Tourism at the Shallow End

Köln is a lovely city, the best known bits of which I despise. Not that there`s anything particularly odeous about Cologne's cathedral and old town - They would be delightful were it not for the shallow tourism that goes with it. And Köln isn't alone. Not by a long shot. From Paris, to Cairo, to Sydney, if you turn your back on the attraction, and look at the street stalls, you might as well not have left home: the same vendors, selling the same bags, t-shirts, wallets and scarves; all of which were made in the same factory on the other side of the world, by people with no knowlege or interest in the city, its history or its culture. The tourists are seemingly all here to get their picture of the Dom (. . .or the tower, the pyramid or the bridge), to tick a box and say that they have had their authentic experience. They've "done it". Yuck.

"That's not a bad thing", said Chris "They're all concentrated in the one area". Indeed!

Meanwhile, in Köln the locals have a fantastic real life just to the west of the river-front, and its spruikers, beggers and gawkers. The city to the West was heaving with young people, virtually all of whom live in the city, and none of whom are interested in the Dom, or the actors behaving like statues out the front of it. On Saturday night, West Köln was fantastic. The bars were full to overflowing, and everyone was having a great time. . .Until the Dutch lost the football match, after which, the Russian supporters made up for the lack of Dutch enthusiasm. They spilled out onto the streets, set off fireworks, waved flags, sang and set off a cacophony of car horns.

The ride from Bonn that morning was a 30km dawdle, with a lunch break in the middle. The petrochemical plant at the midway point left us in no doubt that we want to give the Ruhr a wide berth.

I had expected Bonn to be a depressed but quaint city, falling into dereliction and remeniscing about the time it was capital of the world`s 4th biggest economy. The combination of a huge university population and a car-free centre that streatches for about a dozen blocks changed perceptions. It was delightful and bustling, without a hint of buskers pretending to be Bonn's most recognised son, Beethoven.

We're not quite sure where we'll go tomorrow. The weather forcast is not good

Options are:

1: Eindhoven by train

2: Hückelhoven by train

3: Nijmegen by train

4: Option 1,2 or 3 by rental car, following a side trip to Northern France to visit a war cemetary in which a relative of simon's lies.