Cologne, Germany - Day 50- 51

Koln Dom
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Cologne wasn’t part of my initial itinerary but I had to catch a flight in Dusseldorf later on so I thought this would be a good place to stop for 2 days. I was feeling tired of staying at hostels so I found this interesting hotel in magazine back in Berlin and decided to book a room there. Chelsea Hotel is in the Belgium Quarters near Rudolfplatz. The area is filled with restaurants from high end to not to high end and the area has a lot of characteristics. I especially love the retro looking cafes along the main street. The hotel itself was nice, they renovated all the bigger suites and the penthouse. So the new roof is very Frank Gehry-like – all angular and twisted and things seem like they’re falling off. But my room was ordinary…I guess a single room is their last priority on the renovation list.

one of many romanques churches
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My rail pass was for Germany, Denmark and the Benelux countries (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg) but I found out the most expensive journeys are in German so I used up all 5 of my journeys within the country. This was my last journey using my rail pass…goodbye comfy leather 1^st class seats! Btw, I learned this info while in Berlin…that u can buy a rail pass while in Germany. Its actually cheaper buying it there than back home. I think the dude told me that he bought a 7 day pass or 10 day pass for really cheap. And it includes trips to Basel, Switzerland and Salzburg, Austria. Of course it’s a better deal if u’r under 26. And even better if u travel in a group of 2 or more.

Lindt!
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I was counting the days til I get to see Turkey…yeh!! And also I knew at this point of my trip I was heading to Shanghai for 8 weeks. So I spent some time in the city shopping for clothes and shoes for work. I’m not much of a shopping person so I didn’t really find anything I want. I was so busy running around looking for clothes and shoes I missed a lot of sites. The Koln Dom is next to the train station and I went back to the Dom after dropping off my stuff at the hotel. I took a ton of pictures of the Dom but totally forgot to go inside haha! I read that u can climb the 400+ steps to the top in 15 minutes…ya I don’t think so! The Dom itself is really amazing…it’s the biggest in North Rhine-Westphalia.

potato pancake with applesauce
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I’ve been to many art museums and galleries but I have never been to a chocolate museum! The Schokoladenmuseum is near the harbour and it showcases information about how chocolate bean is harvesting and the process of making it from the bean to the actual chocolate. Also they had a factory-like setting that the Lindt people show the museum goers of how they make regular chocolate bars, and truffles. At the end of the museum is a big shop with what else? Chocolate!!! But I didn’t buy any haha! Also, I saw House #4711 which is the origin of eau de cologne. The house is now a boutique that sells perfume.

I went to a traditional beer hall and tried Cologne’s famous Rievekoochen, which is fried potato dunked in applesauce, and their beer, Kolsch beer. The potato pancake was fried and was served with heaps of apple sauce. The beer was really good but rather small…but they serve the beer in traditional small glasses which I’m sure I could’ve finished it in 5 gulps.

Cologne isn’t a big city but worthy of going. Now that I think about it, I missed a lot of sites!! I found a Taschen (book publisher and mostly design books) book store and forgot to go back!! The store was a little corner store with racks and racks of books. Aww…I want to go back!