The easiest way to get from Krakow (Poland) to Cologne/Koln (Germany) is a combination of flight and ICE Train. My lovely half was in charge with the tickets this time and he found this precious plane tickets from Krakow Airport to Frankfurt, and from Frankfurt to Cologne train tickets. But not any train tickets: ICE Train tickets - if you do not know the difference, fear not! I shall explain ;) My husband bought the tickets around one month before our flight and they were quite cheap at the time - if you buy them in time they will always be cheaper ;) - so we had Lufthansa. And that was quite comfortable ;)
We had the flight Krakow - Frankfurt and when we got there we were waiting for our luggage. I think we waited around 30 or even 40 minutes until I finally went to the Luggage Claim Office and they stated that they were already sent to the ICE Train Station. If you buy the tickets together with the plane tickets, at the same time, the baggages are being sent to the Luggage Claim Office right next to the ICE Train Station. And back the same, when we came from Cologne we left the luggages there and we just walked to the Frankfurt airport with just our hand-luggage. I think that this is actually a good info! So note it down - if you buy the tickets together: flight + ICE Train than most probably you will find your luggage at the ICE Train Station ;)
I really liked the Frankfurt ICE Train Station and its dome-like architecture so I snapped quickly a few shots while my husband was out, smoking. We always make sure that we have enough time between the changes - over one hour, at least! - so that we would find everything in time. We could buy some water and smoke and I even relaxed and read a bit from my book.
Look there :) They even had screens showing promos of Game of Thrones. I can hardly wait for that show to start. I know it aint by the book but I am still rooting for some characters ;) And I am very glad I managed to read the books before the show came out. I really hope George Martin will not die by the time he will finish the last 2 books... I am eagerly waiting...
As ever, I was fascinated about the architecture design of the train station and snapped some shots for you lads and lasses to look upon and make up your mind if it is worth a look.
I am not sure if you can see this properly or if you need to enlarge the picture but it shows the end of an ICE Train and a blood stain. A blood stain like a wing of a bird... I think an accident must have happened there... I am sorry for the wee bird :(
As you can see, we had time to relax and I was even reading a bit. But let us go back to the wonderful ICE Train. The Intercity-Express (written as InterCityExpress in Austria, Denmark, Switzerland and, formerly, in Germany) or ICE is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany and its surrounding countries . It is the highest service category offered by DB Fernverkehr and is the flagship of Deutsche Bahn. The brand name "ICE" is among the best-known in Germany, with a brand awareness close to 100%, according to DB.
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ICE trains are the highest category (Class A) trains in the fare system of the Deutsche Bahn. Their fares are not calculated on a fixed per-kilometre table as with other trains, but instead have fixed prices for station-to-station connections, depending on a multitude of factors including the railway line category and the general demand on the line. Even on lines where the ICE is not faster than an ordinary IC or EC train (for example Hamburg to Dortmund), an additional surcharge will be levied on the ground that the ICE trains have a higher comfort level than IC/EC trains.
The train was so silent and quick that under an hour we arrived from Frankfurt to magical Cologne, where my best friend and sweet heart Dana was waiting for us at the main train station. I might have had a small shock as we went to the metro-bus station and I catched a glimpse of the Cologne Cathedral through the main station - too bad none filmed me or took pictures as I think my jaw just dropped a few meters. It was already night and the gloomy and dark tower was looming over us... I think my heart might have skipped a beat and that is when I fell in love with the Dom!
We had a late night lunch/dinner at the chinese restaurant next to Danas place and the food was awesome! I cannot remember the names - to my shame! - but I can tell you mine was with pineapple and was kick arse! Look at my adorable lovely ones in the pictures below. How can you not love them?! I already miss you, Dana :*
So this is basically how we got from Krakow to Cologne and our first evening in town. If you stay put and behave nicely, for the next #traveltuesday I shall tell you more about our first full day in Cologne, when Dana took us for the Cathedral and the Hohenzollern Bridge. So I guess that means, see you soon ;)
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