Dreaming of a White Christmas - Day 12
Hop on Hop off Cologne
We had a very restful night in the Excelsior and even managed a sleep-in
… well, by my standards anyway. We met for breakfast at 9:30 and then set off for
the Hop on Hop off bus which conveniently stopped just around the corner from the
hotel. It took an hour and a half to do the full tour – we didn’t do any
hopping off as the weather was drizzly and the bus was cosy. We seem to have
left the snow behind and found the rain instead.
Jill and Phil went back later and used their ticket to return to the
Schokoladenmuseum (Chocolate Museum) precinct, which Wallsy and I thought we
might visit tomorrow morning. We went our separate ways after the bus, and Wallsy and I found an Italian restaurant for lunch.
I keep saying I didn’t come to Germany to eat Italian food, but at least I know
it is free of allergens. It will be a long time before I eat another pizza
though. I enjoyed gnocchi today and a glass of my all-time favourite Gluhwein –
that is one little bit of German cuisine I can enjoy!
Following lunch, we walked back to the Cathedral for a look inside. It
is as impressive inside as it is out, believe me. I guess it should be though,
having taken 6 centuries to complete, you would hope they got it right. Wallsy asked
what I thought the Cathedral reminded him of and I suggested perhaps York
Minster … but no, he was reminded of the Murtoa Stick Shed back in Australia.
An interesting comparison, I thought, and not one I would have made. Once we
had explored every nook and cranny in the cathedral, marvelling at the height
and the beauty of the stained-glass windows, we wandered out to walk across the
rail bridge to the other side of the Rhine.
Hohenzollern Bridge is covered in padlocks placed by couples to
represent their everlasting love. It also carries approximately 1200 trains per
day – definitely a tribute to German engineering. Once across Hohenzollernbrucke
we walked along the East bank of the river and then across on Deutzer Brucke, a
road bridge which leads back into the Old Town. A mere 10% of Old Town remained
after WWII and in fact only 20% of Cologne was still standing, so it is a city
with a mixed architectural style and nowhere near as much of the old as
Nuremburg. It makes you appreciate how fortunate Prague is to have retained so
many of its medieval buildings.
Back over the bridge, we visited the Heumarkt and watched the ice skaters
for a while before wandering on to Heinzels Wintermarchen where we were very
excited to try some nougat and find an actual coffee barista. So much coffee in
Germany is from a press button coffee machine – baristas are few and far
between - so we enjoyed this particular coffee very much. I haven’t purchased
from the Christmas Markets in Cologne, there are many lovely things, but I am
happy just to admire them as I wander through.
We rested in the room a while before meeting up with everyone in the
hotel bar. Here we shared stories of how we had spent our day and enjoyed dinner
and drinks together. The hotel restaurants were all booked out before we arrived,
but the bar serves meals from the kitchen which are very enjoyable. I can attest to the club sandwich being both
tasty and filling.
Back in our rooms it is time to pack our cases again and move on to the
next stage of our magical markets tour.
.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment