Well the day has finally arrived and we are off on the journey. We left at the crack of dawn (5:40) - it was not even light. Victoria got up and gave us a lift to Tonbridge in her pyjamas. On the train to London I had the 1st panic - hadn't got both sets of credit cards until I realised that one set was in the money belt - first 'senior moment' of the trip and we are not yet an hour into it! After a change at London Bridge, on to St Pancras. Eurostar check-in is more like getting a plane than train with some of the attendant hassle. The train was full but amazingly quick - at Ashford in half the time it took from Tonbridge to St Pancras.After an easy change at Brussels, - onto a German ICE train - very civilised and not as full as Eurostar - the quality of the trains will start to go down hill soon. Onto Cologne - we have time for a quick look round. Up the cathedral tower - it was 507 steps and that finished Fran for the day. At least the views are impressive. A walk by the river Rhine to eat late lunch - sandwich then a visit to a Brewery for a quick drink. After a stroll round, dinner by the river and then the train to Warsaw.

The train to Warsaw was OK - we were in a 2 berth sleeper and had loads of room. We slept reasonably well and woke up in Poland.. Breakfast was included in the ticket - it turned out to be a long life chocolate croissant and instant coffee! We arrived in Warsaw about 11:00 at a very grim Soviet style station.Queued for tickets to Vilnius and some money then on to the hotel. After dumping our bags at the hotel, we set off to walk round the old town. The old town is a bit of a misnomer as the whole city had been raised to the ground after the Warsaw uprising of 1944 and has been rebuilt since. In fact the city is full of magnificent buildings all rebuilt in their original style. We ended up walking through a park - had a quick sit down which turned into a quick snooze - the last 2 days were catching up on us. After dinner in the old town, we decided on an early night as it is up early in the morning.