Serene Europe Part 2

Day 3
Having slept very late, it was very difficult for us to get up and get ready early. Still we all managed to get into the bus by 8.30 and our journey towards cologne began. It was about 4 hrs journey and I spent most of the time sleeping… We reached the city of cologne at arnd 1 and having held the world’s tallest structure title for 4 years, the Cologne Cathedral was quite visible from the outskirts of the city itself. We had a small tour of the city for about an hour and then we reached the cathedral. It was pretty similar to the Notre Dame which had had gone during my Paris trip, with its twin spires. But the spires of Notre Dame were very small compared to the Cologne one. The internal architecture was pretty similar though.

After going arnd the cathedral, we had our packed lunch in the bus and started towards a village called Boppard from where we were to take a cruise on the River Rhine. It was a very beautiful sight all through the journey. It was something like this. From right to left – Hills, a line of houses, a road, the Rhine, a road, a line of houses and Hills with a railway line along he hills in many places. There were numerous Castles on either side of Rhine. It did not belong to kings but to Rich merchants who conducted their trade thru Rhine, one of the lifelines of Germany. The sunset cruise was just Beautiful. I braved the cold winds and stayed on the open top deck for most of the time to enjoy the splendor arnd.

After an hour an a half, we got down and boarded the bus for our hotel in Hockenheim. On the way we saw a bit of snow on ground. My first snow!!!!! There was just a little snow on ground. But still I was so happy to see snow. The first time you get to see snow, it really gives you a great joy and you get lost in it’s beauty. A friend of mine who lives in the US now had called home and her to be brother-in-law was there. She was going to speak to him for the first time. Just as he came on line, she opened her window and saw snow for the first time. She was awe struck and started chanting “Snow, snow…” The poor guy on the other side must have been so confused until she got her senses back. :) . We then had our dinner on the way in an Indian restaurant in Manheim. We reached there at arnd 9.30 and had to wait for about 45 minutes as the ppl from the other coach from Taj tours were also having their dinner in the same restaurant. After the dinner we reached our hotel and immediately fell asleep.

Day 4
As usual, we got up with great difficulty and got ready by 9 for the final stage of the tour. Back to London. We started of with a pretty familiar note, the driver missing an exit and going arnd for sometime before we caught the right highway. But we weren’t prepared for the sight ahead. Suddenly out of nowhere the landscape changed drastically. The green grasslands were replaced by a white blanket. The previous day I had seen my first snow but today was the day when I saw real snow. It was also snowing pretty hard. I felt out of the world. We stopped for about 5 minutes at a place. But unfortunately where we stopped, didn’t have that much snow on ground. Nevertheless in was snowing slightly. I enjoyed my first snowfall and then got along the journey. We then entered Luxemberg and stopped for fuel. An that’s where I held snow in my hand for the first time. And we played a bit throwing snow on each other for some time.

Then we entered Belgium and had lunch at a Pizza Hut Express. We entered the city of Brussels at arnd 4 and we were welcome by yet another snowfall. Keeping up the tradition followed through the tour, the driver got lost in the city and after yet another unscheduled tour of the city, we reached the grand place. We then saw the Manneken Pis. We bought some of the famous Belgian chocolates and then returned to our Bus. Our Ferry back was at 8.15 and we were already late to catch it. So we had to give the Atomium a miss and rush towards Calaise.

Thanks to the long Easter weekend, there was a huge rush of ppl getting back to London; we were caught up in a huge queue. But thankfully we got a place in the 9.25 ferry. We crossed the channel and were back in London by midnight. The driver still did not want to break the tradition and promptly got lost on the way and reached another end of London and one of the passengers’ had to guide him through to our drop off point.

And that was the end of a tour with mixed experiences. I’ve stared planning for the next trip. But one thing’s for sure. I’m NOT going to take up any package tours. :)