To Essen

Thursday 14th April
The day dawned fine in Koblenz, but as we travelled northwards, it grew colder and the sky clouded up. It's just one hour by train to Essen, crossing the Rhine at Cologne. Once we arrived at the railway station we had to catch a bus to the hotel, the Alte Lohnhalle, part of a former coalmine.



It was the rather imposing building where the miners received their pay, (Lohn) but after the coalmine was closed eventually was bought by people who saw its potential as a reception and accommodation centre. It stands next to the last remaining tower from the Bonifacius mine. Former administration buildings have new uses also. The layout of the lohnhalle is interesting. Inside the large arched doorway is a curving staircase to the left ascending to the second level, which is build on a kind of mezzanine floor above the ground floor. The central portion is open from the ground to the vaulted ceiling, which is high above the guest area. The reception counter and dining area are under a normal ceiling further back on the ground floor and there is an extra wing with more accommodation out to one side of the building.
After making ourselves known to the receptionist, we were provided with a welcome cuppa before being shown to our room, as we were a little early and it wasn't quite ready. Once we were able to leave our bags, we went out for a short walk to find some lunch - there was a really nice cafe/bakery just around the corner - yum!
We had been surprised on our first visit (2009) to the Ruhr Gebiet, the great industrial heart of Germany, how green it was. Many of the former iron foundries and coal mines have been turned into industrial parks, the trees even growing on the roofs high above the ground and almost completely hiding some of the multi-tracked railways. So when we went for a walk in the afternoon after our arrival, at first we were a little disappointed when the streets became scruffier and the buildings rather down-at-heel. We'd reached Gelsenkirchen to the east of Essen.
As it was rather boring, Bruce decided to return by another street parallel to the one we were walking on, but instead of just going one block north, he went two, not realising that the road would start to head northwest!
The surroundings became much more pleasant, however, with plenty of treed areas breaking up the buildings. What really did surprise us was that there seemed to be no shops, just tall grey buildings!
Eventually we reached a much larger, busier road and headed in what we hoped was south. We crossed a street called Bonifacius Strasse but didn't know whether to turn left or right onto it. After going a couple more blocks, we reached a bridge over the railway line so realised we'd gone the wrong way. We tried asking some people near a small dairy but they couldn't help us. A second encouraging sign was that we'd arrived on a 170 bus route - which we knew would stop near the hotel - but it was a little difficult to decide exactly where we were on the map at the bus stop. After a bit more walking, we came within sight of the mine tower and soon found our way back to our room.
After a bit of a break we went out to the nearby shopping centre we'd discovered and had chicken doners from a Turkish takeaway, and tiny Italian ice creams from a nearby Gelato. Jeremy popped in on his way to Duisburg to meet up with Anthony and Eleanor who were staying there for the night, so we made a few plans about what to do after the wedding.

South Germany

Saturday 9th April
We left the hotel not too long after breakfast. It was good that it was so close to Le Midi Station. We bought some food at a small supermarket at the railway station before making our way to the Thalys platform. The journey to Cologne takes less than two hours, and the train is very comfortable. You hardly realise just how fast the train is going. There is a digital display of the speed between the carriages. I think the fastest we went was around 170kph.

The first photo is taken on the way into Liege - the track was quite high above the streets at one point, as you can see. At the railway station was a large globe, apparently there as part of an ecological expo.
We were rather surprised when the train ground to a halt some time before we were due to arrive in Cologne. An announcement came over the loudspeakers saying that there was a problem with a train ahead of us on the line. A little while later, we were told that the track was closed to Cologne due to a demonstration. They first told us we might be delayed by up to half an hour – as there was 40 minutes between our trains, I thought we might just get there on time. But then they started saying that it could take 3/4 hour to get moving again! Oh dear, what to do? I sent our son Jeremy a text to say that we were delayed by a demonstration and that I might need him to phone our friend Ingrid who was going to meet us in Ulm if we missed our train. I only had enough money left on the phone for another text or two.
We started up again 35 minutes after stopping and soon arrived at a small platform (Stoltz Rheinland) that was covered with people – a huge collection of police in bright yellow jackets surrounding a mob of protesters. Apparently they had interfered with a previous train and so the railway company refused to let any more trains proceed until the police had got the demonstrators off the tracks. There were a few announcements about onward connections to various trains, and eventually they came to ours – they said it was being held at Platform 6.
Unfortunately we were one of the last off our train, and by the time we reached our platform, the train had already gone. On looking at the timetable, we found out that the next to Ulm was a whole 2 hours away. I sent Jeremy another text and he agreed to phone Ingrid to let her know.
We had some books to read so that kept us occupied. It wasn’t a very warm day but it was OK. The photos include one at Siegburg/Bonn station, a country town on the way to Frankfurt and two photos in Mannheim. One town before we reached Mannheim was called Waldhof and had some interesting brown and white churches. Further south we passed through some more rugged terrain – in fact it later turned out to be the Swabian Alps. Geislingen was quite a large and attractive town up in narrow valley in the mountains, with plenty of traditional houses with brown roofs and up to 3 rows of dormer windows.
We arrived in Ulm just after 5 to be met by a smiling Ingrid, her husband Bernhard and youngest daughter Friedericke. We decided that, owing to the lateness of our arrival, that we’d just go straight to their home in Horgenzell.
Unfortunately they had already left home by the time Jeremy was able to try to contact them, and the daughter Veronika who’d been left behind to take care of things tried sending them a text – but they had the cell phone switched off! Eventually, after waiting at the station without seeing us, they’d switched it on to phone home to see if there were any messages, and found out that we’d been delayed. So they decided to do a bit more shopping, much to Friedericke’s delight!
We eventually arrived around 6.30, and had a lovely meal. Afterwards, we walked to Kapel, another portion of the little village where their church is. The population of Horgenzell is around 300.

