Cologne

 

It was Samuel Taylor Coleridge who said:

In Koln, a town of monks and bones, 

And pavement fang'd with murderous stones, 

And rags and hags, and hideous wenches, 

I counted two-and-seventy stenches, 

All well defined, and several stinks!

Well things seem to have changed for the positive since then as we had a stench free visit to this city by the Rhine.

But before we get into details of that city it is time to outline the route we took to get here.

Breakfast

I woke up at 4am, which was a relief as my early morning rising has always been a great help when blogging or editing photos – I can normally get two hours in before Drew wakes up, but in recent years I’ve been waking later – say 6am – and not had time to get so much done.

I was therefore able to complete Friday evenings blog post and get on with loading some of the photos from yesterday on to Flickr.

We had set our alarms for 5.30am, so we could fit breakfast in before the train. Ablutions and packing completed we were outside the breakfast room at 6.25am ready for them to open at 6.30am.

I mentioned yesterday how nice the breakfast is here at the Holiday Inn Express Brussels and I really enjoyed it again. This was my plate (well one of them!):

Locked in a box

We popped back up to the hotel room and left the hotel at 7:05am. The short walk to the tram station meant we were at the station by 7:08am.

To enter the station, you have to walk through a glass door and pay (using Google pay on our phones, the most efficient method in Brussels). This worked very easily for me and I exited from the other side – Drew had more of a challenge. He scanned his phone and nothing happened, he was locked in the box. He scanned his phone again and it said:  Already validated, but still did nothing. Drew pushed the nice large help button and a stream of fast French followed by fast Flemish emerged, none of which enable Drew to understand how to get out of the box!

A few minutes later and a third attempt allowed him to proceed, he had escaped his box. Thankfully only one charge was made against the credit card, even though with checking in and checking out there were five entries on the Google Pay app. 

Excitement over, we arrived at Bruxelles Midi at 7.18am for the 8:25am Trian – confirming our own like for nice early arrivals. We spotted a Starbucks right opposite the platform on which our train was to depart (platform 2) and sat down.  

I went into the Starbucks and the conversation went:

H – Un venti Americano un Venti Latte, S'il vous plaît

Starbucks Employee - Café Noir du Café au lait.

H – Si, Por Favor!!

Apart from him giving me a funny look my reversion to Spanish when in doubt didn’t cause any particular problem.

We drank our coffees sitting outside in the Starbucks area with people walking back and for along the concourse.

I had a sense of deja vue from a famous occasion when someone who had challenging mental health issues picked up a Venti Americano at the Starbucks in Leeds Station, after a very successful HEA event, and poured it over me. Sherianne, who has commented on Facebook in response to earlier blog posts this week, was with me on the occasion. I can laugh at it now, but still kept a firm hand on the coffee receptacle, so as not to have a repeat in Brussels!

Brussels to Cologne – Bruxelles du Koln

The train pulled into the station on time and I got settled into my seat. With great wifi, it meant I could catch up with a blog post from earlier in the trip and this worked well.

We departed on time and made use of the in-seat check-in facility which Deutsche Bahn have. This means you are left alone when the conductor comes through the carriage checking tickets. 

We passed through Brussels Nord and Liege station

Then went on towards the border to Germany and the town of Aachen. For some reason the train was delayed leaving Aachen (technical problems with the train was what I could understand of the tri-lingual (French, Flemish and German) messages. The problems persisted as the train was then re-routed through Rheydt station which is in Mönchengladbach, a name I think I remember from my Dad’s love of soccer! The repairs complete in Rheydt we left the station.

At this point I thought I heard them saying we would arrive in Cologne in 10 minutes – it turns out they said 1 hour and 10 minutes, so after getting up and standing near the door for 30 minutes, I realised (Drew told me) [Co-pilot's note: I told him, dear readers, many, many times. After 43 minutes realisation some how crept in while we were still going at 132 kph!!!] my mistake and returned to our seats [Co-pilot's note: Where we, dear readers, sat for another 23 minutes!!! How we chortled - NOT!]. We arrived in Koln at 11.20am.

Koln

IHG, which are our main hotel choice this holiday, didn’t have a hotel in central Cologne, so I’d locked at the map, seen where the station and cathedral were and picked one that looked reasonable. It was a Tryp hotel by Wyndham. It was only one block from the station to the hotel, which was great as it had started to rain quite heavily. 

We went to the hotel and asked them to store our luggage – we had to complete check in details (a form to complete as this booking was via Booking.Com not direct with the hotel, so they needed a little more information) and bags stored we head back across the station concourse and into the town centre where the Dom (Cathedral) is straight ahead.

Mass is at the Cathedral at midday I arrive at 11.40 and Drew heads off for a stroll. This is a huge church, but once you say you are coming for Mass you are ushered in to the front, I was in the fourth row back.

The congregation was eclectic, around me there were Polish people, Germans, Irish, an English couple and some Hispanics (possibly Brazilian, but I was to polite to ask). 

