I have wanted to travel across Europe, working my way from city to city since I graduated from uni. After the pandemic had shurnk everyone’s world for the past two years, I decided to make the most of the ending of restrictions and go and do that trip, taking in two European metal festivals: Kilkim Žaibu in Lithuania in June and MetalDays in Slovenia whilst travelling overland and taking in the sights and exploring the local metal scene. After several months of researching different train times, routes, and potential itineraries, it was time to put thoughts into action.
June 16, 2022
My grand adventure started with an unceremonious start as I took the Megabus down to London from my home in Manchester before checking into a hostel for the evening, before getting the Eurostar across to Brussels the following, something that could have gone better than it did, amid super long queues for passport control which in turn led to the train being delayed by 20 minutes. Then I spend most of my time waiting fighting with the Interrail phone app in order to get the QR code to display, only twigging after getting on the train that you need to save a journey for the present day in the built-in planner – something that Interrail neglects to tell you! (Thankfully my Eurostar tickets were separate because the discounted Interrail fares were sold out by the time I came to book.) Relieved, I headed to the buffet car for a cake, coffee, and finally a beer – cause I’m on holiday, after all.
About two hours later I am deep in Europe’s welcoming bosom, in the seat of the European Parliament, Brussels, an unfairly maligned city in my view because it has some real architectural gems, and it’s a beer lover’s paradise. I was initially meant to meet my friend here for lunch before getting the train to Cologne, but that went south after she tested positive for Covid and had to self-isolate (which was still the law in Belgium at the time). Undeterred, I took a stroll outside for some frites (Belgian frites are out of this world), and then grabbed a beer for the train, a Duvel blonde which aptly had an alcohol content of 6.66% ABV.
I arrived in Cologne in the late afternoon, with enough time to explore the city and take a walk along the Rhine…
Once I had done with exploring in the sizziling heat, I looked for somewhere for tea, before finally going to see what Cologne had to offer – something that deserves a separate post of its own.