September 19, 2025 - Wesseling, Germany

 I made the decision late  night to relocate. I made my decision as I wanted more riding time each day and less time fighting the hill and the wind. The weather forecast was fo shift in the winds over the weekend. That would give me a head wind. I my research also indicated that getting an express train out of Wolfsburg on Tuesday would be difficult. I found morning train to Köln (Cologne) that would get me in town by 10:49.  Plenty of time left for a ride down the Rhine River. I had been here in 2014 on a bicycle trip. I was curious as to how the bike paths had changed in 11 years.

The photo on the left is the main lobby of the Cologne train station. It is a big station with lots of traffic. 

Due to repairs on the rails, my train arrived at 11:40. I started my ride behind schedule. 

The is a picture of the very famous Köln cathedral. I have been here a couple of times before.  It is very impressive ( and very large). Parts of the structure was damaged in WW2. It has been rebuild. The windows that were damaged were replaced with modern stained glass windows. 

This is modern statue near the train station.i thought it was strange and just might be is some interest. I apologize for the shadow line. I think it is a person reclining.every town has a statue or more that helps identify the art culture in that town.

The cathedral in the distance You can see how impressive it is.

 And size compared to other buildings. This was taken from the waterfront

I passed by a couple of Viking  river cruise ships as I left Cologne.  I know a number of the readers of this blog have. Taken a river cruise in Europe. 

Yes, the bike path has changed in 11 years. It was primarily dirt and crushed gravel last time I bikes here. It is now much more crowed. I an interested to see how crowed it will be on Saturday as a lot more people will be out taking rides. The path will be full of Spandex people. They go fast and in big groups.  I will try to take a pictures or two of the spandex groups. I will not plan a very long ride tomorrow in anticipation of the crowds. 

This a picture of the old bike path and the new bike path. I have traveled many a mile on the old ones. 

After a dozen or so of kms, I finally came to my hotel. It is serviceable but not great. The best thing about it is the view from my window. The hotel is right on the edge of the river.

After check in I went to the city centrum. Downtown. 

My first one cream picture for this trip. It is a small cup of lemon  flavored with a cookie. It did not last very long. It was very good. Now that the days are warmer I will be having some more ice cream pictures.

On way back to the hotel I pass by two sets of Stolpersteines. The four together tell of the deaths of most likely four Jews. A marries couple on the right and the wife’s two older sisters. They were sent probably in a group to a concentration camp north or Prague in 1942. The couple was sent to a death camp in Poland in 1942 and murdered. The two older sisters  were murdered in 1943.

I finished my day with a meal at the hotel. Roast beef with mushroom gravy, baked sliced sweet potatoes topped with mashed white potatoes, and a red cabbage salad. It was good, an unusual combination for me. 

Tomorrow I continue traveling south on the Rhine radweg. I will go past Bonn, the former capital of the old Western Germany during its division after WW2. I expect the bike path to be crowed on a Saturday. 

Bis Morgen.

H