Mass was delightful as it is the Feast of the Transfiguration, when Jesus’ clothes become dazzlingly white (a gospel I used to hate reading out loud as I couldn’t ever find the end of the word – dazzlingly, dazzalingly, dazzallingaly!! The same problem didn’t seem to happen in German – I sang the hymns and noticed that the sung parts of the Mass in German were to ancient hymn tunes and written in the 16th or 17th century. A reminder that German Catholicism retained their choral singing tradition in their own language alongside the Latin Polyphony and Gregorian chant throughout the Middle Ages and beyond. Something lost in UK Catholicism, and more evident in some traditional Anglican forms of worship.

Lunch

Mass finished at 1pm and I met Drew outside the Cathedral as planned. It was still tipping down with rain, but we walked for a little while until Drew was attracted by the ice creams in a Gelato shop called Gelato 4D. We stopped for a coffee 

and a huge ‘After-Eight’ Ice Cream for Drew 

and a Flammktuchen Elsässer (that is from Alsace) with bacon and onion for me. This was crisp bread cooked to perfection and lightly covered with the bacon and onion - as Drew said, like a pizza without the tomato.

We had read that Cologne was famous for its fountains and next-door to the Gelato shop was one of the most famous – Called the Elves of Cologne (Die Heinzelmännchen von Köln). Though, they resemble British dwarfs more than the image of an elf in my mind.

We walked back towards the Cathedral (Dom) and went in for photos. Threse are a must see on Flickr – so please go there they start here and go on for some time!! 

The highlights are the detailed stained glass

The amazing reliquary of the bones of the Three Kings (note, the bible doesn’t mention the number of kings only the number of gifts, nor does it suggest they are kings, but medieval tradition can be a powerful thing.)

Drew had to do contortions to get the best photos, but he is always willing to sacrifice himself to his art, when encouraged (he might say nagged) by me. [Co-pilot's note: Might, dear readers, AND DO!!!]

St. Andrew’s Dominican Church

Leaving the Dom and the rain eased for a while when we were taking photos of some of the Roman city that was on this site – so much history to explore. 

The rain came down heavily again and we spotted another Church and thought we would have a look there. This was the Dominican church of St. Andrew, as well represented by a number of statues of St. Andrew around the church. The church was founded in the 12th century, through parts of it are much more modern, reflecting one assumes the impact of British bombers on this city.

Again Flickr is the best place to get all the amazing colours of this place, but the highlights include modern stained glass in a style I’d never seen before:

and the crypt with the tomb of St. Albert the Great.

Back to the Hotel

With two churches taken and the rain persisting we decided to walk the short distance back to our hotel, so we could be allocated our room (202) and unpack. The room was clean, but somewhat dated in style. Drew said it put him in mind of Richard Widmark. It is the cheapest room we are staying in this holiday and it has a full size bath!

Dinner

While we don’t always subscribe to the idea of eating local, as this was our first day in Germany (of this trip for me, ever for Drew) we looked for somewhere serving German food and found it in a lovely place called Brauhaus Em Kölsche Boor with a bierkeller kind of feel to it.

WARNING FOR VEGTARIAN-VEGAN FRIENDS - A LOT OF MEAT IS ABOUT TO APPEAR - AVERT YOUR EYES NOW IF IT OFFENDS YOU.

Drew was told, firmly, that the Cola he wanted wasn't a US brand but Afri Cola, Drew didn't complain it was about four times sweeter than UK cola, so he was very, very pleased.

I had a local sparkling water and it was crisp and tasty too

For starters Drew picked something that might have been my choice, if I hadn't planned to have pig for mains. This was called Blutwurst mit Senf, Röggelchen und Butter - Black pudding with mustard, rye bread roll and butter. It has a sweetness to it unlike UK Black Pudding and was also served chilled, which is very different from our way at home, but it was spicy and a tasty event.

I opted for Adappelsrupp Kartoffelsuppe mit Croutons, that is Pototo soup with croutons - a light soup with garlicy crunchy croutons. It was less than I'd normally have for a starter, but I knew what was to come!

Drew felt obliged to choose the Mühlenbratwurst mit hauseigener Sauce vom Koch'schen Malzbier, Rotkohl und Bratkartoffeln as his main, as the Englihs translation on the menu called it: "Big fried sausage with homemade malt beer sauce, red cabbage and fried potatoes" and a Big Sausage appealed to his sense of humour. It quickly became clear it appealed to his sense of taste too - as he really enjoyed it.

I had chosen a delicacy I've not had for some time. In German: Schinkenhämmchen mit Sauerkraut und Kartoffelpüree; in English: Boiled pork knuckle with "Sauerkraut" and mashed potatoes or in the patois of my home region of South Wales - influenced by its large Irish community - Fatty Ham - The character Idris from the Welsh television series Satellite City loved his Fatty Ham. Indeed, Ham and Cabbage, which is after all what Sauerkraut is, is quientesentilly an Irish and South Wallien dish, though the German waiter wasn't quite sure and wanted to check I knew I was getting boiled him, not grilled ham (gammon steak). I was sure and I was very happy.

Just like Idris' on the programme, this fatty ham really jiggled (thanks for the spelling, Janet!)

You can see below, that none of it survived, bar the bones - food heaven in some of the most simple tastes.

An espresso each and it was time to return to the hotel for the night.

We got back at 9pm and went to bed by 10pm. A full, but enjoyable day