Köln

 Friday 26th June Hot, humid, a little cloudy.  We were surprised to be met by both Jeremy & Judith, she’d caught a late train from Heidelburg the night before.  Unfortunately we had to leave her behind so she could work on her thesis.
We travelled to Köln by train, amazed to see the cathedral right in front of us as we exited the station!  It's got some lovely features - stained glass windows, mosaic floors, soaring arches and treasures including a 12th century golden Polish chest (below). 




However, Bruce felt it was a bit like a mausoleum with so many tombs and monuments to long-dead bishops. 

We walked to the Rhine and sat under a tree to watch the barges and boats go by before visiting the Chocolate Museum.
It's in an interesting setting on a small island that you reach by crossing a bridge some metres above the river, a bit disturbing to realise that during one massive flood, it had been under water!
The museum has some really interesting displays about the whole process of producing chocolate from the seed pods of the cacao plant, and about world trade. You can enjoy the warmth of a small tropical hothouse before proceeding through a miniature factory where you can view the whole process and get a couple of tastes of the results. We were really impressed by the robot that puts solidified chocolates onto a belt which takes them to the wrapping machine. 
Upstairs are displays on moulds, packaging and advertising over the years, also a special display of artifacts from South American civilisations that used cacao.We were more than ready for lunch after that! Then all that remained was to shop for gifts for our African hosts. I was a bit cross that the Deutsche Bank ATM refused our VISA card, they're supposed to be linked to Westpac!
The train back was so crowded it was standing room only, we were on the stairs between the 1st and 2nd class compartments.  Two ladies found that it's cheaper to buy a 1st class ticket than to pay the fine for sitting up there with a 2nd class one! It was obvious why they preferred to be seated though, one had crutches.
Judith had had an eventful day in the flat!  The police had arrested a guy on the ground floor, and the council had sent staff round over complaints about the rubbish that had been put outside. It was the upstairs tenants' turn, but the refuse collectors had deemed some of it not suitable to pick up!  Everyone was very glad when it disappeared a couple of days later!
Our return to the hotel was delayed by a thunderstorm. We went back when it was still lightly raining, and I got pretty wet accidentally walking under a spout of water off the roof - right down my back - brrr!

Part Three: Germany

Wednesday June 24th Another fine day! We went to the railway station at 11, admiring the Godiva chocolates there but they were too dear: €50/kg! However, we bought some cheap, yummy chocolate-chip brioches and had a nice cup of coffee at the station café!
The ICE train was very comfortable and it was hard to believe it was going very fast at all! There were a couple of interesting events on the way: 1)the lady opposite us apparently had the wrong ticket, and only spoke Spanish which the ticket inspector didn't know. As she was only going to Liège, she was allowed to proceed.
2) After arriving at Aachen, 2 armed policemen entered our carriage and went to speak with a man sitting further forward - but he wasn't arrested or anything!
Liège: a very beautiful traffic overpass by the Station, designed as a gracefully curved suspension bridge. The station was also very attractive.
The Belgian countryside looked pretty, lots of livestock, small fields and as one went east, it became hilly rather than flat.
Part III - Germany
The landscape quickly changed: larger fields, more trees, lots of modern flat-roofed houses even in small villages.
Aachen was interesting at first with lots of allotments containing fancy sheds, some resembling tiny cottages, also some large houses with nice gardens. Unfortunately the rest was ugly!
Köln : We saw a barge go under one of the huge bridges over the Rhine. We changed to a local train here, finding one's platform using the station timetables was SO easy.
On arrival in Duisburg, where was Jeremy? On the opposite platform of course! But we soon met up in the subway, and took the U-bahn to Duissern, the section of the city where he
lives.
After dropping off our things at the hotel, we went for an interesting walk towards the inner harbour (left) past an interesting sculpture (right).










The huge Lego giraffe (above left) outside Legoland is an amazing sight! The Evangelische Kirche (above right) is close to the ruins of the Old Market,(below left) which dates from Roman times.
We enjoyed some yummy ice-creams, very welcome as it was very hot, admiring the bird-woman (right) – a Duisburg emblem.