Train Slumber Party!

The itinerary that Fritz put together for our two-week trip is filled with very cool places, but I think equally noteworthy is our mode of transportation.  Although this was not my first time riding on a train, it was my first time sleeping - intentionally, that is - on a train.  Our commute from Prague to Paris started around 6:30pm and went through the night with a stop in Cologne, Germany the following morning.  

Fritz booked us our very own private sleeper car with bunks!  The bed I am sitting on folds up into the wall to reveal chairs for a pre-bedtime hangout.  

We even had a little sink cubby with fresh towels and "mouth rinse"!  I'm pretty sure the mouth rinse was just regular water.  I'm guessing the train water isn't recommended for drinking, but I got really thirsty in the middle of the night so I guzzled 2 and a half mouth rinses.  There haven't been any adverse side effects to speak of yet.  

Before we left Prague, we picked up the essentials for a proper Train Picnic:

Fresh bread

Brie cheese

Prosciutto 

Rotisserie chicken

Red wine

As we toasted to the adventures ahead and reminisced about the incredible year we've had in Europe, we watched the beautiful scenery streak past our window.  And when the sun set and our eyelids grew heavy, we curled up in our bunks and let the gentle motion of the train rock us to sleep.

We awoke the next morning to the soft knocking of our friendly train attendant.  He had come bearing coffee, tea, and two boxes of train breakfast.  Each box contained 2 versions of a roll, butter, jam, and chilled paté.  In addition to delivering these breakfast boxes, he informed us that we would be arriving in Cologne in one hour.  We munched our rolls, changed out of our jammies, brushed our teeth and readied our bags for departure.  

It was a beautiful sunny morning when we stepped out of the Cologne train station, and the very first thing we saw was the gorgeous and massive Cologne Cathedral.  The picture above shows you just one small portion of it.  Our Wikipedia research revealed that the construction of the cathedral began in 1248 and it took all the way until 1880 to finish the thing!  That's over 600 years of church building!  Apparently it averages 20,000 visitors daily, though I'd like to see the data on that claim.  That seems like a pretty lofty number to me, and I'm curious to know if they are counting every person who comes out of the train station as a visitor.  

Anyway, Fritz and I had a few hours to kill so we stored our luggage in a locker at the station, guzzled a coffee, and headed to the Museum Ludwig.  Fritz had read that Ludwig has a large Picasso collection, which happens to be his favorite artist. 

They didn't end up having very many Picassos, but it was still a lovely museum.  

The blur is me, in case you were wondering. 

Something about this triangle piece is so deeply satisfying to me.  I'm not always one for the geometric-type paintings, but I just really love this piece.  So simple.  So balanced.  So isosceles.  It makes me feel good to look at it.

The museum was the perfect activity to fill the hours between train rides.  From here, it's just a few hours to complete the journey to Paris, France!