Day 15 October 22nd Berlin to Braintree

The final day of our tour.  We met ready to board our coach at 0830 in the hotel reception.  We were soon at the station and had some time to buy snacks for the journey.  The train for Cologne left on time at 0949 and we were able to sit back and relax for four hours.  We were amongst out fellow tour participants and soon the chatter was flowing so that the time and distance slipped 

blurry blue overhead train at Wuppertal

past.  During this part we passed through Wuppertal which I had visited through work several times before moving to Scilly.  Wuppertal has an old overhead railway system which followed the river, this proved very interesting for some in our group and we tried to get photos.  I only managed a very blurry photo of a blue train held on the rails. We had a coffee and our snack and arrived in Cologne on time.

We had over an hour on Cologne station and we settled in 

model train system at Cologne

seats and read for much of the time.  There was a model train set up in one part of the station which was interesting.  We then got on the train to Brussells which left at 1543 (on time).  We sped 

ICE train taking us from Cologne

on and were there in good time to get on our Eurostar train at 1856.  As we went through the tunnel the clocks changed and we arrived at St Pancras at about 2000.  We hurriedly said goodbye as we wanted to catch a train at Liverpool Street at 2048.  The underground worked well and we made it in good time.  We took the train to Braintree and then a taxi to the Premier Inn where we are staying.  A total of 14½  hours travelling and we were pleased to arrive at our destination.  We had had a very good holiday with some excellent highlights.

We are going to spend several days in Essex seeing family and friends.  We will travel home on the Scillonian next Monday (28^th).