We repacked our bags and headed off via the U train back to Central Station.

I had decided that instead of stuffing around changing trains, we would take one to nearby the station and walk the rest of the way. The station where we got off the train was under a fair bit of construction, and it was a bit tricky to figure out where to go! We climbed the stairs from the underground, and luckily we could spot the Mercedes Benz logo which rotates above the Central Station, thus marking the way for us (like the Star of Bethlehem)

I knew that we needed to get to Platform 16 in order to catch our train to Austria. The reservations app didn’t provide detailed carriage information like yesterday’s trains, so I was hoping we would find our seats OK.

Well, we couldn’t find carriage 275! In fact, there only appeared to be one first class carriage on the train – and it was already full! I finally found somebody to query – and apparently the carriage we had reserved had been cancelled! So we had to scramble to find seats (in second class). Of course, we had planned to eat on the train, but now wouldn’t have the benefits of first class service. Once the train departed I went to the restaurant – it was already full. I managed to purchase us a couple of watery cappuccinos – but they didn’t have any food for takeaway! By this stage I was getting a bit frustrated, hangry etc.

Luckily we had some snack foods in our bag so had our rubbish coffees with bag snacks. Poor Ulick, his Mars Bars he bought in Asten are getting a bit of bag crush, so it was a bit of a gooey mess!

I think next time I wouldn’t bother with the Eurail 1st class ticket, as we have only really benefited from it once so far (from Cologne to Stuttgart). I would probably not bother with the additional reservations either, given that nearly all those I have made had been cancelled, and they don’t bother letting you know – even though they have your email address, and you have an app that can provide notifications!

Sorry guys, it all sounds very whingey, and I know we are amazingly lucky to be able to go backpacking for a month. I just hope others can learn from our adventure!

We spent the afternoon walking around Salzburg, admiring the architecture, and the beautiful Mirabell gardens, behind the Mirabell palace. We went to the Christmas market (it had about a dozen stalls) and purchased some chocolate pretzels for later.

We headed to the pick up point for our city tour that I had precooked. We were then told to go to another site, as they work in conjunction with another tour company. This worked out really good, as our tour bus ended up being a small people mover – with only the two of us in it – so had a guided tour of Salzburg.

We were shown the city highlights, including Mozart’s house, the fortress (Hohensalzburg Castle), Dom (cathedral) and Leopoldskron Palace.

After our tour, we headed back towards the train station. We managed to kill some time at McDonalds, the ÖBB lounge (90 minute time limit) and the main station waiting room.

I went and checked the departure board and it still said our Nightjet would be leaving from platform 2 at 1.40am. We went for a walk to platform 2 and the waiting room up there was empty, so we got our bags out of the lockers and purchased some food and headed up there. We killed a bit more time, and hour or so. I was struggling. I was regretting having bought this Nightjet ticket with such a late/early departure. I went for a walk along the platform to stay awake. Bah, our platform had changed to Platform 6!

So we loaded everything up and changed platforms!

The second train that arrived at Platform 6 ended up being ours – it arrived almost an hour early, so that was good. We got settled into our compartment and went to bed!

The post Trip to Europe Day 11 – Stuttgart to Salzburg appeared first on Sara Napier.

The train was also running about an hour late. So much for what they say about German trains and efficiency!

We arrived at Stuttgart, and went to the tourism information centre to buy a Stuttcard PLUS. This provides public transport and museum entry. By showing our Eurail passes, we also got 15% off the price of the Stuttcards (so €22.95 instead of €27 each).

We couldn’t figure out the process for validating them for public transport. We were meant to be able to do this at the orange ticket machines – but no matter which way up you inserted them, they could not be read. We used the cards for several trips during our overnight stay in Stuttgart, and were never asked for tickets anyway.

We found a train (well a train and a changeover to another train) to get us close to our accommodation at the Park Inn. We were pleased to checkin and get our rucksacks off our backs. Although I still maintain that rucksacks are far more practicable than wheeled suitcases. The Park Inn has been our first accommodation with a working elevator, so imagine carrying our wheeled suitcases up four flights of stairs, which is what we would have done in Amsterdam, and two flights in Cologne, as well as countless others at train stations etc.

We had a quick checkover our lodging at the Park Inn before heading off to the Mercedes Benz Museum. By this stage, Ulick was complaining of being hungry, having only eaten a banana and some leftover pretzel from the night before (it was buttered and microwaved so completely edible). It was after lunch time, so I promised we would eat when we got to the Mercedes Benz Museum.

