Bonn Voyage

When some awesome things happens only once a year, it is always a motivation to visit these phenomenon. That was the major reason to visit the beautiful city of Bonn. Cherry Blossoms or "Sakura" ( Japanese term) is a sight to behold in a particular street, Heerstraße , Bonn. The entire length of the street has been planted with these trees on both sides.

The sad part or the exciting part of this phenomenon is that you can find it up to 10 days to 2 weeks. You go early, you might be unhappy to see, that the buds are just blooming and if you are late, you can see that the blossoms have fallen off and its mostly green now.

So timing is important. People who stay in the North Rhine Westphalia region are more lucky and can be flexible enough to go and visit them. People from far, it's quite a task as you can't fix a date when to come, as there is no specific date when these blossoms bloom. It all depends on the climate conditions. You can follow the posts with hashtags in Instagram or some travel bloggers who keep updating about the state of cherry blossoms.

With the student ticket that we have from RWTH Aachen, we were able to visit Bonn. It's just 1:30 hours from Aachen by train.

The travel plan was to visit Heerstraße and Königswinter, hence it was a half day trip. I believe Bonn has enough destinations to do a full day tour with various other places inside the city. Our trip was in the order mentioned above, but I would suggest maybe to visit Königswinter first and then the cherry blossoms.

Heerstraße is just 1 km from the Bonn Hauptbahnof and you can walk to the street within 15 minutes. There is also another street near to Heerstraße which has Cherry Blossoms, but lesser in number. You would most probably go through this street as well.

The first thing you notice obviously apart from the pinkish tint of the street is the huge crowd that would be present. People with matching dresses, white and pink clothes can be found. Bridal photography might be happening in one corner. However the hard part is that its a live street and vehicles keep on coming. You have to make for them. Another suggestion is that, maybe not visit the place when it is too sunny. As the color is very light pink, it seems more whitish in the sunlight. That's why I would suggest to visit the place on your return, when the sunlight is not intense.

We later boarded a Tram towards Königswinter Denkmal (tram station) from Bonn Hauptbahnof, which was nearest to the Drachenfels Castle, our destination. You can directly board a regional train to Königswinter as well. There are multiple options on how you want to go there.

More details about Drachenfels Castle regarding opening hours and ticket prices can be found at : https://www.schloss-drachenburg.de/index.php/en/general-info/admission-prices

Again, google is your help. The major attraction of the tour was to check out the castle from a nearby hill. It required some hiking. The town was quite eerie or in a dead silence mode. I am not sure if it was like that or maybe less people due to the corona pandemic. However we hiked up and reached near the Castle Grounds. Unfortunately for us, the castle was closed due to the pandemic. However the hike was worthwhile, we could see the view of Bonn from the hill top as well as the Rhine River.

There is also the Drachenfelsbahn ,which is the oldest operated rack railway in Germany. It goes all the way up to the summit. However you have to check for its maintenance schedules and opening times.

Another interesting aspect of the place is that you can get small cues of the dragon related themes in some of the cottages nearby the castle. It's very subtle, but visible. You can read more about the folklore in the internet. I would like to add some photos of my friends #Rushabh#Atharva who went later on to Drachenfels, when it was open to give a more view about the place.

The tram journey goes over the Rhine river and if you have the luck, one can see the sunset across the river, which was another memorable moment of the trip.

Bonn has other attractions such as the Beethovan Haus, Botanical Garden, The Art and Exhibition Hall and a wide variety of Museums to cover. I believe a one day trip would be enough to cover pretty much the most exciting spots in Bonn. You can hike along the Drachenfels region as a separate trip as well. Since it was a half day trip, it was limited to the Cherry Blossoms and Drachenfels. So the next April, Hope you would be able to visit the amazing Cherry Blossoms and the beautiful city of Bonn. #Atharva#Shaunak