Christmas market tour - Cologne at last

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Cologne was the original (and main) destination of this trip, the reason we went on it in the first place - even if, with all the intermediate stops and side trips, we ended up spending less time in Cologne itself than we would have liked.

On this third day of our mini Christmas market tour, we (very grudgingly) departed Amsterdam around 1:00 PM and arrived in Cologne almost 7 hours later, with a 2-hour stopover in Brussels, which we took advantage of to finally visit the Marché de Noël. The plan was that we'd leave our bags in the left luggage lockers at Brussels Midi, then we'd take the tram to Place Sainte Catherine, where the market took place. Brussels being as compact as it is, we figured we had enough time to travel there and back and experience a bit of Christmas cheer in the middle.

This time we found the tram stop relatively easily, but managed to board the wrong tram and ended up in Porte d'Anderlecht (i.e. nowhere near the Christmas market). Oh well. Travelling is supposed to be an adventure, and we consoled ourselves with the thought that we got to see a part of the city (well, just the part near the tram stop, but still...) that we wouldn't normally visit. The only problem was that by the time we found our way to the Place Sainte Catherine, we had only half an hour to spend at the market, so it was all a bit of a rush, but it seemed a shame to miss out on a Christmas market when this was a Christmas market tour.

In all honesty, the Brussels market wasn't particularly exciting; it was more of a Christmas fair with a ferris wheel, ice skating ring and merry-go-rounds, rather than a classic Christmas market with lots of stalls selling Christmas ornaments. It was certainly an improvement on Amsterdam though, and you could get freshly made waffles and my favourite croustillons so I'm not complaining. Croustillons are deep fried dough balls served hot and liberally sprinkled with icing sugar. They put them in a paper cone and give you a little plastic fork to eat them with. They’re tricky to eat if you’re a messy eater like me (the sugar invariably ends up all over my clothes), but they’re delish!

And that, my friends, is how we ended up, waffle (Jasmin) and croustillons (me) in hand, rushing to catch the tram back to Brussels Midi. We got so carried away with the sounds and lights at the fair, we almost missed our connection to Cologne - "almost" being the operative word, because we made it to our train just fine I thought (we had at least 3 minutes to spare), although it has to be said that Jasmin looked a tiny bit frazzled.

The train ride to Cologne was smooth and uneventful. There wasn't any scenery to admire as it was already dark by the time we departed Brussels, so we spent our time reading about Germany and practising German phrases from our phrasebook: wo wohnen Sie? ich wohne in London etc. although really we should have been practising useful phrases, such as "I'd like a latte with lots of milk" (see next journal on Aachen). Still, our neighbours seemed to enjoy listening to our efforts - the guy sitting across the corridor from us was practically in stitches.

Germany presented a bit of a linguistic challenge for us. The Netherlands and Belgium were no problem, as we're both fluent in English and French, and everyone is Amsterdam seemed to be able to speak English. German, however, is a different matter altogether - between us, Jasmin and I have a vocabulary of maybe 20 words (on a good day). I had the advantage here, as not only had I attended a two-hour "Get by in German" class at college (but I never got to do the whole 6-week course as it was cancelled due to low numbers and never run again) but also I'd picked up some bits and pieces from visiting Alix (my friend who used to live in Cologne) over the years. Jasmin, on the other hand, had only ever been to Germany on fleeting business visits, the type where the only thing you see is the inside of your hotel room, the inside of the office where your meeting takes place, the inside of the car that takes you between the two, and the local airport. Although if I'm honest, what I had perfected in those visits to see Alix, was the skill of pointing at things and saying “eins, bitte” or “zwei, bitte”. I suppose that's what happens when you have someone to rely on, but this time Alix wouldn't be around, hence our German crash course on the train.

