Day 22 Monday 22nd June 2009 The last day of our Grand European Rail Tour 2009.

Day 22 Monday 22nd June 2009 The last day of our Grand European rail tour 2009 and our last in London.
We did not wake early as we retired at midnight the night before; we did not breakfast until 9am after which we repacked our bags for our long 24 hour trip home on the 23rd June. We needed to do two things this day; cash some more traveller’s cheques and go to the tube station to check whether I had planned our journey to Heathrow correctly; I had, and we also had enough money left on our Oyster card as well. Fay wanted to do some shopping so we went into Waitrose, a huge department store just like our Farmers Trading Company used to be. We enjoyed a huge cup of tea and a bun. We also did what has become the norm, bought our evening meal.
I have enjoyed our touring especially in Europe and in particular Austria. The variety of bread is almost endless and the crunchy crusts of the bread buns marvellous. I only had one meal I did not like. The English and German trains are fantastic and everywhere. England was the only country that I could find a meat pie. The Cornish pasty I had at Whitby was memorable; I reckon Fay will have to make some when we get home. The English button mushrooms for breakfast are unforgettable. I am sitting in a sundrenched lounge of the International Britannia Hotel overlooking the waters of the land and building harbour of Canary Wharf as I finish this diary. Goodbye, we are off to Heathrow.

Day 21 Sunday 21st June 2009 Cologne to London

Day 21 Sunday 21st June 2009 Cologne to London.
We left Cologne at 8:44 for our final trip on the ICE headed for Brussels arriving 2 ¼ hours later; we only reached a maximum speed of 250kmph this trip. We had 4½ hours to fill in at Brussels so John led us on a final trip on our Euro rail pass to Oostende, a west coastal port were vehicular ferries load cars and trucks bound for England. We had an hour to explore the city. A marina locked in by a lock had many pleasure boats moored in dirty blackish water. When we returned we had time to buy our evening meal at a Brussels supermarket to take with us; the food there is much cheaper than in London. We had to check in on the Eurostar before 5:15pm for a 5:55pm departure. I am not impressed with the train; it is in my opinion inferior to the European trains which have more leg room and upholstery. We arrived back at St Pancras in London at 7:03pm where from we caught the tube train and a elevated rail train to Canary Wharf where the Britannia International Hotel is. The trip took us 2 hours. Never mind the food we bought at Brussels revived us. I had some lovely king prawns amoungst other things.

Day 20 Saturday 20th June 2009 A ride on the Rhein

Day 20 Saturday 20th June 2009 A ride in the Rhine.
We set off for the train station at 8am and caught the 8:18am train for Bingen where we caught another for a three minute one station ride to the Boat jetty. The day was overcast which made the beautiful gardens along edge of the river more colourful. Our boat the Rhien Energie arrived from further upstream at 10:30am. It was a very large boat reputed to carry 2000 people. The river flowed in a wide valley with hills on both sides. Roads and railways were close to the river on each side as were large attractive buildings in villages and large towns with beautiful parks and flowers. Vineyards were on the steep hillsides and many Castles were on the hilltops. There were not many bridges across the river so every now and then car ferries would provide a link with the other side for motorists and passenger ferries for pedestrians. The scenery was a photographers Paradise. Just before midday we passed the Loreley Statue; the sun was shining making the top deck more attractive. Many barges carrying a variety of cargo, oil, coal, scrap iron new cars, sand, shingle and I guess general cargo hidden under the barge covers. There were also quite a number of other tourist boats with lots of people on board. Our boat was really crowded but after the Loreley about half disembarked; hooray, three cheers we could now find a vacant table in the restaurant for a snack and a cup of tea. The boat stopped at twenty seven towns before reaching Cologne; many people boarded and disembarked at each stop. About 3pm Fay and I were sitting at a dining room table in the sun; I was typing and Fay was reading; every now and then we would check the scenery which was not as interesting as before; at the other end of the room some boisterous singing could be heard. I thought a group of young people were responsible but when I checked them out they were all middle aged. By 5pm we had travelled 100km and were passing several hundred people in the water by the riverbank; someone said they were swimming; really they were just keeping afloat and letting the current carry them along; one reminded me of the sea otters we saw in Alaska last year; his head was out of the water as was his feet with his big belly in between also out of the water, just like the otters ; he was actually sitting in an inflated car tube. At six pm Fay and I bought our evening meal on board. We landed back at Cologne at 8:10pm; we had had an restful and enjoyable day. As we walked back to our hotel we saw ancient Roman artefacts through a museum window as well as a small piece of a Roman wall. John also led us into the large cathedral. I thought I had seen the best of them before but this one really was the most! Alone choral singer could be heard clearly in this large cathedral; this demonstrated it’s excellent acoustics. We retired for the night happy.
Photos:- 1. Pretty ice cream shop at Bingen.
2. The River boat Rhein Energie.
3. Castle on a hillside.
4. More Castles.
5. People in the river.

