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.