Cologne
Late start to the day, coffee in the hostel’s communal garden and a quick look at the city map. Comfortingly, the hostel is not full of 16 year olds. There appears to be mixture of ages, groups, couples and singles all quietly going about their own business. Coffee is refillable, a range of cereals and cooked food are on offer and the sun is shining.
Today’s plan is to dump the bag at the station’s left luggage, mooch around the city centre for a few hours and then depart for Hannover. Left luggage consists of an automated conveyor belt deposit box system, taking your bag into the bowels of the earth, all controlled by your credit card – Isn’t technology wonderful. By the way, ‘The Man in Seat61…’ provides a comprehensive guide to left luggage facilities at the majority of major rail stations in Europe. It can be found here if you are interested.
First stop is the UNESCO listed cathedral, dominating both the station and the adjacent city square. According to Wikipedia Cologne cathedral is:
“a cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia belonging to the Catholic Church”
How would we survive without such informative information at our finger tips.
It is apparently also the second tallest church in Europe and the third tallest in the world. No wonder there are so many tourists traipsing around it one after another.
Enough of this, time for another coffee and cake. Café Reichard is just what the doctor ordered, Established 120 years ago, full of atmosphere and a range of cakes to die for. It even has its own atrium overlooking the cathedral and the best loos in Cologne – the loos are so good that the urinals feature on the home page of their website – eat your heart out Starbucks, I bet you cannot match that. What’s more, the home page also includes a photo of the serving team. Can you imagine Starbucks retaining a team of servers long enough to make them a permanent feature on their website.
What is it about continental Europe – people still seem happy to dedicate their lives to working in the hospitality industry – maybe the system actually allows them to receive sensible wages, rather than our ‘race to the bottom’ approach to life.
Refreshed, its on to the Old Town, a working river (Rhine), the Buttermarkt, Salzgasse and Unter Kaster. You can almost imagine Patrick Leigh Fermor in those pre war nazi days, hustling among the paddle steamers, seeking a passage up the Rhine, drinking snapps to oblivion with Uli and Peter prior to his trip up the river to Coblenz.
Oh well, enough romanticising, time to retrieve the luggage and catch the 15.48 to Hannover. On approaching the technological wonder of the luggage box however there is a large angry crowd gathered. Disgruntled backpackers helplessly clutch their credit card generated tickets while a harassed official in blue tries to conjure up suitcases from the vaults below. So much for technology. 40 minutes later (at 16.00) my backpack cum trolley emerges from nowhere and I am on my way, albeit my train has already departed.
Faced with the choice of either taking one of several slow trains that take over three and half hours to reach Hannover or waiting for the fast train at 17.48 I decide on the latter.
Nothing for it then, back to the Café Reichard for another coffee and excellent gateaux.
Eventually arrive at Hannover Hbf at around 9.00pm. Staying at the nearby Ibis Budget tonight so only a short walk from the station. Hotel is basic and cheap, but fine for an overnight stay. At least most Ibis hotels are modern, clean and come complete with desk area, kettle and tv. Also, this one is next to its more upmarket Novotel brother so there is a decent reception area for shared check-in.
Another good thing about Ibis is they have an easily accessed website (www.ibis.com), have a membership scheme giving 5 to 10 percent off normal booking prices, give loyalty points allowing free stays and also, if you book some time in advance, they offer decent discounts and the ability to cancel up to 18.00pm on the day of arrival without charge. – Yes, I know its not exactly a local experience but it does for a quick overnight stay and many are located very near to railway stations so ideal for InterRail travellers. No, I’m not getting commission, just trying to provide a useful travel tip.