Koln was a handy stopping off point as we arrived after a three and a quarter hour journey from Paris Gare du Nord at 1915. We made the short walk from the Hauptbahnhof (main station) to the Hotel Excelsior passing the mighty cathedral as we exited the station.

There was enough time for an evening meal, a bit of a walk around the city and then it was time for bed ready for the next day of adventure (Monday 27th June 2011) and an ICE journey to Berlin and then onto an overnight train to Kiev in Ukraine.

With 1,136 miles of travel ahead of us from Koln to Kiev in around 36 hours a decent night of sleep was in order!