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  • Day 291

    Day 292: Westwards to Cologne

    December 3, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 3 °C

    Another long day of travelling today. Kassel isn't an easy place to get into or out of! Thankfully it was actually a bit easier as we just ditched Schnitzel's carry bag and let him walk on his leash - sometimes he's just happier doing that.

    Snow had fallen overnight and was still lightly falling in the morning, so there was quite a white carpet outside when we woke up! Headed to the station where most of the trains were running late, except for ours which started from here so was thankfully on time.

    We were on this train for about 90 minutes before changing in the city of Essen to another train for another 2 hours. Both trains quite full again; seems like lots of people use the local trains for their regular Sunday days out! Arrived in Cologne around 3pm, where the famous and immense Cathedral is right there adjacent to the station. It's a World Heritage site, but we'll come back and visit it another day - we're here for almost the whole week.

    About 15 minutes walk to our apartment just south of the old town, hosted by a young woman. She's very nice, though a bit overly chatty - we both kind of feel a little like you get stuck talking for longer than you want when a conversation starts. Spent some time settling in, then wandered back into the old town for dinner.

    There was one restaurant we were keen to try but they were completely full, so we headed for another one nearby. Had an enormous pork knuckle for dinner which I couldn't finish, with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes on the side of course. Wandered through the Christmas markets before heading home - it's nice but very crowded. Lots of tourists around here as well, Brits and Dutch mostly from what I could hear!
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