Köln

We went to Cologne during last weekend, by Eurostar and a Thalys train. It takes about 4 hours and also you can enjoy the views of four countries, the UK, France, Belgium and Germany, from the train window. The purposes of my (our) trip was to revel in the senses; touch, taste, hearing, eyesight, smell and extra. We achieved all of them.

• touch - climb up 533 steps to the tower of Cologne Cathedral and walk around the town
• taste - enjoy the cuisine of Germany  
• hearing - listening the bell of Cologne Cathedral
• eyesight - enjoy the views especially from the tower and a cruise ship.
• smell - get an 'eau de cologne' 

As I mentioned earlier on, last Friday was a rainy day in London. This is the weather forecast for Sunday, which I saw in a hotel in Cologne. It showed nice warm weather in London on Sunday and rain in Germany!! Definitely we had travelled with rain!

Cologne Cathedral was amazing. We said 'wow' every time we saw it. It's a magnificent Gothic building! After we saw inside the Cathedral, we immediately started to climb up the tower. The narrow winding staircase requesting us to be cautious, because it was not one-way traffic. We had to keep going up, otherwise cause gridlock. When we were near the bell, we listened the big sound of a bell.

The big mouse (husband) said he gave up after we've almost done it. 'Are you sure? This is one final steps to get to the tower!' But I knew that it was hard work for him, because he has big feet for the stairs! So I started to go up by myself. The view from the tower was fantastic! I enjoyed to see a panorama view. Eventually, the big mouse climbed up the tower later, but at the same time I started to climb down stairs. We didn't meet because it was one-way traffic partly. It goes without saying that our legs felt like jelly...

We also enjoyed the cuisine of Germany. Every time we passed through the station, it smelled agreeably of sausages and I had been curious about it. We got a big sausage and pretzel as well. Another night, we had Kölsch beer and the Schnitzel (a boneless veal meat, thinned with a hammer, coated with flour, mashed eggs and bread crumbs, and then fried). Yummy:)

We also visited 'Das Römisch-Germanische Museum (The Roman-Germanic Museum)'. It has a huge collection of Roman artifacts. Unfortunately we found almost no signs in English at the museum, but  we enjoyed Roman history very much. Especially I liked mosaics.

I would recommend that enjoying the best view from the river. There are many cruises including a one-hour Panorama Cruise and evening cruises. I did research beforehand on cruises, and we made the choice of one-hour cruise. It was raining, but the inside was like a restaurant, and drinks and food are served. Some people enjoyed having lunch and beers. We could relax and enjoy the view while having a drink sheltering from rain.

We also strolled Cologne. Most shops were closed due to Sunday, but I liked walking around Alter Markt and Fischmarkt area. Now, you can see many lovely small hotels, wine bars and brewery taverns and flanked by old warehouses with stone-paved streets around there. It has a flavour of an ancient town, I could feel German atmosphere very much.

 

 

My friend who had lived in Germany told me about Love Locks on Hohenzollern Bridge. So we went to have a look:) We didn't install a lock, because we believe we are fine:) Some locks had hand-writings and some had inscription of their name! Anyway, there were hundreds and hundreds of locks of couples from all over the world.

I also bought an "eau de cologne 4711" for myself. It smell fresh and nice.

The weather was not perfect, but overall, we felt very satisfied at our trop to Cologne. We didn't condense many plans, but experienced German cultures, history, cuisines and atmospheres. It was a well-balanced trip with sightseeing and relaxation. We enjoyed to spend time at a luxury hotel as well.

Cologne is very clean, friendly and vibrant city. I would definitely say 'I Love Köln' :)