Turned out to be a pretty nice night for sleep. It was so cool. There was no AC, but the night was cool with the windows open.
We got up and found a lovely coffee shop/bakery right outside. Fueled up with pastries and coffee, we headed to the Cathedral. We looked around the outside of the Cathedral for a while. A fine example of a Gothic cathedral with lots of flying buttresses and and elaborate sculptures and fun gargoyles. Before we went into the Cathedral, we went out onto the Hohenzollern Bridge, Hohenzollernbrücke. It is absolutely covered in locks of love. It’s a cool bridge too.
Then it was into the Cathedral. It was absolutely incredible. Free to enter, massive, gothic, interesting. We heard the pipe organ and listened to prayers. Colin loves the pipe organs.
Graeme, the boys and I decided to pay to head up into the tower. 533 steps up! It was hot, hard work, but we made it and it was totally worth it. Great views, close ups of the Cathedral, we got to go to the bell room and hear one of the bells ring. We came back down and met up with Colin and Becky. Colin’s cold was getting better, but he still felt rough.
As well as the Cathedral, there are 12 medieval churches in Cologne. We had a policy on this trip, if we passed a church and the door was open, we went in! We didn’t get to all of the churches in Cologne, but we saw a few.
We headed off to the original Eau de Cologne store to have a smell and ended up buying some – it’s lovely. Then we wandered through Old Town and found a great German Beer House to have lunch – Peters Brauhaus. We had sausage, escalope, goulash, and ragout – all very tasty. The waiter/owner brought beers for everyone at the table, including Jude, except Zane. Zane had a Sprite. Drinking or buying beer and wine is legal at age 16. Turns out the beer was cheaper than the soda.
We continued to wander thru Old Town, along the river. We found a supermarket to get some water and orange juice for Colin. We sat “by the river”, and talked about what was next. We were trying to decide what to do next, but we were all a bit knackered, so we headed back to the hotel for a rest. We had about an hour and a half to just chill. It was refreshing.
Feeling more energetic, we crossed the River on the Hohenzollern Bridge and got some lovely views of Cologne. We passed a Ukraine protest on another bridge, Deutzer Brücke. We got some beers and waffles and ice cream and sat by the river for a couple of hours. Just chatting. We also decided we better look into getting tickets for the Eiffel Tower and just managed to get some before they sold out. The evening was cool as we sat and talked. Dreaming about another trip together. Maybe Ireland, Scotland and Wales, or maybe Scandinavia. We also talked about Canada, but the distances make it difficult.
We thought we would have an early night, and joked about going clubbing, but the joke was on us. There were rowdy people outside our windows and it wasn’t as cool as the night before. Took a while to get to sleep.
Lamppostings 