Another Champions League adventure begins
Cologne day one
08.12.2025 - 08.12.2025
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Cologne 2025
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At Brussels Midi station
With Newcastle playing in the Champions League again this season we were keen to get to one of the games. Several of our friends decided on a short break in Cologne either side of the match against nearby Bayer Leverkusen and we agreed to join them. The timing meant that we would also be able to take in the city’s famed Christmas markets.
We were up early to catch a 9.00 am Eurostar departure to Brussels. For once the Tubes were running as they should so we had time for breakfast at St Pancras before boarding.
The train left on time and the journey to Brussels was pleasant and uneventful. We had about two hours between trains at Brussels Midi so looked for somewhere in the rather confusingly laid out station for a light lunch. We ended up in a Pret a Manger as there was a table available but afterwards found somewhere more appealing and more Belgian for coffees.
Cologne Cathedral at night
The departure board warned us our train was running about 10 minutes late but we headed to the platform in good time. After a short while waiting there we were informed of a platform alteration so had to negotiate the confusing station again. Eventually our train arrived and we managed to get seats, but there were several more delays along the way so the journey dragged a little.
In the end we arrived a full hour late into Cologne. Luckily our hotel, the Hilton, was very near the station. There was rather a long queue at reception but eventually we got our keys and headed to our 2nd floor room, to find it very hot and the heating control impossible to fathom. We called reception who said someone would come to sort it, freshened up and went out to meet up with our friends Peter and Joanne who had just arrived on a flight from Newcastle.
We had a lovely evening catching up with them, enjoying schnitzels and beer in one Gasthof and a couple more beers in another. The nearby cathedral was looking lovely but it was raining when we left to go back to the hotel so we didn’t linger.
Back at the hotel we found the windows flung open in our room and the heating turned down to 18 degrees (I'd asked for 21) but it was too late to bother trying to sort it. At least we had plenty of covers for the bed!
Posted by ToonSarah 19:04 Archived in Germany Tagged night trains friends cathedral station