The first thing you see as you come out of Cologne train station are the steps up to the Cathedral - the Dom - and then, if you push your head back all the way, you’ll take in the MASSIVE Cathedral, with spires reaching up 150 metres towards the sky. This is one *very* impressive building - one of the tallest churches and the second-tallest Gothic structure in the world (second only to the tower of the Ulm Münster which is some 10 metres higher). It's also the church with the largest façade and the largest free-swinging bell (known as the St. Petersglocke) in the world. However, the view that's really worth seeing at Christmas time is the view from the opposite side to the railway station, when you can take in the beautiful Weihnachtsmarkt with the large Christmas tree in the middle and the Dom in the background. I don't have a picture to post, but you have to see this to appreciate how nice it looks: http://www.weihnachtsmarkt-deutschland.de/bilder/koeln-weihnachtsmarkt.jpg. This is the same view from a different angle and one that you can buy as a postcard: http://www.christmasmarkets.co.uk/images/cologne-christmas-markets-06b.jpg

Cologne has not one, not two, but 6 Christmas markets, and a little "train" that takes you to them. You just buy a ticket from the stewards before you get on. It's a fun way to get round the city and it means you don't need a map and you don't have to negotiate the public transport system, which can be tricky if don't speak the language. Douze points for the Christmas train. 😊

That evening we arrived just an hour or so before the Christmas markets closed, but we still managed to visit two markets, the one by the Dom and the Alter Markt round the corner. The market by the Dom is my favourite, with its round stalls and huge Christmas tree in the middle. Both these markets are lovely and both sell scrumptious sausages, even scrummier cakes and gluhwein - red wine that is mixed with spices and served hot in mugs. It's delicious and it's very very warming on freezing winter evenings. In German Christmas markets gluhwein is everywhere, and you will usually find large numbers of people gathered together around the stalls that sell it, drinking and chatting with friends.

After the markets we went for a wander round Cologne. It was cold, but the gluhwein had worked its magic and we felt both warm inside and in high spirits. The shops were closed and there weren't many people around at 10 PM, but we loved seeing the city by night, and we spent ages taking pictures of the Christmas displays in shop windows.

As I've said before, I'm not much of a Christmas person, in fact I'm more of a bah humbug (and Jasmin isn't even Christian) but I love German Christmas markets and so did Jasmin. It's not just the Christmas music (often live carol singing) and the lights, but the whole multitude of sounds, smells and sights that make you feel happy when walking round a Christmas market. There's nothing nicer that wandering from stall to stall, sampling different food (sausages... cakes.... waffles.... lebkuchen (gingerbread cookies)... chocolates... crepes... roasted chestnuts... sauteed mushrooms... potato pancakes... steaming gluhwein... fruit punch... lager... hot chocolate... need I say more?). And it's not just the food, the stalls selling gifts are packed full of beautiful Christmas ornaments, candles, wooden toys, glassware, jewellery, clothes and more. The wooden ornaments are truly exquisite, and I love the Christmas smellies (potpourri and such like). There was very little cheap “made in China” tat at the Cologne markets, which is both good and bad, but mostly good in my opinion. The stuff on sale wasn't cheap, but it was tasteful and good quality - the kinds of things that you’d bring home and your friends would be impressed by, rather than exclaiming that they saw one "just like that" at the £ shop the other day…

Smoking Santas are in this “impressive but expensive” category, as they cost in the region of 40-60 €. I don’t honestly remember if we saw any on sale at the Christmas markets, but there’s a shop that sells them near the Alter Markt. Smoking Santas are wooden figures that separate in the middle so that you can put an incense cone in, which you then light, wait until it's smouldering, replace the top of the figure, and watch it "puff". They’re very funny and fill the house with a lovely smell - you can get all sorts of different incense cones at the market stalls, from boring vanilla to the rather more exciting adventsduft (Christmas smell).

In Cologne we stayed at the fabulous Sofitel Am Dom, very close to the Cathedral and the two Christmas markets. We asked for and were given a room with a view of the Dom, which looks particularly impressive at night when it's all lit up. We couldn't quite see the Dom market due to other (much smaller) buildings being in the way, but if you opened the window and you stuck your head (well, half your body) out and looked to the left, you could see the Alter Markt. A perfect location for a Christmas market tour.

