After my Turkish room-mate (who only stayed about 2 weeks in the end) disappeared to Cologne for the weekend on a spontaneous trip I decided it might not be a bad idea. However, we only went for the day but still, going to another country for the equivalent of a ‘Sunday drive’ sounded pretty spontaneous to me! So Nakita (Sydney), Andra (Canada) and I hopped on the bus/train and less than 2 hours later we were in Cologne, Germany.
the intrepid daytrippers
Not knowing a lot about the place and having done minimal research (that wouldn’t be very spontaneous would it!?) we decided the easiest thing to do would be to jump on one of those oh so cool tourist buses (double decker of course) with the nifty headsets that tell you about the place in a bajillion different languages. Good thing there was no walking tour option (which we would have taken) because the city is actually quite spread out, over two sides of a river, and it was unusually cold that day both in Cologne and Maastricht, cold enough to get tiny tiny little flecks of snow at times. So we sat on the bus for about an hour and a half (along with a guy who, no joke, burped loudly about 5 times during the trip!!! with not a hint of bashfulness) as we were driven past the place that actually first made cologne cologne (you know, the smelly stuff of the same name - but to be honest the stuff stinks!), the zoo and botanic gardens (which would NOT have been a pleasant stop on such a cold day), a chocolate factory on the river bank and most memorably a brewery on a big square where we promptly marched back to for lunch after the bus tour!
the cologne-ery
Our waiter was hilarious, taking every opportunity to put another glass of the beer brewed right on premises down in front of us. It was nice, refreshing beer with a windmill as its logo. The place was small and cozy, like a slightly dwarfed version of a normal german beer hall, and the food was great – schnitzel just how we like it (tender and pan fried pork) with whatever kind of potatoes you can think of to ask for. Of course we had to indulge in some streudel for dessert … and a couple more beers (which we really HAD to indulge in, the guy wouldn’t say no, even Nakita had more than one!! ;P)
After a stroll back through the shopping district (a network of pedestrian malls which are pretty well advertised in Maastricht etc as a good place to spend a day melting the plastic) we arrived at the real attraction in town – the Koln Dom, or Cologne Cathedral. Now this thing is just awesome – literally. A textbook example of a gothic cathedral, all grey and black and imposing. It’s so tall (can't fit it all in any of our camera lenses), and so detailed and SO old (like 600 years old) and so big inside. EVERY window is filled with detailed leadlight and the most vibrant colours (even on an overcast day) that I wonder how they actually produced such colours back then. Unfortunately we had intended to climb to the top of it for the view but the bloody stairs closed at 4pm! (remember I said we didn't do any research) so we admired from the ground.
cathedral
some of the beautiful leadlight
Given the frosty weather, the only things left to do were a pit stop at the souvenier shop and a bakery (to grab a berliner donut for the trip home) and a quick squiz down at the waterfront (as the train station was near the river) and then it was back on the train/bus to Maastricht. Home by about 7pm – not a bad way to fill a day :)
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