Ambling Ramblings #20-A Mixed Bag of Jellybeans

20 posts thus far.....something of a milestone I do believe! We are nearing the end though, so not many more to come after this one. (Is that a sigh of relief I hear?)

Our last few days on the Continent were like a bag of Jellybeans, we never knew what colour we were going to pull out next and had a few adventurous moments along the way and certainly sampled every colour. From Amsterdam we caught the train to Cologne and had the shortest and least eventful walk to our hotel of any city in Europe! We arrived with just enough daylight to see the Cologne Cathedral, which is grand on truly epic proportions in its Gothic architecture and incredible stained glass windows. Amazingly incredible to see and stand in, gazing up at the intricate designs in the windows, each of them with a story to tell and the longer you stand looking, the more you see in it. We also managed to fit in some shopping (of course!) and wandered in and out of shops until we could shop no more! The next morning it was back to the train station for our final Eurail Pass train journey-the end of what has been an exhilarating and exciting adventure around the Continent. We headed to Brussels for the night where we only had enough time before our train the next day to buy a considerable weight of Belgian chocolate (which we now have to carry halfway around the world....I don't think we thought that one through very well!).

Our last few days on the continent were quite a whirlwind and have melded into a mashed and swirled marble cake of memories. The jumbled blur of what I can remember looks something like this: impressive cathedral in Cologne, fancy shops and pretty dresses, sitting on a train facing forwards, sitting on a train facing backwards, pretty countryside, night on the floor by the heater (long story, don't ask!), ensuite bathroom reached by a little staircase in our room, tea, more tea, chocolate waffles, tasty pastries, lots of steps, lots more steps, waiting at the train station, lugging heavy bags weighted down by chocolate (oh and one or two paving stones I've picked up along the way as souvenirs), getting lost, finding ourselves again, pecan Danish pastries, separation anxiety from Marnie, long walks on extremely long train platforms from carriage 17 to carriage 3 and a whole lot more.

In the last 7 nights I have slept in 7 different beds. Settling into a routine at home will be quite an adjustment from this nomadic lifestyle, although it will be nice to not be living out of a suitcase, to have my own bed, to be in one bed for more than a few nights at a time and to know where in the world I am at any given time! It will certainly be very different, and I'm sure it won't be long before I have itchy feet again and am planning my next trip somewhere-anyone want to join me?