's market held and few more sights. We also admired at the boats in Rhine river. Rhine river is lifeline of Germany which majorly flows in Germany. It originates in Switzerland and drains in Netherlands though. Major German towns are on the bank of this river.

KD Landing Pier

Altstadt area

Altstadt area

Farmer's market & a warrior statue

Modern rickshaws

We were ushered into a large boat along with few other guests. We sat on the deck under cover from rain. There was onboard bar which served Koln beer. Cologne or Germany for that matter is known for its beer. There were plenty of beer pubs in the Altstadt region. We admired the riverfront of Cologne. The main attraction Cologne promenade is the trio of buildings called the Kranhäuser (crane towers), which rise to a height of about 60 meters. The buildings, which are shaped like hoisting cranes, are defining elements of the skyline on the west bank of the Rhine.

Crane towers

Other buildings on riverfront

View of crane buildings

Another view of cranes

Gate1 River Cruise ship

Koln Beer

After spending some more time strolling around, we thought of going to Bonn which is half-an-hour ride. Here we did a blunder that we went a bought a ticket without realising that our EURAIL pass is valid for today for travel anywhere. We should have just got into the train but we wasted time & money in getting the tickets.

Like Cologne, Bonn is on Rhine river. It is known for the central Beethoven House, a memorial and museum honouring the composer’s birthplace. Apart from this there are other beautiful gothic and romanesque buildings. We walked all the way to riverside passing by house of Beethoven which was closed beyond visiting time. We also tasted fritters as the potato fries are known. Only after coming to Europe we came to know that potato fries or fritters have a place of pride for every city.

Bonn square

Bonn street

Food market at Bonn

Street sign in Bonn

Beethoven House

Decorative sculpture at Bonn

Bonn building

In the evening we returned to Cologne and went around our hotel for walk and dinner. We found an joint Bay Area Burrito and had familiar food.

Next day we took our HoHo tour bus starting from HauptBahnHof which straddles the iconic building, Cologne Cathedral. We saw it several times since previous day as it rises above everything but today we visited from inside. It was huge and a marvel of architecture. The carvings and decoration on the exterior was magnificent. Inside it was equally beautiful with tall pillar and decorated ceilings and stained glass depicting scenes from bible. Whole ambience was one of spirituality, tranquility and holiness.

Cologne cathedral

Cologne cathedral

Stained glass inside cathedral

Inside cathedral

After spending some time sitting in silence on the long benches we can out to board our HoHo bus. It went through its designated route and then crossed over to other side of Rhine. We got down at the stop for Zoo but instead of that we went for Cologne cable car ride. At 14 euro, one could go to other side and come back. The cable car rises above one of the bridges over Rhine and gets down at Spielplatz im Rheinpark. We ambled in the park to find a small fair going on. Had the famous Fruh beer here. The park was beautiful with blossoming trees and flowers and manicured grass. We took the cable car back to the starting point. We got onto next bus and came back to main station at Hauptbanhoff.

Koln city tour bus

Cable car over Rhine river crossing over bridge

Cable car

Cable car embarking point

Beautiful park at Cologne

View from cable car

Fruh beer at the fair

We walked down to Cologne City Museum which was good showing historical pictures and evolution of Cologne city. We walked back from there and had food at a mediterranean joint called Anya Imbiss. The walk back again showed few more sight of the city.

Walking towards ever visible Cologne cathedral

Fountain not working

Commercial district

We came back to Cathedral again and then got onto the HoHo bus again. This time we got down at Olympic museum also known as Schokoladen museum which depicted the history of Olympics and Germany's exploits. The museum was overall good and worth visiting. The museum was next to Crane towers. We had a little walk on the promenade.

Entry to Olympic museum

View of Rhine river

Crane tower again

Olympic museum

After that we were waiting for our HoHo bus but realised that time was past the last bus time. We had seen some modern cycle rickshaws and we hired one of them. Here was a cycle rickshaw with gears, disc brakes, all terrain tyres. No wonder Germany is advanced in technology. The rickshaw plied on footpath and dedicated cycle lanes and we enjoyed while our driver was sweating even in the cold. The guy was nice though. He was from Austria and he shared that he made good money by ferrying tourists. We were amused to employ a European to ferry us Indians in a Cycle Rickshaw. Wish, such cycle rickshaws could be provided to our poor cycle rickshaw pullers to help them.

We enjoying cycle rickshaw ride

When we reached back near Altstadt there was huge commotion by people wearing red jersey. On asking we came to know that the local football club FC Cologne has won some match and qualified for some tournament after 20 years. The folks were chanting, honking showing their jerseys and mufflers of the club. The celebration grew that too right in front of our hotel which is main thoroughfare. The road was blocked, huge crowd of fans drinking beer and chanting. Our hotel staff cautioned us to not venture out much and be away from rowdy crowd. The fans formed a small stage and lighted something which spew out smoke and chanted. We were amused to witness this celebration but up close to how crazy are the fans for football in Germany.

Celebration outside our hotel

Celebration outside our hotel

That brought end to our trip to Cologne.

Lyon, France

Today was our last day of Europe trip. We had bought 5+1 free day EURAIL pass, we had already made our mind to visit Lyon by TGV and return back on the same day fully utilising the pass. Paris-Lyon is the first route on which TGV train ran for more than 300 kmph. We took metro route 14 Gare St Lazare and got down at Gare de Lyon which is the third main station we were getting down or taking train from in Paris. The train was there with its blue-grey livery and attendants helping out passengers.

Paris-Lyon train

The train was as expected fast and smooth. This time too we had breakfast from the pantry car enjoying the beautiful scenery rush past. French countryside is beautiful with meadows of green grass or fields.

