Cologne

Today we departed Prague by train bound for Berlin.  It was a lovely comfortable ICE train that travelled at about 200kms an hour and we arrived in Berlin around 4 hours later.

We had to transfer there to another train bound for Cologne.  It was an older style train and much slower.  We didnt arrive in Cologne until about 6pm.  We went straight from the train to our hotel which was only a few minutes walk from the train station.

The man checking us in at the hotel recommended we walk over the bridge so that we could view the cathedral with the sun setting behind it.  He marked it on his map and told us how to get there.

We followed his instruction and walked over the bridge to the park on the other side and there was some cloud so the sunset was not as great as it could have been but it was still a beautiful sight.  

We watched the sun go down and lights go on and it was very pretty with the lights reflecting in the water.  We later walked back over the bridge and we walked all the way around the Cathedral before returning to the hotel.  We have been to Cologne at least twice before, our last visit was last year,  but we never noticed just how close the Cathedral is to the train station.

On previous visits we were there during the day with hordes of other people and only ever at the front entrance where there is a large courtyard.

ICE train Prague to Berlin

on the platform waiting for the train to arrive

Bridge in Cologne covered entirely in those dreadful love locks. Just another form of graffiti.

Cologne Cathedral

Cologne Cathedral and bridge lights 

Cologne Cathedral

German ICE train