The next day we went downstairs to the hotel restaurant and had breakfast. An expensive treat at 18 € per person 😱 but *so* worth it! I think this is the best breakfast I've ever had at a hotel - you’re spoilt for choice and the restaurant itself is really classy. Seeing as it was Sunday and there was nothing much to do in town (i.e. no shops) we had a leisurely breakfast sampling all the different dishes in the buffet (without card writing this time, as we'd not managed to find a post office to get stamps) and chatting about our trip, life, the universe and everything. We even had quite a heated debate about health and safety precautions at hotels, triggered by the fact that there was a toaster available in the breakfast room for (unsupervised) use by guests. Jasmin was arguing that this was too much of a risk, as you can't assume that everyone knows how to use a toaster without electrocuting themselves. I was arguing that anyone who didn't know how to use a toaster safely, should refrain from using it all. You know what they say... if you don't know what it does, don't touch it and it won't do anything. That debate alone kept us going for a good half hour over coffee (Jasmin), tea (me) and cakes (both). What a perfect way to spend the morning while waiting for the Christmas markets to open. 😊

After breakfast, we wandered briefly round Alter Markt, then took the Christmas train to the Medieval Christmas market which is situated on the banks of the Rhine, next to the Chocolate Museum (which we regrettably had no time to visit). There's a small entrance fee for this market (2-3 €) but it's well worth paying, if only to experience something different - a Christmas market set in the medieval ages, where you can buy head dresses and handmade candles, have food served on cabbage leaves, watch jugglers, see sellers wearing wooden clogs instead of Nikes etc. The surrounding view isn't much (certainly doesn't compare to the Dom!) but the enjoyment factor is just as high. We ended up taking a lot of pictures here.

After that we went to Neumarkt, the oldest and largest of the six markets, and then on to Rudolfplatz, both of which were nice, but I still prefer the two smaller markets near the Dom. The only market we didn't visit is the floating market - set on a cruise ship in the Rhine. We would have loved to see that, but we simply ran out of time, and it started raining once we left Rudolfplatz (perfect timing for once) so we went back to our hotel early to pack. We'll have to come back for the floating market though, as it looks gorgeous.

Packing doesn’t take long when you have tiny cases, and our train to Aachen wasn't until 4:00 PM so we had some leeway. Once we were packed, I decided to pop out to the Alter Markt for some (more) late shopping but Jasmin opted to stay at the hotel. We had a late checkout, which was brilliant as it meant we didn’t have to rush out of the room at midday. While I was speeding through Alter Markt picking up Christmas cards and ornaments, Jasmin spent the whole time looking out of our bedroom window at the Dom and the people coming and going between the markets. She said that, for her, that half hour looking out of the hotel window was the highlight of our stay in Cologne - all the sights and sounds, live from the comfort of your armchair!

I’m happy to report that, where Christmas markets are concerned, Cologne was all it’d promised to be and more. Also, the language barrier wasn't a problem at all. It appears the stall owners are quite used to foreigners and were happy to speak to us in English, or put up with our pidgeon German. In fact, there appeared to be quite a few English-speakers around. I suppose cheap easyJet/Germanwings flights make Cologne an attractive weekend destination for Brits, esp. in the run up to Christmas. Can't say I'm suprised. There are worse places to be on a cold December day. What's even better is that you don't need to spend much to enjoy a Christmas market, as the magic is in the atmosphere, not the shopping per se. All you need is a few euros, just enough for a sausage and a cup or two of gluhwein - and you're all set for the evening. Oh and don't forget comfortable shoes, as there's a lot of walking and standing involved. And an umbrella or raincoat, in case it rains.

Finally Christmas cheer was in the air! Our next stop was Aachen, a mere 35 minutes away from Cologne by train - more sausages, gluhwein, lebkuchen... mmmmm.... Can't wait! 😊

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Photos

Gingerbread hearts
They're everywhere in Cologne, and very popular with kids.

More gingerbread hearts
Did I mention they're everywhere?

Hog roast at the Medieval Market
Makes a change from sausages!

Dolls at the Alter Markt
This picture makes me smile

Christmas ornaments
Typical goods on sale at the markets