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 

Eating with the Premonstratensians

Saturday Evening saw us eating at a restaurant named after a beer, named after a Brewery, founded by the Premonstratensians who are more commonly known as the Norbertines or in England as the White Canons (to distinguish them from the Black Friers (Dominicans) and Grey Friers (Franciscans). The monk above is holding a sign saying: "Abbey Beer on draught". The brewing industry in Belgium and in lots of other parts of Northern Europe owes its roots to the monasteries of various traditions. At a time when the fermented beer was more healthy to drink than was water, monastry made sure thier monks and dependants had sufficient. The Grimbergen beer was first made in 1150.

Back from the stroll

Before getting into the details of the meal, a little about the rest of the afternoon.

We got back to the hotel at 5pm as mentioned in my last post. After such a long walk it was time to let our legs have a little rest, so I used the time to start to edit the photos - as there are so many of them. Drew had a little shut-eye in the chair and I booked a table for dinner tonight - we had left it until now, as we weren't sure how the plan of the day would go. With the way it went we decided to book somewhere near.

On the way to dinner

While I would normally head straight to dinner, we'd been asked on Flickr if the door of Église Saint Jean Baptiste au Béguinage, at the end of the street the hotel is on, was steel or painted wood. 

We are able to confirm it is steel and has a very thick metal lock in it, which a close up of this picture reveals.

Dinner at the Grimbergen Cafe

As I mentioned above, we had chosen to eat at the Grimbergen cafe. It is 230 feet (70 Meters) from the hotel, so very convenient given that the rain which began earlier had got worse this evening.

The monastic theme of the cafe didn't just extend to its beers or the sign outside, but also to images inside. Drew was particularly taken with this one, which looked as if the monk was going to bash me over the head with a candle!!

We ordered and the waiter brought bread to start us off

Drew opted for Croquettes au fromage, these croquettes were more like chessy fish cakes than the Spanish style of croquette with which Drew is familiar - i.e. is an addict for. He thought these ones were a whole lot chesser than the ones in Spain when it isn't always obvious if they are ham croquettes or cheese croquettes. 

I was really attracted by the sound of Scampis diaboliques, this isn't (as a friend who knows better) suggested: Diabolical Scampi 😂 (you know who you are!!) But Devilled Prawns, that is plumb, juicy king prawns cooked in a rich tomato, chilli and herb sauce, it had chives sprikled over the top and was, as a Barry friend of mine used to say - Lush!  

The monks clearly didn't have a monopoly in this cafe, as Drew had spotted a nun too. He took this photo between the two courses, just to give the impression of the place.

Drew's main had been simple to choose, the only thing that was in English only on the menu! Fish and Chips, and while this was clearly Belgian Fish and frites rather than a chip shop style chip, the fish goujons were lightly battered and filled with white fish, but they came very close to the kind of fish you get in a Youngs or Birds Eye packet.

I'd chosen this restaurant, in addition to its convenience, as I'd planned to have Mussels tonight and had noted when looking at places on holiday that this was a place that did them with a Provencal sauce, rather than the more common mariner, cream or garlic versions, Provencal sauce is a tomato based sauce with garlic, onion and herbs - normally basil, oregano and rosemary, but sometimes thyme too. It was a good call as the delicious mussels were enhanced by those flavours I love so much.

What I'd not noticed when Drew and Bobby were eating their mussels last night is how many were in a pot - I think twenty mussels at a time had been my previous maximum - tonight there were at least 50, but they were so juicy and plumb, that it would have been a shame to leave any. So, I didn't. The broth with all the lovely flavours of Provance was perfect - as a soup it could have been a hearty meal on its own - with the mussels it was very generous. 

Before embarking on this trip I had read that the Brussels mode of eating mussels was with your hands.

some connoisseurs will tell you the way to eat your mussels is by sucking out the flesh from the first pair of shells, then using those shells as tongs to pick out the flesh from the other. Mussels in Brussels

I decided I would opt for this approach, which turned out to work much more easily than I had expected. 

We finished our delicious meal with an espresso each

We got back to the hotel at 9pm and were ready for bed, before our journey to Cologne tomorrow - more about that in my next post.

Brussels: Not a sprout in sight

Haydn in the Grand Place (Grote Markt)

We had only got as far as the Grand Place (Grote Markt) when Drew exclaimed: 

I've seen loads of chocolate, Praline and Waffle shops, but not a single sprout!

he wasn't wrong. Brussels sprouts are, like the other brassicas, native of the Mediterranean, but it seems they first appeared in northern Europe during the 5th century [Co-pilot's notes : He is, dear reader, full of interesting facts like this!!]. For many years in the 13th century, they were cultivated near this city which is how they got their English name, their French name - Choux de Bruxelles - has the same root, though in Flemish and German they don't have a local connection; Spruitjes in Flemish and Dutch and Rosenkohl in German. More details of the sights of Brussels (without sprouts) are to follow, but for now on with the description of the day.

