London - Rostock August 2010

St Pancras - Brussels
Mid afternoon departure to Brx. Still not convinced by St P as a station. But arriving into warm sunshine in the capital of Europe makes up for any disillusion on that score. Our friends from Amsterdam have arrived a little before us, and are enjoying beer in the new square by Tour du Midi. Quick cab ride to hotel, freshen up and then stroll in the evening sunshine. We'd not noticed that it was the annual? flower carpet in the Grand Place, so the square was even more full than normal. Our chosen restaurant Up North definitely hit the spot. Three of us had the monkfish as a main course. All of us were very satisfied with the food.

Köln

Brussels - Köln
Booking tickets using DB's online system required us to take the ICE rather than the Thalys. Not a hardship. A bare 110 minutes later we're in hot sunshine in the city on the Rhine. We've been here before, and with the weather as it is best thing to do is simply wander. Couple of things distract us. Street fair down to the Chocolate museum. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary but reminder you're not at home. Continuing to stroll fairly aimlessly we're pleased simply to enjoy the weather. Given the fact that it bucketed down all the next day it was very much the right choice. One of the reasons for our friends meeting us in Brx was the fact "the food's better there". Not that's there's anything wrong with German food, but it does have rather a stolid quality. Can't believe that there's a German translation of "nouvelle cuisine"!

Sunday was basically a total washout during the day, with constant - sometimes heavy - rain for12 hours. One of the advantages of aspiring to be travellers rather than tourists is that we don't get stressed if our plans in a particular place go awry due to the weather. Köln was a suitable staging post on this trip and we amused ourselves reading from a book of extracts of Victorian travel writing. More of that later.

When we ventured out for a late lunch we simply dashed into the restaurant next door to our hotel - the weather was that bad. The restaurant had previously served the G7 leaders so should suffice. When, having had a wholly satisfactory repast, the waitress asked us, "Can I get you anything else" we requested better weather. With a smile she said sorry but she was feeling lazy and happy that the rain was keeping everyone in. Who says the Germans don't have a sense of humour?

Dom seen from the station platform

Köln - Rostock
Six hours in a train North and then East through Germany. Train left 20 mins late. And got later, so we were an hour behind schedule getting into the Hanseatic city of Rostock.

It's a shame that proper dining cars are becoming uneconomic - as they can be a great way of spending the time. An egg sandwich is not the same thing. Still, the scenery was interesting enough.

Rostock was the first stop on this trip that was a new city for us. I'd had no real idea what to expect. But clearly it has been undergoing some major regeneration since reunification. Most of it seemed sympathetic. A stroll before dinner (in part to choose what restaurant to eat at) gave us a sense of a clean well-kept city. Dinner at Zur Kogge added to our sense of well-being. Andrew normally needs persuading to eat fish but was very happy with his cod. German is a language that I'm stretched in (get little beyond menu) but ordering the 2nd beers put a smile on the faces of our fellow diners at the large communal table.

Continuing our wanderings in fading sunshine led us to an area of redevelopment similar in our eyes to Aker Brygge in Oslo, but smaller in scale. The sunset was amazing, but you'll have to take our word for it. No pics. Sitting in Universitats Platz before going back to our comfortable hotel simply people watching in the warm evening rounded things off nicely.

Tycho in Rostock

Next day we had a few hours in Rostock before having to catch the ferry to Helsinki. Again, basically it was wandering and soaking in the atmosphere. But we did have one thing we wanted to do. Tycho Brahe has become a bit of a running theme with us. And it was in Rostock when he was a student that he had the duel which resulted in him losing a bit of nose (allegedly). So we wanted to see his memorial in the town. Asking at the satellite tourist office drew a blank from the lady there; despite her phoning a friend, presumably at the main office. But we managed to find it listed in a mini guide on the shelves. Not something to go out of your way to see but we'd have been a little disappointed if we hadn't found it.