A night in Cologne



narrow dark solitary cell

Thursday morning I left Hauke's place in Mainz and headed of to Cologne. I really wanted to visit this city even though I didn't have friends to catch up with there, so I stayed in a hostel - my first visit to somewhere all by myself! Remembering this was my last day in Germany, I had currywurst for lunch one last time, I don't know if I mentioned it before, chopped sausage with curry sauce and fries, an awesome combination, and then checked out El De Haus, a prison used by the Gestapo to interrogate and torture people before releasing them, sending them to a concentration camp, or less likely, releasing them. The cells are really well preserved, they are tiny and its mindblowing to imagine 30 people all crowded into one, some only 15 years old. A lot of their writing on the walls is still there and talks about the conditions and torture that they indured. I am getting quite tired of visiting museums, but this one of the best so far.



 

Cathedral

I am also getting a bit over visiting churches, but the Cologne Cathedral really is in a league of its own. Begun in 1248 and finished in 1880 for awhile it was the tallest building in the world, and it still is the biggest Gothic style church. Its size is phenominal, and the gothic style and dark colour make it really quite creepy from the outside. I climbed all 509 steps to the viewing platform 98 metres up, the view of Cologne was pretty cool despite the grey sky and winter pollution. To put it in perspective, the stairs up the Christchurch Cathedral go up 30 metres. Those windy staircase with tiny steps are definitely not designed for people whose feet are as big as mine, coming down was trickier than getting up!

view over Cologne

After all of the climbing, I took the rest of the afternoon off to sleep and eat vegemite on toast for dinner. The hostel was pretty cool, better than the one in Berlin as it was right next to the train station, had heaps of free stuff like coffee and internet, and I had the whole dorm room to myself. I met three guys there, an American guy who was possibly the dumbest person I ever met (apparently Aborigines are all so unhappy with their situation they've made a universal pact to stop reproducing...), dumb as in highly unintelligent, not dumb as in annoying, an economics student who called himself Russian despite having lived in Germany since he was seven, and a German who worked in a nuclear power plant "like Homer Simpson" and spoke very little english but didn't mind me laughing at his frequent attempts to tell me things. They are all based in Cologne but drink in the hostel bar to meet foreigners (sound familar Wellingtonians??) so I headed out with them and we had a pretty quiet night out at a Russian pub.

Friday morning I headed out with my ridiculous tourist map in hand ready to see all of the sights, however that thing was so useless that even with my good sense of direction I seemed to spend a lot of time walking around in circles!

The museum of Cologne

I saw some old towers and wall from the period where the Romans ruled there, in the early centries of AD, a couple more churches (if you're into church architecture then Cologne is the place to visit!), a museum of Cologne's history, and the 4711 house. The story isn't as simple as 'Eau De Cologne' was invented there, it was actually invented somewhere else under a different brand name, but when the decendant had to change the brand name later on he changed it to 4711, his house number (when the French invaded they gave everyhouse its own number rather than doing it by street). Some fun facts; in Finland 4711 is the number of the poisons information hotline, and in WWII the Germany navymen were given eau de cologne to use as they couldn't bathe very frequently.

  

Altstadt

  I headed into the altstadt, or old town, in the middle of Cologne in hunt of a kebab, for years Ive been told that the kebabs you get in NZ are nothing compared to those in Germany, and honestly the kebab I ordered in my limited German (ie I point to the menu board and then nod everytime he asks a question) was amazing. I dont think I can eat NZ kebabs again! I have to say, the altstadt here was quite disappointing compared to others Ive visited, probably because Cologne was so heavily bombed in the war. I think the smaller towns in Germany are a lot prettier than the main tourist attractions, Hann. Münden being the prettiest I think I visited, and definitely the tiny villages are amazing. I walked over the bridge to the Deutz, the 'wrong' side of the Rhine, but it was on the verge of rain so I headed back across another bridge straight away.

locks on the bridge

This one has padlocks all along it, left by couples to signify their love, its quite a pretty sight with all of their different colours. Finally in the late afternoon I jumped onto a train into Belgium, to visit Lena in Liege. I really did love Germany, despite not having had too much interest in this country before and being quite skeptical about the language and people. I found picking up German easier than I expected, and the people were all very friendly and helpful, and the place just so beautiful and amazing, I've fallen in love with this country in a way that I really didn't with Madrid, and I really hope I can work things out so that I am back here later on with a working visa.

climbing up the cathedral

Final note, I said that I recieved no reply from the NZ Embassy in Spain when I forwarded them the useless email the Spanish Embassy in NZ sent me, but Ive since had a phone call and email from them to say they've been in contact with the Embassy themselves who are very apologetic and will now asist individuals who encounter any difficulties with their visa. We shall see what happens on my next trip to the foreign office...