10 countries visited:
France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy (for an espresso), Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium.
8572 kilometres by train.
4 days 3 hours on a train! (although there were a few on a bus)
610,227 steps (not on a train)
18 beds slept in
We were very sad to leave Colmar this morning, we have loved our time here and had forgotten how much we like French towns especially one as lovely as this.
An early start to retrace our steps a bit before heading back through Germany to The Netherlands. Thankfully all the trains were on time today and we arrived in Arnhem in the late afternoon. We did have a slight wobble on the last train as it started out as two trains joined together that then split during the journey. Thankfully more by luck than judgement we were in the right half but whilst checking this with a member of staff using google translate, we were also told that the last part of the journey would be by bus!
Arnhem station is very curvy and modern but easy to negotiate and we were soon settled in our hotel. We had originally planned to stay in Amsterdam but as it is the weekend it was going to be extremely expensive. Arnhem is only an hour away by train and we can easily get there with our passes so this seemed like a good compromise. Arnhem was actually really nice and there were lots of people out enjoying the sunshine on a Friday evening so we decided to go for a walk and sit in the sun with a drink.
Historically Arnhem was the site of a stand-off between British paratroopers and the Germany army during World War II. The bridge at Arnhem was immortalised in the film ‘A bridge too far’ and has now been renamed the John Frost Bridge in honour of the commander of the British paratroopers.
A lovely sunny day dawned for our trip to Amsterdam and the train journey was lovely through the Dutch countryside. We were soon in Amsterdam and ready to explore. I don’t think we have been anywhere quite as busy as Amsterdam on a Saturday but we spent a happy day exploring the canals and enjoying the sun.
Unfortunately we hadn’t had the foresight to pre-book entry to any of the museums and they were all fully booked so no ‘grand masters’ for us. I can also confirm that we didn’t go into any ‘coffee shops’ either so I will leave you to judge if we did Amsterdam properly.
We were actually quite glad to head back to the peace of Arnhem for our last night before beginning our journey home tomorrow.
We have had a truly wonderful trip and we feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to do it. All the hours of research and planning have been so valuable and we have learnt a lot as we have gone along. We have seen amazing things and met some lovely people, these memories will stay with us for ever. Thank you for sharing in our adventures and we look forward to seeing you all in person soon. Now where did we put our house keys?
The final blog post will be the stats which I know some of you will love.
As we suspected the trains were very busy today following the late cancellation of the planned strike and the resulting disruption. It seemed that everyone had had the same idea as us and were travelling on Sunday. We also realised that was Mother’s Day in Europe as every other person seemed to be travelling with flowers. The train from Regensburg to Frankfurt had originated in Vienna and was already very full by the time we boarded. We were unable to find seats so spent much of the 3 hour journey either standing or sitting in the stairwell albeit the 1st class stairwell. We had better luck on our connection to Basel and were soon heading back into Switzerland for our connection to Colmar in the Alsace region of France.
Colmar was high on Tracey’s list of places to visit and she was very excited. A lovely walk from the station into the old town to find our Airbnb for the next 5 nights gave us a flavour for what was to come and we liked it instantly.
After a good nights sleep we set off to explore. Colmar is on the Swiss/French/German border and you can feel the mix of architecture and culture immediately. The picture-postcard buildings of the old town are just gorgeous and even the more modern areas of the town have a leafy, quietness which makes for a very relaxing place to wander around. It is also nice to be back in a place where we can speak and understand more of the language which also helps with feeling part of a place.
A trip to a bakery and the local Lidl saw us stocked up for a few days and Tracey was quite looking forward to having the chance to cook again.
There is a fabulous covered market in Colmar which was the perfect place to get a coffee and people watch for a while. As with many French markets there are cafes, bars and restaurants in the market so there is always something to see and do and we are just enjoying kicking back for a few days.
The weather in Alsace was due to be a little unsettled but miraculously we were always indoors when the rain storms including some hail & thunder struck and in between there was some lovely sunshine so we feel very lucky.
