Cologne; Wednesday, 20 December, 2006

Wuppertal doesn't actually exist. There is no city called Wuppertal, instead it's the creation of the late 1920's by merging 6 towns that run into each other down the length of the river Wupper. Consequently, there is no great city centre, and thanks to its heavy industrialisation from the 19th century onwards, and the carefully pinpointed accuracy of allied bombing raids, nothing of any major historical interest, except it's transport infrastructure. Not something usually a pull on the tourist itinerary, but the Wuppertal Schwebebahn is no ordinary railway. It hangs, from a single rail, over the roads, houses, and for a large part of its route, the river, of Wuppertal.

The only thing vaguely like it in the world is the "Blue Wander" in Dresden, and that only climbs a hill, this runs for several kilometres, stopping at 19 stations and is an integral part of the Wuppertal transport system. Having been convinced by the write up in two of my three guidebooks I made the 45 minute trek from Cologne to Wuppertal. Yes, it's an impressive engineering feet, and it's impressive the way it swings out over the river (though it's not the raging torrent that the guidebooks make out, you could drown in it, but you would have to make a strong effort!), but is it worth the journey from Cologne, probably in itself not, so I went for a hunt to see if there was anything else interesting around the Central station, 45 minutes later I was on a train heading back to Cologne!

I explored some of Cologne's Roman past on my last visit, but I had managed to miss one of the most major Roman sites in the city. Located near the Rathaus are the remains of the Praetorium and a large section of Roman Canal. The Canal stretches for a good couple of hundred feet and is almost completely intact. The Praetorium itself is just parts of the foundations, but the museum explains some of the history of the area, and the function and structure of the building.

I had a wander through the streets of the old town for a while, taking in a couple more Christmas markets that I hadn’t realised existed, before heading back to the hotel to drop my bag off and then head out for dinner.