Jeremy Mayeres: Brussels to Berlin via Cologne

Before I begin, I'd like to link to a photo album with pictures relating to this post on Flickr. I've captioned those photos there, but most of them are in Cologne.

With my bags packed, my uncle drove me to the Brussels South train station. I went and activated my pass and went to board the first train to Köln (Cologne). I got there relatively early, and the train was originating from that Brussels station so it was also there early. It was interesting because it wouldn't let us board until 20 minutes before departure, so I got to stare at the train for a while.

Initially, the sign at the station said not to board

The train we would board

Departures board on the platform

Ahh, finally showing our train information!

Once we could board I got on and found myself a seat. The train departed and made its way to the Brussels North station. Here, a lot more people boarded and, we all soon found out, there were electronic signs above the seats that indicated the cities the seat was reserved for. I had to give up my seat to the person who had reserved it, but luckily found one another car over that was against the window.

It was a bit misty when we got to Cologne, so I opted to bring my waterproof camera with me. At the station, there's a luggage storage system where you can store your bags for 2 hours for 3€. There's a YouTube video of it in action (skipped the part where they try to get the bill in the machine, and note the price has gone up since then). It was really neat, and let me leave all my stuff behind and explore without weight on my back.

Just outside the station is Cologne's famous cathedral. I took lots of pictures of it (again, on the Flickr album). Inside, there was the Sunday noon service, which was pretty awesome to hear. The organ and singing sounded as you'd expect in a cathedral, which is to say it sounded amazing. I took some videos of it that I'll have to edit (possibly on the long train to Copenhagen) and upload at some point.

After the cathedral I wandered past it and across the rail bridge. The bridge goes over the famous Rhine river, and is covered with padlocks. The padlocks have couples' names or initials on there, some with a date on it as well. It was impressive to see them all over the bridge, considering it was not a short bridge. After crossing it and not really wanting to spend much more time there (the mist had cleared and the sun was beating down), I crossed back and decided to find some lunch near the station. I walked down a popular shopping street across from the cathedral.

I was amused because I found a Dunkin Donuts, but what also amused me was the man I saw inside ordering donuts.

Look at the man inside. Hard to see, but he's sporting all black clothes and a green mohawk. At a Dunkin Donuts. In Germany.

I later found out that the reason I saw all these people in black, some with mohawks, some in steampunk or dark Victorian clothing, was because there's a thing known as Amphi Festival going on in Cologne that very weekend. Well, that or Cologne's population is just very different. I also found while I was there, some street musicians playing. Some very good, others not so much, and one group playing Miley Cyrus's Wrecking Ball with classical instruments.

Back in the station I went around looking for a food court. Found one and ordered myself a bagel with egg, cheese, tomato, and lettuce and a drink. I pulled up my phone and decided to check on the 2:30pm train I'd be taking to Berlin. I set the app to tell me the departure information for trains around 2:30pm from Köln Hbf and saw, with some horror, that there was a problem.

Oh crap, my train (ICE 651) has a problem! Wait, does RE 10520 say World War II bomb? Yes... yes it does.

Train is cancelled. I saw that when I was traveling with Jay and Caleb to Hamburg. Train was still there, apparently it was another part of the journey that was cancelled.

I got my bags from the system (within the 2 hour window) and eventually figured out that the train was simply late due to some apparent signalling issues. After 20-30 minute delay, the train did arrive and I found myself a seat that didn't have a reservation.

Traveling by day, it's really nice to have a window seat, and I spent a lot of time looking at the Germany countryside roll by. I noticed a lot of corn/wheat fields had some buildings with solar panels (or even solar panels in the field as a solar farm). Alternative/renewable forms of energy are big in Germany, and you can easily tell by the number of wind turbines and solar panels you see around the country.

Looks like a typical power plant, looks pretty cool

Taking pictures from a moving train is hard. We were probably going 200 km/h. Corn field in the background, counterweight for the overhead contact lines in the foreground (sideways due to rolling shutter effect)

Wind turbines

In Wuppertal (where the train made one of several stops) I saw something that made me do a double-take. It was a hanging tram, sort-of like the ones in Fahrenheit 451. Turns out it's called the Schwebebahn and it's unique to Wuppertal and opened in 1901. Yes, it's over 113 years old and still runs today. Couldn't get good pictures of it because by the time I saw it we had moved behind trees or it turned away or I just couldn't get my phone to camera mode fast enough.

Schwebebahn line

I saw some other interesting things along the way, such as a train filled with automobiles, some German movie posters for American movies, and even our own train connecting with another.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 poster in Bielefeld

VW in Hannover

Super long train just filled with cars

Volkswagenwerk - VW factory in Wolfsberg

Eventually I arrived in Berlin.

Ah Berlin Hbf! Feels like home already

Bye-bye train, thanks for the safe ride!

I hopped on a regional train back one station to get to my hotel. It started raining so I ran to the bus (which luckily was already there after I got my ticket inside) and ran to my hotel when I got off. Hotel is pretty nice, 4 stars, in a good location. Set the AC on, pulled out some things from my bags, and went out to a local Italian place for dinner (I was hungry!). One interesting note about the hotel - the keys are actual physical keys, not keycards like most other hotels.