Day 19 Friday 19th June 2009 Berlin to Cologne

Day 19 Friday 19th June 2009 Berlin to Köln by ICE.
We could look out of our 1st floor hotel room and look up at the station where we would catch our Inter City Express to Cologne. From the hotel reception we walked less than100 meters through a shopping mall to the escalator which elevated us to platform six. We left Berlin Ostbahnhof on time at 9:38am; we had two more stops in Berlin, Berlin HBF and Berlin Spandau before speeding off for 168 kilometres to our next stop, Wolfsburg where the beautifully landscaped Volkswagen manufacturing plant is. Every now and then the now common place wind generators where churning out power for the nation; they were all on flat land with some right alongside the track. Although we have seen wheat fields all over England and Europe in the last six weeks, today is the first day we have seen a field with the golden tinge of a ripening crop. At Wuppertal, one stop before Cologne we observed an unusual mode of public transport; a suspended two carriage railcar. As we could only catch a fleeting glimpse of it Alan offered to arrange a trip back to go for a ride. It was only a 23 minute ride and 46km on the ICE and our Euro rail passes covered the cost. Its track length is 13.3 km which it traverses in 30 minutes; for the first 4.6km it passes along a street over cars and pedestrians at a height of 8 meters above the ground. Each carriage is suspended by two large iron arms each attached to a single iron wheel, resting on a rail above the supporting structure; the wheel has a motor attachment which provides traction for the carriage. The rest of the route is over a winding stream edged with trees; quite pretty. It was built in the late 1890s, has 20 stops, a cruising speed of 26.6kmph, each of the two carriage trains can carry 3429 seated passengers covers 245 million km per year and 82,000 passengers per working day. We arrived back at Cologne at 6:40pm; I bought some fish and chips which Fay and I enjoyed at the hotel. It was not enough so I ventured out again and found a food market where I was able to buy some lovely chocolate mousse and a jar of apricots in juice.
Photos:- 1. Train track over river.
2. Train track over road.
3 Suspending wheel and arm.

Day 18 Thursday 18th June 2009 Our Day in Berlin

Day 18 Thursday 18th June 2009 Our Day in Berlin.
Today we joined a hop on hop off bus tour followed by a boat cruise on the Spree River. We saw many interesting sites including a tower similar to the Auckland Sky tower. It is 368 meters high carries the city’s main communications and TV transmitting aerials; it has a revolving restaurant which takes ½ an hour for one revolution. We saw a 100meter long section of the old Berlin wall that used to separate the East from the West. It was ugly, deteriorating and covered with Graffiti. There were many attractive buildings gardens, monuments and statues. Many of the buildings were new and modern although quite a few were rebuilt in the old style they were before being flattened by air raids during the last World War. Following the bus tour we passed a shop where wooden models were displayed; there was a huge range of items. We then joined a city river cruise for an hour and a half. This was very scenic and interesting. The river was very crowded with many tourist cruise boats. At some points along the river bank were many deck chairs outside garden bars and restaurants. They were all empty as raindrops were falling; I guess on a fine day they would be filled as the surrounding gardens and lawns and attractive buildings would create a pleasant environment. As most of the day was spent we retired back to our hotel which is part of the rail station complex. As we walked through the mall we found a hairdresser of which Fay took advantage. In the meantime I went exploring; found a supermarket and bought our evening meal.

Photos:- 1. Large Communications Tower.
2. Remains of Berlin Wall.
3. Wooden Motorbike.
4. Deck Chairs.

Sorry the list is not in order.

Day 17 Wednesday 17th June 2009 Regensburg to Berlin

Day 17 Wednesday 17th June 2009 Regensburg to Berlin.
Our 9am start became a 10am start to allow the 21 who went to Prague yesterday to catch up on some sleep as they did not get back until 10:15pm and still had to have an evening meal. We caught our first train about 10:30 and after 4 train changes arrived at the Berlin Hbf at 4:05pm at ground level; then we had to trail our bags up 4 escalators to another 6 platform station which is where the suburban trains cross the mainline country trains at right angles. This two station building is huge has natural lighting through a glass roof. The suburban tracks are elevated as they travel through the city. Here we caught a crowded suburban train to Berlin Ostbahnhof arriving at about 5pm. The Inter City Hotel where we are staying is part of the Berlin Ostbahnhof (Rail Station) complex; it has lots of shops and a supermarket. We had travelled through the usual nice countryside; there were plenty of windmills again. At 7pm the group had its last meal together as a group.

Day 16 Tuesday 16th June 2009 In Regensburg

Day 16 Tuesday 16th June 2009 in Regensburg.
Today, twenty one keen and intrepid members caught the early 7:29am train and headed for Prague. Ahead of them lay a trip taking 10 hours and six minutes for the return journey for a four hour and twenty minute walking tour of the city. Fay and I were two of five that stayed behind to explore the lovely old City of Regensburg. I am pleased we did. The city has nice parks and gardens and the old medieval part is particularly wonderful. Firstly as I was three days behind with this story I spent time catching up as Fay took time out to recover from the rigors of travel. Another reason we stayed behind was that we had used all our cash so we had to find a bank to cash our travellers cheques; yesterday Fay needed a new pair of shoes; we were forced to pay €50.00 in cash, a purchase which took all our remaining cash; debit and credit cards are not readily accepted in this part of Germany and Austria; we found American Express travellers cheques also hard to cash; we tried three banks before being successful at a cost. Generally I find my new visa debit card is better. Having cash again enabled us to take a ¾ hour bus tour of the city which showed us just how many back streets with good shops and cafes there are in the city. In the old part the streets are cobbled which makes for rough riding. We took a boat ride on the Danube that was disappointing after which we visited the ancient St. Peters Cathedral. I asked several people who could speak English when it was built; not one person new. It is very old; down in the crypt I saw inscriptions which suggested it has been used since the year 720. I find it amazing that people of the day could build such magnificent structures. We then returned leisurely to our hotel and enjoyed a cup of tea and a cake on the way.
Photos. 1 The Mall where Fay bought her shoes. 2 an Old Ship Museum. 3 Inside the Cathedral. 4 Stained Glass windows.