Day 157 - And like that we're eating Italian in Germany

One thing Europeans can't quite get over when they visit Canada is how vast the country is. Phil tells stories of his German relatives coming to Toronto for a visit and wanting to drive to see the mountains and forests. In the same vein, we have a difficult time coming to grips sometimes with just how close we are to places, well that is if you fly. If you decide to drive, it can feel like a cross-Canada trip!

A map of Canada superimposed over Europe.

Today we made the journey to Germany. Sadly, we're travelling to attend the funeral of Phil's cousin Marga. We shall introduce you to Marga in our post tomorrow.

We worked yesterday, and then caught the train to London, and then the Tube out to a hotel near London City Airport in London's east end. Despite the very loud birthday party the hotel was holding for itself in the front lobby (this is a new Marriott brand of hotel aimed at Millennials where a quasi-party atmosphere is used to replace traditional hotel amenities and service), we managed to get some sleep. The lovely thing about this hotel, is that we were only a 15-minute walk to the terminal, so it was easy enough to get there in time for our 11:45 flight. A mere 50 minutes later, we landed in Dusseldorf (and a one-hour earlier time zone). Amazing!

Cologne Cathedral as seen from the Rhine river pedestrian path. The Cathedral is known in German as Kölner Dom, but officially is the Hohe Domkirche Sankt Petrus (Cathedral Church of Saint Peter).

From Dusseldorf, we took a train to Cologne, and were comfortably in our hotel by about 3 p.m. local time.

One of Marga's two sons, Sascha, lives in Cologne and asked us to meet him and his family for dinner at an Italian restaurant in his neighbourhood in a suburb called Longerich. Of course, true Canadians, we arrived about 15-minutes early so as not to keep our hosts waiting who said they would meet us at the train station. Later Sascha jokingly chided Phil for being early: "Germans are always on time, never early."

In Europe, the distances may be seem small to us Canadians, but the subtle but important cultural differences can be massive! LOL!