Community Highlights Europe A sunny winter walk

A sunny winter walk

After our late night we had a bit of a lie-in. We'd arranged to meet Peter and Joanne for breakfast at 10.00 but only Joanne arrived as Peter needed longer to recover from a lengthy walk they'd taken yesterday.

After the breakfast Joanne went off to do some shopping, and we set out on a stroll by the river Rhine. It was a lovely sunny day, with a chilly wind but some warmth in the sun, so perfect for a walk.

On our way down to the river we passed Groß St. Martin church, dating from the 13th century. We didn’t stop to go in but did explore the small square in which it sits, An Groß St. Martin. There was a small sculpture of Saint Martin giving his cloak to the beggar, and a fountain, the Tierbrunnen, which unfortunately was dry.

From the river bank we had some good views of the church and of the cathedral beyond. There were some attractive buildings including one labelled as dating from 1234, although I suspect considerably restored if not rebuilt. The city was one of Germany's most heavily bombed by the Allies, with 95% of its city centre destroyed in over 260 air raids. Incredibly though, the cathedral was relatively unscathed.

We followed the river south until reaching the Deutzer Bridge. We climbed spiral stone steps to reach the road and cross the river at this point. From the bridge we had some great views of the river and could see several cruise ships moored just below us.

Once on the far side we followed the river bank again, going north along the Rheinboulevard. This was built in 2016 to provide vistas of the city and (in warmer weather) places to sit while soaking up the view. We passed the ruins of an old Prussian fort, built on the site of a Roman one, Divitia, and got more excellent views, especially of the cathedral.

When we reached the next bridge, the Hohenzollernbrücke, we climbed the stairs, passing a wedding shoot on the way.

At the top we turned to cross back over the river. This bridge was built between 1907 and 1911 to carry both road and rail traffic, although today it carries only rail and pedestrians. According to Wikipedia it is the most heavily-used railway bridge in Germany with more than 1,200 trains crossing daily. I was surprised to learn that during WW2 it survived numerous bombing raids only to be blown up by German military engineers to slow the progress of Allied troops during the closing months of the war.

Four equestrian statues of Prussian kings and German emperors stand at either end of the bridge. My photo is of one of them, Emperor Wilhelm I. According to the Visit Cologne website:
The equestrian statue of Wilhelm I is made of bronze and stands on a massive granite base. It was created by the renowned sculptor Friedrich Drake. Emperor Wilhelm I sits in a majestic pose on the horse, wearing a military uniform. All of this underscores his significance as a statesman and military leader. The monument was inaugurated and unveiled in 1867.

Today the bridge is covered with more ‘love padlocks’ than I have ever seen, by far. The local tourist board suggests that the number probably exceeds several hundred thousand. It also says that ‘Deutsche Bahn does not currently consider the love locks to be a danger to the bridge’. I enjoyed reading some of the messages and photographing a (very) small sample.

The bridge is aligned to offer views of the cathedral as you approach the city centre side, although these are (I think unfortunately) partly obscured by the modern building of the Museum Ludwig.

As we neared the far end and the city centre we got a message from Barry about a suggested place to meet for lunch, Peter's Brauhaus, which we had passed earlier in the morning (see photo above with Father Christmas). So we headed there and joined up with our own group of friends and a few other Newcastle fans whom Barry knew. We had a good chat over lunch and took a few photos. I enjoyed my bratwurst and potato salad, although it was too huge a portion!

Peters Brauhaus

Gradually the group split up as some had flights home this afternoon. Chris and I decided to check out a few shops (I bought some finger puppets for my great niece) and also went to get a few last photos of the cathedral in sunshine. We then headed back to the hotel for a break.

In the evening we went back for dinner in Lederer, where we'd eaten on the first night. Most of us again had Schnitzels. This time I chose a paprika sauce which was delicious, rich with strips of peppers, onions and gherkins. But the portion was huge and as before I had to reluctantly leave some of my fries.

We went back to our favourite bar on the corner by our hotel, the Gaststätte Dominikaner, for a few beers. Peter and Joanne then opted for an early night as they had to be up very early for their flight to Newcastle, while we had one last drink in the hotel bar with Pete before saying our goodbyes, as we had an early start the next morning.

Time to go home

We'd set an alarm for seven and were up promptly to get ready to leave, including packing which we'd left for this morning as we had relatively little. We checked out and walked down to the station where we had breakfast in a great little bakery - reasonable coffee and delicious pastries including Chris’s favourite Pflaumentörtchen (plum tart) and my own choice of an excellent walnut pastry.

To our surprise (given our experience on the outward journey and that of several of our friends) our train was due to leave on time - and actually did so! It was pretty full but we were able to get seats across the aisle from each other. The punctuality didn't last however, as by the time we reached the first stop, Mönchengladbach, we were already running ten minutes late!

It didn’t matter however as we'd built plenty of slack into our itinerary. Even though we were thirty minutes late into Brussels Midi, we still had time for lunch in the bistro where we'd had coffee on the way out.

There were only very short queues at security and passport control, so we were in the departure area with about an hour to wait. I bought some Belgian chocolates in the duty free as a treat, then waited to board the train.

We'd been able to get reasonably priced Eurostar Plus seats for the return journey, unlike on the way out, so had a quiet and comfortable carriage and a light meal with wine to pass the journey. And once back at St Pancras it was an easy journey home on the Piccadilly line so we were back by mid-afternoon.

This featured blog entry was written by ToonSarah from the blog Travel with me ....
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