Kiel; Friday, 11 November, 2016

I’d travelled down to an airport hotel the previous evening as I had an early flight, it still didn’t make having to set my alarm of 04:15 any more horrific.

After a quick shower I checked out of the hotel and picked up the hoppa bus back to the airport and after bag dropping and going through to security found some breakfast in the almost deserted departures side of terminal 5.

A smooth and fuss free flight, made more comfortable by the short notice swapping of the plane to a bigger one meaning there was lots more space for everyone. We landed in Hamburg on time and after an equally smooth journey through the airport, with my bag and me reaching the same point of the baggage belt at the same time, I was onto a train into the city centre.

By the time the train arrived into Hamburg Hauptbahnhof it was just before 11 and I was starting to feel quite hungry, so with 30 minutes to spare before my train onto Kiel I popped to a wurst stall and had a very nice bratwurst before wandering down to the platform where my train was waiting for me.

Another smooth leg of the journey and less than 90 minutes after leaving Hamburg I was stepping out of the station in Kiel and into the neighbouring InterCity hotel to checkin. After dropping my bags in my room I headed back out for a wander around town.

I had a long wander around the area near the Hauptbahnhof called the Hörn, which marks the very end of the Kieler Förde before heading further into town to have a wander around the old town area, stopping off at Sankt Nikolai Kirche to have a look around.

Whilst it was quite pleasant walking around the city with the sun shining, as soon as it set the temperature took a bit of a nosedive and with it become quite chilly I headed back to the hotel to warm up a little before heading out a little later to grab a bite to eat and then an early night to make up for the very early start.