We got down at Gare Part-Dieu station at Lyon. We had thought of going all the way to La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière which is situated on a little hill around 4km from the station. We had 6 hours to spend which was neither less to take transport nor enough to do a full tour, so we decided to walk all the way and witness what is there to see. The walk was a straight path crossing two rivers - Rhone and Saone who meet further in Lyon. We started walking and watched the streets, buildings and people going about their ways.

Outside Lyon station

building in Lyon

Rhone river

Rhone river

In between we briefly stopped to witness Saint-Bonaventure's Church. The river crossings offered beautiful views of the promenade. The river was clean and green. We witnessed a vegetable market and artists selling paintings on the footpath.

Saone river

Paintings on footpath

Road signs Lyon

 After crossing Saone, we had to climb a bit to come to Basilica. It was great to look at and also its interiors were beautiful. However, the best part was panoramic and wide angle views of whole Lyon town. Not surprisingly, people spent more time gazing at the views far and wide. Most of the buildings had red tiled roof and white, cream, beige or ochre in color structure giving city a distinctive look.

Basilica

Inside Basilica

Red tile sloping roofs

Panaromic view of Lyon

We walked down to come to another cathedral Saint-Jean Baptiste which was again an impressive building and quite interiors.

Cathedral

We then walked on the cobbled streets of what is the old part of Lyon. There were several bouchons who serve traditional and contemporary cuisine. The seats are both inside or on the streets. We sat down at one such bouchon and asked the owner whether we can share the meal? Generally it is awkward or simply not allowed but she agreed and we had our meal. We took a meal which had fish and rice. The bouchon was really old visible from its creaking wooden interiors but quite charming.

Old Lyon

Eateries

Eateries

our bouchon

our meal at bouchon

We walked around bit more around and then started back for station, this time taking parallel bridge and street this time. The bridge over Saone was unique in way that it was meant for pedestrians only and was supported by ropes from a single tower. Looks like French blend art and engineering so well. We then came to Place des Jacobins which is city square with an elaborate fountain & surrounded by tall, 19th-century townhouse buildings.

Art around the bridge

Artistic one pillar bridge

beautiful view

main square

 

This is a post office!

Back to Paris

We finally reached the station back for our return journey. In the return run, I figured that there is a onboard WiFi and I connected to it by asking the attendant. Now I could see the location of train and speed on their own welcome page. We reached Paris by evening. Imagine covering 1000km rountrip to a city and leisurely covering a part of it and reach home before evening!

Luxembourg

Day 3
Today we were destined to go to Luxembourg City from Paris. We took train to go to Gare de l'Est station. I was excited to travel on TGV for the first time. The train departed on time and slowly got out of Paris suburbs and then picked up speed. I got breakfast from the pantry and we sat their watching the French countryside roll past. My phone GPS didn't work and didn't get reminded to ask the train attendant about onboard WiFi so couldn't measure the speed. But I think it was mostly above 200 kmph and probably at some point it might have touched 300 kmph which seem to be the limit.

Station display 

Our train on the platform

Station concourse

Our train

High speed

The Luxembourg City station was artistically done. The hotel at Luxembourg City was near station and we decided to walk to it. However, the name which we were looking for was not there at the location. We had to go a little up & down and asked a couple of people and shops to come back where we had expected it to be. The homestay was by some other name. We checked in and quickly went for our Hop-on Hop-off tour whose meeting point was Boulevard Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The weather was overcast and chilly which made us bring out our jackets. We simply walked to the place and obtained the proper ticket against our Viator pass. Nearby located is Gelle Fra memorial which is an obelisk with a golden lady to commemorate the Luxembourgers who died in WW1.

Street scene

Street scene

Obelisk

At our HoHo point

Luxembourg is a very small country. It is a city-state with Luxembourg City being the main and only city. Historically, being a small state, the surrounding forces have kept it neutral to be that point of equilibrium. Due to its neutral polity and stable government there are lot of official and financial institutions here. People travel across Luxembourg or even towns from adjacent countries like France and Belgium everyday to work here. Imagine commuting to another country everyday! The city is known for being seat of European Union. The city itself is a medieval city built on deep gorges cut by rivers. The city is graded, some at the top and some at the bottom in the gorge which makes it very dramatic.

Bock casemates castle remains

Bock casemates giver & gorge

We got onto the bus in first round didn't get down anywhere and came back to starting point in 1.5 hours. We then has a quick bite at McDonald's and decided to go for Petrusse Express. Its a small toy train which runs on road which takes tourists through the old fortified city.

Petrusse Express

The starting point is at The Montée de Clausen which is very near to Bock Casemates which is a castle built around the gorge. The castle is now UNESCO heritage site. While we waited to depart, we could view the old city in the gorge from different viewpoints of Bock casemates. The buildings are mostly yellow with black pyramid roof trying to rise above the gorge.

Bock Casemates UNESCO site

City in the gorge

City in the gorge

The tour was enjoyable with complementary commentary of the sites. We came back to the starting point and again walked back through the lanes to be at bus stop for our hop-on-hop-off. In between we passed through the Grand Duchess Charlotte Memorial in Clairefontaine Square, not far from the late-Gothic Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin (1613), and the Government District.

Luxembourg compass

National monument

directions

We got into the bus again this time with intention of getting down at some point. We got down at Kirchberg which is the area where all the banks and offices are located. After strolling around we went to Auchen mall and had Starbucks coffee.

Outside Auchen mall

Denske bank building Kirchberg

We then took the next bus and came back to main station close to our lodgings. In the evening we went to an Indian restaurant Taj Mahal which turned out to be Nepalese restaurant.

Taj Mahal restaurant

We ordered the entrees the way we do in India but the portions were so huge that we had to pack the leftover for next day.