We arrived in Germany around 7:30am. I made my way to the train with Andreas and we selected the 8:30am train to Cologne. Once on board Andreas found a seat and I chose to stand near the door. After spending the last 8 hours on my backside I wanted to stand and stretch. The train had us in Cologne around 9:30 where I said goodbye to Andreas and walked the short distance to my hotel.
I was lucky as they had a room available shortly after I checked in despite their posted check-in time being 3pm. Upon getting to my room I dropped my stuff and fell into the bed. Apparently I was a little more tired than I expected. I woke around 1pm and unpacked my things. A colleague, Marco, had previously arranged to meet me at 1:30 to take a short walking tour of Cologne.
Marco texted at exactly 1:30 to ask if I was still up for the adventure. I told him absolutely and met him at the train station. We started by visiting the Dom, a huge cathedral that is the icon of Cologne. Marco purchased combo tickets that allowed us to climb to the top and visit the church treasury.
We spent some time wandering through the Christmas market looking at the stalls of goods and food. Marco shared that this was one of several Christmas markets in Germany and each has a different mug. We then made our way around the other side of the Dom and entered the church treasury.
The treasury holds a variety of precious artifacts. Many of which are hundreds of years old.
I was lucky as they had a room available shortly after I checked in despite their posted check-in time being 3pm. Upon getting to my room I dropped my stuff and fell into the bed. Apparently I was a little more tired than I expected. I woke around 1pm and unpacked my things. A colleague, Marco, had previously arranged to meet me at 1:30 to take a short walking tour of Cologne.
Marco texted at exactly 1:30 to ask if I was still up for the adventure. I told him absolutely and met him at the train station. We started by visiting the Dom, a huge cathedral that is the icon of Cologne. Marco purchased combo tickets that allowed us to climb to the top and visit the church treasury.
2/3(ish) to the top we stopped off to see the bells.
A bird's eye view of one of the many Christmas markets in Cologne.
A view out over part of Cologne from the top of the Dom
After climbing up and the back down the Dom we stopped by the Christmas market right next door. Marco indicated you can't walk around the market in the cold without some Glühwein (hot spiced wine).
We spent some time wandering through the Christmas market looking at the stalls of goods and food. Marco shared that this was one of several Christmas markets in Germany and each has a different mug. We then made our way around the other side of the Dom and entered the church treasury.
The treasury holds a variety of precious artifacts. Many of which are hundreds of years old.
Ornate staffs of bishops from the early 1800s.
This humble wooden box is said to contain the remains of the three wise men.
After the treasury tour we started walking through Cologne. We came across a few more Christmas markets and eventually stopped for dinner at a sports bar. Saturday night is one of the many nights in Germany where soccer games occur. There were a handful of games on the TVs around the restaurant and Marco explained the history at play for each match.
This Christmas market is setup in a square, like many of the others.
This Christmas market has a temporary ice skating rink in the middle!
Comments
Post a Comment