{"id":4382,"date":"2017-12-05T11:57:46","date_gmt":"2017-12-05T11:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=4382"},"modified":"2017-12-05T13:05:07","modified_gmt":"2017-12-05T13:05:07","slug":"the-hitch-hikers-guide-to-german-railways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=4382","title":{"rendered":"The hitch-hiker&#8217;s guide to German railways"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We got the little commuter plane over to Dusseldorf yesterday morning.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_1309381124774727.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_1309381124774727.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4385 alignnone size-full\" width=\"1920\" height=\"668\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_1309381124774727.png 1920w, https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_1309381124774727-300x104.png 300w, https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_1309381124774727-768x267.png 768w, https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_1309381124774727-1024x356.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The airport seems to have been built in anticipation of an immense (but currently absent) growth in passenger numbers. Here&#8217;s the baggage carousel area. Ours were the only bags.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_123252736019304.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_123252736019304.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4378 alignnone size-full\" width=\"3000\" height=\"1768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_123252736019304.jpg 3000w, https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_123252736019304-300x177.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_123252736019304-768x453.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_123252736019304-1024x603.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We caught the monorail train to the railway station. A guy spotted Val using the ticket machine, and told us that the cheapest way to get to our destination was to buy a family day ticket. These tickets cover up to five people and one dog, and sure enough the price was quite a bit lower than the regular fare. Of course this helpful guy had a hidden agenda, as it meant he could travel along with us for free. We didn&#8217;t have a problem with this and it all worked out fine &#8211; we all ended up quite a few Euros to the good.<\/p>\n<p>Our destination was a town called Soest. It&#8217;s in a part of Germany called Nordrhine-Westphalia. We checked into our hotel and had a lovely dinner accompanied by a few beers.<\/p>\n<p>The hotel dates back to 1304. It&#8217;s a cosy old place &#8211; all low ceilings and narrow staircases.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_1232201554994105.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_1232201554994105.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4379 alignnone size-full\" width=\"3000\" height=\"2056\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_1232201554994105.jpg 3000w, https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_1232201554994105-300x206.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_1232201554994105-768x526.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_1232201554994105-1024x702.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After breakfast this morning we had a walk into town. Soest is an old walled city quite reminiscent of Chester. It&#8217;s a cold day so we linger over our coffee in an elegant patisserie. The cakes looked wonderful.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_123121358992821.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_123121358992821.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4380 alignnone size-full\" width=\"3000\" height=\"1934\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_123121358992821.jpg 3000w, https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_123121358992821-300x193.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_123121358992821-768x495.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_123121358992821-1024x660.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Soest has a Christmas market, and it starts today. We&#8217;ll be back here after dark for a proper look round once things get going.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_1231531232374084.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_1231531232374084.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4381 alignnone size-full\" width=\"3000\" height=\"2074\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_1231531232374084.jpg 3000w, https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_1231531232374084-300x207.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_1231531232374084-768x531.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/20171205_1231531232374084-1024x708.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We got the little commuter plane over to Dusseldorf yesterday morning.&nbsp; The airport seems to have been built in anticipation of an immense (but currently absent) growth in passenger numbers. Here&#8217;s the baggage carousel area. Ours were the only bags. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=4382\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travelsandtribulations"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4382\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikeeasley.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}