On the road, well railroad

This blog is of the 25 hours on the railroad I spent starting from Bremen at about 2pm. I had 3 transfers, one in Cologne, one in Paris, and another in Cerbere, France.

I had about 1 hour in Cologne. I went to the biggest, closest thing, the Cathedral of St. Peter and Maria in Cologne, which also is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Very interestingly, its construction began in the middle 1200's and was only finished in 1880. It was the tallest structure in the world at one point, until the Washington Monument was completed. It is one of the largest churches in the world and has the largest facade of any church. So as you can guess, this stuck out like a sore thumb. And it certainly helped that I was able to follow the crowds going to this church (about 30,000 daily).

The main doors in the front.
Inside the cathedral.
A beer cart being propelled by the patrons pedaling
A very tiny glimpse of Brussels as we passed through on our way to Paris from Cologne.

A rainbow somewhere in between Brussels and Paris. Remember, this is in the North close to the Sea where the UK is located.
In Paris, I had to go across the city to another train station where my sleeper train would leave. So, while I did not get to walk around at all, I did see just a tiny bit when the subway train went over the Seine River. I was very thankful that the information desk spoke English because getting to the other station was not very obvious. In fact I got to the first station and did not even know that I would have to change stations.
But I did get to that other train station of course. Here is the sleeper train I went on that ran through France as I slept with 5 others in a small compartment with 6 beds.
When I woke up, the landscape had changed. It was drier, warmer, and there were vineyards.
This is Cerebere, where I made my last transfer. It sits on the Mediterranean right on the border with Spain. I had just enough time to grab a baguette and yorgurt for the road. Below is it's public bathroom toilet. My next stop was Barcelona.