Ah, how I love the sandwiches and pastries that they make in Germany. I am on my way to a conference in Bonn and have just arrived at Bonn’s central railway station. I flew overnight to Frankfurt, arriving at 6.00 am, and then took a train to Bonn, and now I am really hungry.


I especially love the ham rolls that they make in fresh baguettes in Germany. That’s something we don’t get in Malaysia because ham is non-halal, so the only thing the sandwich shops offer there is bland processed turkey ham. The range of hams and smoked hams that the Germans have in their sandwich shops is mouthwatering – always so lean, fresh and tasty – and the Germans undoubtedly have the best range of breads in the world. I bought two ham rolls and an apple strudel from one of the sandwich shops in the station. I washed those down with a very good cafe latte and I was satisfied.

I had to resist the temptation to buy any more of the pastries on display. They all looked delicious. I sometimes wonder why more Germans are not overweight as those pastries must pack a few calories.

I was meant to take the train to Siegburg, which is to the north-east of Bonn, and then a taxi from there, because there is a very fast train that goes from Frankfurt airport to Siegburg in about 40 minutes. However, I just missed the Siegburg train as we had to abort our landing in Frankfurt and go around again because of fog, and as the next express train was not for an hour I decided to take an inter-city to Bonn hauptbahnhof (main station) instead. That one went along the Rhine via Mainz and Koblenz, and took about an hour longer, but I’m glad I took that route because I had a great view of the towns and villages along the Rhine which you don’t get to see from the Siegburg train.


Unless you are in a hurry to get to Bonn, I would recommend visitors to Germany to take the route along the Rhine. There is something of interest to see every mile of the way – whereas the Siegburg route (which I’ve done a few times) is all countryside that looks the same.