As we are only a short train ride from Strasbourg we decided to use our passes and get the train there for the day. It was certainly novel travelling without our bags and gave us a real sense of freedom. Strasbourg is charming and we enjoyed our day there very much. Lots more timber framed buildings and a stunning cathedral to explore. The gothic cathedral with it’s 142 metre tower dominates the skyline, for 400 years it was the tallest building in the world. The building was under threat from bombs in WWII so the stained glass windows were all removed and stored in local salt mines to keep them safe. It also contains our second astronomical clock of the trip but it only does its full display once a day and we had missed it. It was amazing to look at up close all the same. The other interesting little snippet relates to the very ornate pulpit. Apparently when the Geiler of Keyserburg visited the cathedral he always brought his dog with him. He was renowned for preaching very long sermons and his dog would fall asleep in the pulpit. There is now a little statue of the dog in the pulpit sleeping for all eternity, rubbing his nose is supposed to bring good luck so of course we gave it a good rub.
Sadly before we knew it our last day in Colmar was upon us and the sun was shining so a chilled out day enjoying all this lovely little town has to offer was most definitely on the cards. However, we were very aware that it seemed even quieter than usual outside our window this morning and upon checking trusty Google we realised it was a public holiday for Ascension Day. The French do love a holiday. Thankfully the bakery and market were still open so we spent a very happy morning stocking up for our long journey to Arnhem tomorrow, people watching, drinking coffee and enjoying a very lovely tarte flambee for lunch before finding a sunny bench on which to read our books in the afternoon. The perfect way to spend a day in our opinion. Whilst people watching in the cafe this morning Mark noticed a chap ordering a beer with something called Picon added to it. Again after a bit of Googling we worked out that Picon is a French bitter orange spirit that is added to dark beer. We tried it with our lunch and it was delicious. Alsace is also a famous wine growing region and we can confirm that the wine here is very good too and always served in beautiful green stemmed wine glasses which are apparently specific to this area.
All the restaurants were noticeably busier tonight due the holiday so thankfully we had had the foresight to make a reservation in advance for our final meal, more by luck than judgement.
We have really loved our few days in Colmar and will be very sad to say goodbye but say goodbye we must. An early start and a long day of travelling tomorrow to get to Amsterdam, our last stop before heading home.
The journey from Prague included a rail replacement bus service which saw us all being taken off the train, put on to buses and driven at great speed through the Czech countryside to get back on another train beyond the closed section of track. Naturally this put us rather behind schedule and meant that our leisurely 30 minute gap to make our connection was reduced to 6 minutes and resulted in another platform and stair dash to make our connection but we made it and soon found ourselves in Regensburg in the Bavarian region of Germany.
Our original plan was to spend three nights in Regensburg but whilst checking train times we suddenly realised that a 50 hour rail strike had been called from 10pm on Sunday meaning that we would not have been able to leave on Monday to get to our next destination. In fact in reality we would have been unable to leave until Wednesday at the earliest and that was looking problematic so we made the decision to leave a day early on Sunday to get across the border into France. Unfortunately the hotel were not prepared to change our booking so we will end up paying for a night we cannot use but we were determined not to let this spoil our time here so after a quick refresh we set off to explore and get something to eat.
The altstadt (old town) of Regensburg dates back to the Romans but is now a particularly pretty medieval town. It was unscathed by the bombing of the Second World War and was designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 2006. It is made up of narrow winding streets with pretty pastel buildings and towers. Apparently at one stage there were as many as 50 towers in the town.
As we had arrived quite late we headed to a nearby restaurant for a delicious meal (Italian) before taking a walk through the old town to get our bearings. Again our friends Margaret and Arthur had told us to look out for spaghetti eis whilst in Germany so of course we had to try and find some and we had skipped dessert in the restaurant. We found a small ice cream parlour near the stone bridge and sure enough spaghetti eis was on the menu so naturally we had to order one with two spoons. I can confirm it was just as delicious as we had been told, vanilla ice cream put through a potato ricer to make it look like spaghetti with strawberry sauce and white chocolate on top to make it look like spaghetti bolognaise, very clever.
With only one full day to explore Regensburg properly we were up quite early and ready to go. On leaving the hotel we saw that a stage and various tents had been erected overnight and we later realised that it was all part of German traffic safety day. How very responsible.
Regensburg is a beautiful town with lots of little streets to explore and we spent a very happy few hours wandering and enjoying the atmosphere of this lovely place. It was also lovely to see so many of the young people of the town wearing traditional Bavarian clothes and very smart they looked too. We had thought that wearing lederhosen was just a stereotype but clearly not. The girls too looked gorgeous in what can only be described as Sound of Music style dresses.
After another delicious meal (Spanish) and another spaghetti eis whilst watching the sun go down it was time for bed and to get ready to leave tomorrow.
Next stop Colmar in the Alsace region of France.
NB. The train strike was called off late on Saturday but sadly too late for us to change our plans.
