Paris to Euskirchen

We enjoyed breakfast at our hotel in Paris before walking the four minutes to Gare du Nord to catch the train to Cologne.  Unfortunately, there was a problem in the north of Paris, so our train was delayed about 20 minutes.  We called at Brussels, Liège and Aachen, then Cologne, so we have been in three countries today.  Being late into Cologne we thought we didn’t have much time to connect with the onward train to Euskirchen, but that was a little late as well so there was no panic.  As we waited for it another train came in and it was complete mayhem for a while with people disembarking from the train and dozens of people trying to embark.  It didn’t seem that they would all get on but eventually they did.  Amazing!

We arrived in Euskirchen to be greeted by our friends, who were very happy to see us.  They drove us to their home for a cup of coffee and a sandwich and we admired the last of the spring flowers before walking along the street to our hotel.  We haven’t been there since August 2016 and we have new devices, but they clicked into the WiFi as soon as we walked through the door.  We showered and changed then walked back to our friends’ place and shortly after their daughter and granddaughter arrived.  We had all sorts of delicious goodies to eat, including some rye bread specially made by the daughter’s husband.  We also had bubbles to drink.  They were so happy to see us and we were happy to see them and it was a really lovely evening.  We walked back to our hotel not long after 9pm.

The main blip is of our hotel in Paris and the Gare du Nord.  The extra is of the flowers in our friends’ garden and the very thoughtful gift that was waiting in our hotel room - fruit to eat now and some snacks to take on our cycle ride next week, plus a plant to brighten the room.