Early Morning

Our early morning wasn't as early as we normally are. I didn't wake until 6am (OK that would be my more usual 5am if I was still on UK time) but it seemed late. I got up, made cups of coffee for us both, with the kettle in the room and some instant sachets - the taste wasn't as bad as some instants. 

I used the time to blog about Friday and then got showered, shaved, brushed my teeth and did other ablutions (regular readers will know that I don't describe this daily, but simply say - did our ablutions. But in the spirit of brassicas, I wanted to mention the shower this morning as I was amused to see that the shampoo in the hotel was Purple Kale, something I love eating, but not something I necessarily want to smell like! The body gel was parsley - so I was having a very vegetable morning, while also singing the Parsley the Lion song from the cartoon from my childhood called 'The Herbs'. 

Breakfast

Meat and Cheese

Bread, pastries and eggs

The breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express is free as part of the booking (a cynic might say you pay for it in the room cost - those marketers, who can trust them!). We went down at 8am and enjoyed the hospitality. I went for meat, cheese, salad and some lovely seedy bread rolls. 

Drew had a similar breakfast to me and then moved on to his sweet treats, breakfast dessert as you might say.

We went back to the room and sorted ourselves out prior to our departure at 9am.

Morning in Brussels

The Brussels Stock Market with beach volleyball in front!

I had no expectation about my visit to Brussels - I'd visited three times while delivering an MBA programme from the Open University to the IBM middle managers who would fly in for the weekend from throughout Europe to the IBM training facility on the edge of the city. Most times all I saw of Brussels was the trip from the airport to the training facility. I have a vague memory of the Grand Place and eating Frites on one of the trips when my flight back to Cardiff was the following morning, not the same day. (I saw more of Milan where I delivered to another group of their managers; as Italians have a very civilised way of having to leave the training for an espresso twice or three times a day).

In the end there was so much to see and do that having left the hotel at 9am it was 5pm when we returned. An eight-hour sightseeing day. Our route looked like this:

and Google tells me that was 9.5 miles or 23,000 steps. Though there was so much to see it didn't feel that long or that tiring.

We walked along the route from the hotel to the Grand Plas, here we saw an urban garden (see above) set up as a kids play area for the summer and a number of beach volleyball courts, where the sand had been brought in in front of the Stock Market and the Theatre Royal - august buildings of what in the UK would would call the Victorian style (also see above).

I think if you want a real feel for this exploration it would be worth linking to my Flickr page, as the story works best as a picture blog than in words, for example we have 35 photos of the Grand Place - if you start here and have the 'date taken' view on (I upload them in reverse order as that's how the software works, so the 'Date Uploaded' view can be confusing) you should be able to follow along.

We spent some time in the Church of St. Nicholas, one of the oldest in the City, though the modern facade belays the 10th century origin of this site. St. Nicholas, more famous under his Dutch name Santa Claus (Sinterklaas), is the patron saint of children and this church houses a year round nativity. The statues in the nativity are unusual - There is a tight rope-walker and a couple eating frites, which I don't remember in the biblical versions of the story!

From St. Nicholas', we walked the short distance to the Grand Plas, as mentioned in Drew's quote above, the main shops are for Chocolate, Praline and Waffles all of which are seen as central to the life of the city.

There is even a chocolate museum, but we resisted the temptation to enter.

Waffles, often topped with lots of cream and less fruit, seem to be everywhere here. One shop combines the waffle with images associated with the Manneken Pis.

Taking of the said Manneken, this is perhaps the busiest place in the city, we manage to get a shot of the statue, but were also interested in the range of people who queue up to get one.

From the Mannakin we walk up a road called Rue du Chêne and pass the Le Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles, so I am reminded of my friend Antonia Collins who worked for many years to enhance learning and teaching at the Welsh Conservatoire, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama  and died this year, she was a regular contributor to these holiday blogs for many years. 

We next came to an area which Drew said he thought should have lots of students and hostels, certainly it was less prosperous than the city centre. However, going a little of track proved to have dividends as the walk brought us to the old medieval city wall and Anneessens Tower

Beyond the walls are an ancient church, originally Benedictine, called Notre Dame de la Chapelle, originally built in 1210, it has been renovated and restored at various periods since then. 

The church is a huge well used space and has some amazing stained-glass, life-size statues and evidence of medevial wall paintings now visible again after years when they had been whitewashed. I'm particularly interested in these as a neighbour of mine works in restoring such paintwork and spent many years doing so at the Church of St. Teilo at St. Fagans National Museum of History. 

More photos of this church can be seen on the flickr page starting here. 

Taking a break

Our next stop after Notre Dame de la Chapelle was an area called Sablon, this is the heart of the historic Upper Town where the government of the Southern Netherlands and subsequently Belgium, took place. 

