I just got back on Sunday from a beautiful, sunny weekend in Cologne (Köln). Cologne is located in North Rhine-Westphalia (the most heavily-populated German region) and is one of the oldest towns in Germany. It is home to 12 Romanesque churches and the famous Gothic cathedral! I know you have seen a picture of the cathedral before- it's enormous and gorgeous and looks like something you would find in a fairy-tale.
As soon as my friends and I arrived in Cologne on Saturday morning, we first headed to our hostel to drop off our overnight bags. When I say that we stayed in the smallest hostel in all of Germany, I'm not kidding. Our taxi driver almost sped past it:
HOWEVER, once we found the back door (yes, the back door) and knocked for five minutes until someone answered (after unlocking maybe 6 different locks and chains), we discovered that our room was AWESOME. And CLEAN. It was incredible. Never judge a book by it's cover, I guess!
After having some lunch at at Argentinian steakhouse, we made our way to the Kölner Dom (the Cologne Cathedral). It was stunning. I had my travel guide book with me, so I was able to learn all about the history of this magnificent cathedral.
You know what, my pictures don't do it justice. Here is the ENTIRE cathedral:
Now can you believe this construction began in 1248?! It was built gradually until 1520- it's amazing how earlier centuries were able to construct such masterpieces without all of the technology we have today.
Of course we went inside and got to see the beautiful stained glass windows, the high altar, and even the crypts of past bishops. The stained glass windows have been around since the 1300s! The cathedral also houses the Shrine of the Three Kings, which holds the relics of the Magi.
We were fortunate to have the opportunity to go to the top of the cathedral in the highest tower. The view from up there was breathtaking. And it wasn't because we had to climb over 500 stairs and then some to get all the way up there! All of the noise from down below had turned to silence at the very top. It was peaceful and quiet, and the Rhine sparkled in the sunlight.
Here were the stairs of doom we had to climb back down:
What could be better after that workout then to go to a Chocolate Museum?! That's exactly what we did. We took the metro system underground and walked all the way to the Schokoladenmuseum, home to one of the famous Lindt chocolate factories! I was in HEAVEN. The museum was right on the water too, which was pretty:
This giant GOLDEN chocolate fountain could be seen from the window when we were still pretty far away from the museum. The man gave us free samples too when we got there!
I love the chocolate Lindt Easter bunny! This was just too cute...It's a giant bunny made of the smaller chocolate ones :)
We were tired after this. And hungry (surprisingly) for food that wasn't highly concentrated in cocoa and sugar. We decided to go to a restaurant called the Saxenhaus, which has traditional German food. It was a great experience because for once we were all able to speak German the entire time! I think Fiona, Jeff, Katie, and I were the only "tourists" in there too, at least we were the only ones not originally from Germany. It was great. I had delicious salmon with cheese, potatoes, and vegetables, along with a giant beer.
Walking around at night was fun but it did get a little creepy. A drunken man wearing a zombie costume freaked us out at one point when he walked past us. We went back to the hostel and hung out for a bit, organizing our bags and making up our beds. Fiona and Katie were pretty tired, so Jeff and I went to the pub across the street and tried some of the house drinks. The bartender was incredibly kind and only charged us for half of what we really owed. He also taught me some new German words and I taught him some French. Overall it was a great day, but I was exhausted!! I went to bed not long after I first got there.
We were sad to go the next day, but before we left we went to Museum Ludwig. This museum has some of Europe's best collections of modern art. I had left my phone in my bag in the locker outside, so I couldn't take any pictures :( In addition to Warhol, etc., I got to see lots of Picasso paintings, as well as works done by other German Expressionists. Fiona had her camera phone with her, so I made her take photos of the exhibits I found interesting...
It was really such a nice trip. I wish I had time to explore the other famous museums around. It would have been nice to see some of the other famous churches too, but it was a fun weekend vacation! I can't wait to go back and get more chocolate one day <3
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