Germany

Known for its industrial efficiency, Germany is a Western European country with a landscape of forests, rivers, mountain ranges and North Sea beaches. It has over 2 millennia of history.

My Trips

• 2004 April 12 (1 Day): While I was in Brussels, Belgium, visited the three cities along the Rhine River in western Germany (Duisburg, Dusseldorf,Cologne) on a one day trip.
• 2017 November 03 to 04 (2 Days): Passed through Munich as part of my Europe Bus Tour.

Visited Places/Attractions

• Munich (Opera House, City Hall, ‎Staatliches Hofbräuhaus in München (Royal Brewery in Munich))
• Duisburg (town)
• Dusseldorf (Rhine River cruise)
• Cologne (Dam square cathedral)

Travelogue

• See Europe Bus Tour page for my bus tour through Munich.

Below is an account of my one-day trip to the three cities along the Rhine River in western Germany (Duisburg, Dusseldorf,Cologne) on 2004 April 12, while I was working and living in Brussels, Belgium.

A day in Germany

I had started my Easter holidays tour from Brussels in Belgium with my friends two days before and had already visited Netherlands. Then it was around 3 hours drive to reach Duisburg, a small city in Western Germany where my friend is living and working. We landed there after mid night and there was nothing to do there other than sleeping.

The next day was my final day in the Easter holidays tour. Now time to see some places in Germany. Woke up early and got ready. There was nothing much to see in the small city of Duisburg. So went to the Duisburg railway station with my friend and took a train to Dusseldorf, the famous city near Duisburg. After reaching city central station, took a metro to the port. This city is along the well known Rhine River. The view of the port was amazing and the mighty river was full of cruising boats and ships. There were very intersting bridges also across the river. We enjoyed a boat cruise along the river for one hour. It was cool.

After that, took train to the next and more famous city Koln (Cologne). It's main attraction was the Dam square, the biggest or oldest cathedral in Germany. Spent some time inside that after having the packed lunch of sandwiches. There were so many roller skaters doing skating in the square criss crossing plastic glasses arranged in a line without touching them. Then there was small city tourist train, which shows interesting places in the city. I went for a ride while my friend chose to remain in the square watching skating. The train passed along the Rhine River and it was so beautiful. There was a giant wheel on the other side of river and the view was magnificent. The train stopped at chocolate museum and I decided to spend some time there taking snaps of Rhine River and museum. When I was finished with that, the train was gone. I waited for some time and started getting tensed as I didn't see the next train. It was getting late, and my train for Brussels will leave at 6 PM. So I decided to walk to the Dam square, but got lost in between. Time was moving and so I started to run, becuase I wanted to meet my friend before catching my train. Atlast I made it, tired and exhausted after running around two kilometers. Said good bye to him and boarded the Thalys high speed train to Brussels and I was back in my room before 9 PM.