We have done a fair bit of travelling around Europe and some of our recent trips and been totally by train. That can be challenging. On one trip we were trying to get back across Germany to get the Eurostar from Brussels, but floods had caused chaos. Similar things can happen with planes, but airports tend to be better places to hang out than stations. We still want to avoid flying, so we decided to let the train take the strain again this time.
We can easily get to St Pancras where the Eurostar starts and on this trip did not have to be there too early. Our trip was arranged via Byway who sorted our Interrail pass. That allows you to make multiple journeys over a set number of travel days. We opted to go first class this time. That is partly for the comfort, but also to have more chance of a seat if we had to take an alternative train. It is generally best to book a seat, but that relies on catching the right train.
We have travelled on the Eurostar a few times. It whisks you under the Channel in a fairly short time and can get to over 300km/h. We were in the Plus section, so you got a meal with proper cutlery. I could have had some wine too.
We were about a half hour from Brussels when the train slowed down and then jerked to a stop. We were told it had hit something and they had to investigate. As the train takes over a kilometre to stop that took a while. Eventually we were informed that it had hit a person! The police and other services had to come out to look into it. I am assuming it was a suicide, but have not seen a news story about it. We ended up getting to Brussels about four hours late. Byway had suggested an alternative train, but we just missed it. We tried queuing at the Eurostar desk, but they only had one person on. Eventually we decided to just wait for the next available train to Cologne where we had a hotel booked. We had hoped to visit the Christmas market, but it was closed by the time we got there and did not open before we moved on.
The train from Brussels to Cologne did at least have a certain retro style. There was even a special shelf for your tablet to watch movies.
Cologne cathedral (the Dom) is a splendid building and it is right next to the station. We stayed at the Mondial Am Dom Hotel that was just on the other side. It was nice and they had lots of art on display. You do tend to get a good buffet breakfast at places like this and we ate well as we had some travelling to do. We had a walk around the city centre. Most shops did not seem to open until 10am, but we managed to get some cheese to have at Christmas.
We travelled via Hannover on the next stage to Magdeburg. Something you do not see in the UK are double decker trains due to our Victorian bridges and tunnels. As much of mainland Europe was destroyed in the war they could rebuild their railways. There were no issues with the trains on this part of our journey. When we got to Hannover the next train was already waiting across the platform, so we could get out of the cold.
One of our kids has been living and working in Magdeburg for a year and could be there for another two years. The other one flew over so we could be together at Christmas. We have been there a few times now and are getting to know the city. We have already seen some of the sights, so did not go out too much. It was really cold anyway. Something we have used there and in other German cities is the Fairtiq app. This allows you to travel on a lot of trams and buses. You link it to your bank card and then you just swipe in and out at each end of your journey. It works out where you went from GPS. Mind you, I have yet to be asked to show a ticket on German trams. Magdeburg is proud of being the home of scientist Otto von Guericke who showed the power of the vacuum by demonstrating that horses could not pull apart a split sphere with the air taken out.
Our first visit to Magdeburg was just before Christmas 2024. A week later someone drove a car into the Christmas market and several people were killed. We could see that security was tighter this time with large obstacles around the market. We had a wander there and had some Glühwein (mulled wine). The locals are happy to be out in the cold with some hot wine. We had dinner at Peter Pane who do a good range of veggie and vegan burgers, as well as meat versions. In the toilets you can hear someone reading the Peter Pan story in German.
That was the first half of our trip. I will post the rest soon.
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