Short Visit to Köln

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Sunday afternoon, after a short visit to Oma Irmgard's for coffee and cake for Jan's birthday, Mama, Papa, Basti and I headed to Köln (Cologne) to meet up with Marina. We went out to dinner at a nice little Spanish Restaurant, La Bodega. It was pretty neat cause you order a bunch of small dishes instead of just a couple big ones and then everyone shares. It was nice cause we got to try a lot of different things. It was really great to have all 5 of us there. That very rarely happens now. =) Great to have the whole family together. =)

After dinner, Basti had to catch a train back to Berlin; Mama and Papa and to head back to Stockum as they had to work the next day and Marina and I headed to Markus' to hang out and of course watch soccer (England vs. Italy). It was a fun relaxing evening. I saw Markus and Ermes at the wedding, but it was nice to get to hang out with them in a more kickback environment.

Monday morning, Marina had to go to school, so I ventured into the city by myself. It was really easy. I caught the U-bahn almost directly in front of her place and took that in to Neumarkt. There I got out and walked along the shopping lane (I had some shopping to do) toward the Cologne Cathedral. From the cathedral I headed into the Old City and walked down to the Rhine. Unfortunately it was raining off and on throughout the morning and early afternoon, so it was hard to really enjoy it.

I met up with Marina back at her place later and we went to lunch with Markus. After that, Marina and I went to a tower across the Rhine to get a beautiful view of the city. By then, the sun had come out, making for a very nice afternoon. We then walked across a bridge back to the center of the city. As we crossed the bridge, we passed tons of locks that had been locked onto the fence on the bridge. Couples engrave or write their names and the date on the lock and toss the key in the river, a symbol of their love lasting forever.

We walked around more of the Old City before heading back to her place to enjoy a Kölsh (locally brewed beer) and then heading off to a friend's birthday party (one of her friends). It was a fun evening and I got to meet some new people, including a gentle man from Scottland who had just recently moved to Germany. That evening, Mama and Papa picked me up (they had been in Cologne for a concert) and we headed back to Sauerland. It would've been nice to have spent more time in Köln, but it was still a very nice visit and I loved getting to spend some time with my sister =)

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Photos

Old City
These buildings are from the 1600s. Colognes Old city is not very large as most of its buildings were destroyed during WWII