Sablon has a street market and another large church, plus by this time we are ready for a break from our walk and the chance to buy a coffee. We stopped in a cafe called Café du Sablon. Here I try my best French and we manage to have a black coffee and latte without resorting to any English. 

We sat outside the café and enjoy the people passing by, though the reminder that our drinks are ready still scared Drew even though he knew it was coming!  

The next excitement were the loos, which were well signposted from the cafe side but involved a very steep and seemingly unlikely set of stairs

If you look carefully you can see someone has scrawled wc at the bottom of the stairs - so we may not have been the first to have found it surprising. Even more surprise was to occur below as there was a lobby with sinks and urinals before you get to the male and female stalls. This has the effect of me peeing in an urinal with a women behind me washing her hands - a first for me!

Afternoon in Brussels

As we sat enjoying our coffee we noticed that next to the cafe was a park the Square du Petit Sablon, this park includes a flower garden, but more strikingly a lot of statues including a fountain at the centrepiece representing the Counts of Egmont and Hornes who were beheaded for resisting Spanish rule.

There are also ten large statues representing the famous  humanists of the 16th century 

and a further 48 representing the various guilds which influenced Brussels at that time.

As we were taking the statues it began to rain for the first time this holiday and we were grateful for our Macs in Sacs which we bought this time last year when at a National Park centre in Dartmoor and have remembered to bring with us this holiday. 

We crossed the road into the Church of Our Lady of Sablon, Notre-Dame du Sablon, which like the other churches we saw today was very blessed with stained glass, statues and relics of saints. An amazing place out of the rain and full of light and colour and some huge windows.

The legend of the Church is that a young girl from Antwerp had a vision that the Virgin Mary asked her to take her image to Brussels. The girl took a boat to the capital and handed a statue of the Virgin to the archer’s guild where a church was established on this site. The story is well depicted in the large statue of a boat and girl and statue at the front of the church. 

The walk continued as we headed via the Library of Brussels

to the Mont De Arts with its gardens, statues and fine buildings, including the other side of the Library. The gardens really are a treat:

Moving up the Mont des Arts we come across an oldy worldy Department Store that immediately brings to my mind Terry Pratchett's Arnold Bros store. This one looks of the same vintage and is called Old England

 it is now a music shop and probably doesn't have any nomes.

Our afternoon continued with a visit to the Parc de Bruxelles, this large park directly in front, over a main road, of the Royal Palace is picturesque in its own right.

But was even more fun today as there is currently a display by Philippe Geluck of his fun character Le Chat. Poor Drew had to run back and for across the path to get his [Co-Pilot's Note: ?, Dear Readers?] photos - perhaps this is why his step count is a lot higher than my, already high, one today.

Le Chat led us to the Federal Parliament Building of Brussels

and down the hill we came to Brussels Cathedral or to give it its more formal title, the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula 

what fun, more photos of stained glass!! My friend Robin Croft, who takes some wonderful photos of his own - see here - is great at naming saints in statues and stained glass, lucky as on this holiday I've only got time to edit and upload the photos, not to name them too - thanks Robin. My photos from the Cathedral can be found here. Do have a look they are spectacular, both the paintings and Drew's capture of them in the photos.

EU here we come - Please!

On coming out of the Cathedral I gave Drew two options for the rest of the day - visit the Atomium, a Brussels icon a few miles out of the City, or visit the former seat of our international Government - the EU buildings. Drew, who like me hopes that we will live long enough so that we can return to international mainstream and not our current pariah status, choose the EU. 

This proved a reminder of why I like plans - if we had chosen to build this into the original plan of the day, we would have gone from Parc Bruxelles to the EU parliament and then on to Le Berlaymont, the Government building. Now we had to retrack our steps, you can see the cross-over in the map above. Still it was worth it to celebrate the nature of this unbelievable organisation which has done so well for people across Europe since 1952, when it was the European Coal and Steel Community. 

We made it to the Parliament first

EU Parliament

EU Parliament

As Drew noted there is one less flag than there should be!

Le Berlaymont

And the same again here.

Our veneration done we walked back past the Lake in Marie-Louise Square with its ducks.

and got back to the hotel just before 5pm.

Things I've forgotten

This is the longest blog post I've ever posted, but it was such an amazing day I wanted to share as much as I can of a day which has already made the decision to travel in Europe on holiday so, so worthwhile. I didn't expect to have almost 500 more photos at the end of the day than at the beginning, but I will come back to look at them for a long time. There will be things I've missed and as I finish this post I know one big one - the street art in Brussels - this includes evidence of Herge - with Tintin, Captain Haddock and Snowy, it also shows the Smurfs another creation of this town. Then you have the surreal photos of Rene Magritte which have popped up in town. I've included some in this animation - not all by any means, by now you know where to go and find the rest - yep, Flickr!

Thank you for taking the time to read this - I'm sorry it is so long, but I know I for one will be back here reading it a year hence and some more. I know because I so often check back on my previous year's blogs to jog my memory and be happy knowing all that we have done.