We managed to find the right combination of U train and S train to get us nearby to the Museum. Our Stuttcard provided us with entry (normally €10 each). Each of our U train journeys would have been €2.37 if we had paid for a ticket each time, so I think our 24-hour pass was about breakeven. If we had more time on Monday we could have made better use of it – although many museums in Stuttgart are closed on Monday!)

Back to the Mercedes Benz Museum. We had a quick lunch, and put our jackets and my bag in the garderobe (coat room).

We collected our audio guides, and went in an elevator to floor 8.

The Mercedes Benz Museum has around 160 vehicles, from the 1800s to present. There are galleries highlighting particular modes of transport, including transportation, emergency services, new technology and racing.

It would have been easy to spend a whole day in there, but by 4.30pm I was getting a bit over it. It was getting dark outside, and we needed to walk back to the station, and find our way to the Christmas market!

The Christmas market was a short walk from Stuttgart Central Station. Having been to a few markets last night in Cologne, it was pretty much more of the same. It wasn’t as busy (cosy) as the Cologne markets, which was nice. The highlight of the Stuttgart market was probably the lit up sculptures.

After I had had my fill of Christmas marketing, we headed back to Central Station and caught a train back to Marienplatz station (close to our hotel). We had a traditional German dinner at Onkel Otto’s. Enjoying Schnitzel with Noodles (Spatzle) (Swabian Schnitzel) served with Gravy.

The meal was delicious, and luckily we had enough cash between us to pay for it – as they only took German debits cards!!

After dinner we headed back to the hotel to put our legs up. Walking tally for the day was about 11km.

The post Trip to Europe Day 10 – Sunday in Stuttgart appeared first on Sara Napier.

The trains were packed, and delayed. We had one train to Düsseldorf, then swapped and caught another train to Cologne, and then needed to swap to another train to get to Cologne Central Station.

We found our Airbnb really easily – it was only a block from the train station. We followed our host Jens’ instructions and got into the building, and the apartment successfully.

It is a fairly basic apartment, but it is located so close to everything.

After dumping our bags, we headed out for a walk along the Reine riverbank.

We went for a look for some lunch, and had a wander through the Christmas market, buying some bratwursts for our lunch.

The market was already very busy and I have never before waited so long for a sausage in bread ?

After eating our bratwursts, we went for a look inside the Cologne Cathedral. Construction of Cologne Cathedral began in 1248 but was halted in 1473, unfinished. Work did not restart until the 1840s, and the edifice was completed to its original Medieval plan in 1880.

The completion of Germany’s largest cathedral was celebrated as a national event on 14 August 1880, 632 years after construction had begun.

The cathedral suffered fourteen hits by aerial bombs during World War II. Badly damaged, it nevertheless remained standing in an otherwise completely flattened city. The twin spires were an easily recognizable navigational landmark for Allied aircraft bombing.

Repairs of the war damage were completed in 1956. Repair and maintenance work is constantly being carried out in one or another section of the building, which is rarely completely free of scaffolding, as wind, rain, and pollution slowly eat away at the stones.

After our visit to the beautiful cathedral, we stopped at McDonald’s at the train station for a bit more lunch before heading back to our accommodation to eat and freshen up.

McChicken in Germany is good, but not as good as The Netherlands.

A bit later we headed back to the markets. First stop was a geldautomat to withdraw some more euros. We managed that OK.

Then we stopped and took some pictures as a big Christmas tree.

The first market stall we queued for was the gluhwein. It was a bit of a slow wait – but very much worth it when we got our cups of mulled wine.

We also scored a table so stopped for a bit sipping our wine, under the towers of the Cathedral.

After that we went for a walk through the market. Be warned. It is very busy, and you will have times that you feel like you are not moving, or moving backwards! Not good if you’re claustrophobic!

We purchased some little wooden Christmas decorations for ourselves and for Jo before leaving the market to head to another one.

The next market didn’t seem quite as busy, but still lots of people were about.

We bought some Apple and Cinnamon Strudel which was quite nice.

We soaked up the atmosphere. Each of the markets had a carousel or Ferris wheel, and one of them also had ice skating. Lots to look at!

We slowly made our way back towards the Cathedral. I was getting a bit impatient for something a bit more filling for dinner by this stage – so we cheated a little and headed to the train station and picked up pretzels there, rather than queueing at the busy market ?

All in all, it was a successful visit to a very, very busy Christmas market!

The post Trip to Europe Day 9 – Cologne appeared first on Sara Napier.