Eau de Cologne

Then, after an exhausting week of doing absolutely nothing at work and saying goodbye to fellow intern friends as they fled the country, all while trying to put off moving out of my apartment into my newer (and smaller) one, I jetted off to Germany for the weekend. We spent two days in North Rhine-Westphalia state along the Rhine River and it was quite enjoyable.

The first stop was Cologne (or Köln in German). Three hours from Brussels, Cologne is known for its Gothic Dom (Cathedral), which is the largest in Germany and somehow escaped being blown to smithereens during World War II.

And it’s pretty big; 509 steps from the bottom to the top. And I climbed them all. They tell you it takes about an hour to climb to the top, but yours truly did it in half that. This despite the foul smelling and vertigo-inducing spiral staircase—imagine what a hundred years of people climbing up 509 stairs and sweating in a very confined space with minimal oxygen smells like. In any case, it wasn’t bad. After a certain point we got to the bell tower and there was a gorgeous breeze to cool us off. And had I paid €1, I could have rung the bells Quasimodo-style. But I didn't. But the view itself was worth it. That and the bragging rights. Here are some pictures from the top.

(Me pulling a King Arthur and trying to pull a "sword" out of "rock")

What was also astonishing was the amount of graffiti on the way up. Now I understand that climbing 509 steps is a feat. I did it, I get it. But there’s no reason to deface a two hundred year old Cathedral. And not just any old Cathedral either. The church also houses the Shrine of the Magi which allegedly holds the remains of the Three Kings. So it was especially tragic to see “Sally was here ‘99” in White Out on the top.

The rest of the church is stunning. So gorgeous that someone was actually getting married as we toured it. I can imagine why they would want to get married there. It has absolutely massive stain class windows which I couldn’t resist.

After the church we walked around for a bit. We check out 4711, a store that sells Eau de Cologne, a perfume that two hundred years ago, was believed to be a healing elixir, so people used to drink it. Now they spritz it on them to smell nice. The name, 4711, dates back to Napoleonic times when they used to name streets using numbers.


Then we took a walk along the Rhine River. We walked through an impromptu battle of the brass bands that was happening in front of us and intercepted a German-style Run for the Cure marathon. Never a dull moment in Cologne. We also tried to jump on a Rhine boat tour but they were too expensive.


So after a hunt for a restaurant that didn’t exist, we strolled through the old city until dinner. We had a lovely dinner along the river—which included a class of Kölsch, the local brew—and then waited until the sun set so we could walk across the river and see the Dom at night.


These pictures were the best out of 28 attempts. Anyway, once I was satisfied with the shot, we went back to our hostel for the night.