You may remember our excursion to Enoshima in Japan, where we rode a suspended monorail, aka the Dangle Train.  There are only a handful of these trains in the world, and three of them happen to be in Germany – at Dusseldorf Airport, Dortmund University, and Wuppertal.  Of the three, Wuppertal is easily the longest (and the closest), so that’s the one we headed for. It is also the sister train of the Enoshima one, so Captain Kumamon was, of course, along for the ride.  After ships, trains are his favourite thing, so there was no chance of leaving him behind.

To complete today’s travels, we required a rather pricey Regio Group Day Pass for Zone 5.  We purchased this before our first train ride.  We were determined to max it out and get our money’s worth. By the end of the day, with 10 separate train trips completed, we had not once been required to show it to anyone or insert it into a gate.  Fare evasion here must be rife.

We walked via Isabellas to stock up on Ian’s favourite chocolate chip buns, and boarded Train 1 – a local light rail to get us across town.  Train 2 was a regional train from Cologne to Wuppertal, which took a little over 30 minutes.  Wuppertal’s geography is very different from that of Cologne.  Everything is jammed into a long narrow valley, with a shallow river running its length, and hills either side. 

With little land available, the powers that be decided that suspending their train above the river made the best use of available space.  And it does – the Schwebebahn (to give it its proper name) is not just a tourist attraction, but an efficient and well used commuter system which has served the valley for 100 years.  For most of its 13 km length, the train sways gently directly over the river, with every curve of the water mirrored by the track overhead.  If you sit right at the back, you have a wonderful view of everything.  There are all sorts of strange objects in the river – some by accident, others by design.  The small blue carriages glide along smoothly, passing each other frequently, and stopping at each of the 20 stations. 

As you get close to the terminus at Vohlwinkel, the track veers away from the river; that’s when things get really weird.  The gigantic green steel arch supports are forced into a “canyon” formed by a narrow shopping street.  Cars, trucks, cyclists and pedestrians go about their day, directly below you.

The whole thing was fascinating, and so much fun.  We passed over numerous small bridges, and even through a chemical plant.  With all its greenery, the river made for a scenic backdrop.  I couldn’t help comparing it to the much less delightful commute that I made every work day for about 40 years.

After riding to both ends, and back to the central station (trips 3, 4 and 5), we reluctantly farewelled the Dangle Train, and Wuppertal.  Our next destination was Dusseldorf, which was train no 6.  We were there in no time.  Disembarking at a station on the western side of the city, we found ourselves in a rather pleasant neighbourhood with some feline street art.  We made our way to Medienhafen, the port area which overlooks the Rhine.  In Dusseldorf, the Rhine is enormously wide.

As we walked, we saw a building made from aluminium foil; a silver space ship; a Very Tall Tower (the views would be great but we decided not to go to the top); a Very Big Bridge; some Very Long Barges; and some very under-utilised riverside deck chairs. 

Train no 7 was calling, and we took it for a couple of stops to get back to the main station. It was at this point that we learned about Platform Lotto.  Deutsche Bahn used to have a reputation for punctuality and reliability only rivalled by the Swiss; but in recent years, things have gone downhill fast.  So much so, that Switzerland no longer allows DB to run trains inside its borders, because they can’t meet the exacting Swiss standards (ie they severely Lower the Tone).  So far – and it’s only been 3 days – the German trains we’ve taken have run more or less on time, give or take 5 minutes.  But they do have a habit of changing their minds at the last minute, about which platform to appear on.  And so today we had a frantic dash from platform 4 to platform 3, for the 3.38 to Cologne (aka Train no 8).

We took this to Ehrenfeld, so that we could shop at Kaufland.  In the past this has been our preferred supermarket because of its more extensive, cheaper, house brand range of gluten free groceries.  This one didn’t have a lot to choose from.  However, it did allow us to notch up Trains 9 and 10, before we arrived home.

You’d think that with all these trains, our walking distance would have been dramatically reduced.  And yet my garmin tells me I completed 9.9 km.