Köln ist gut …

Am Wochenende ging ich nach Köln, für die Weihnachtsmärkte

Translation for those not wanting to test their German skills...

Cologne is Good …

At the weekend I went to Cologne, for the Christmas markets.

I can’t be bothered to keep all the German up so the rest of the post is in English with handy German moments.

I had a great time for ‘Girlie Weekend’ when me and a fellow Guider I became friends with on our NZ trip (best thing to come from it! The rest of the group weren’t great) go off to explore a new place. This year’s aim was Germany for Christmas Markets …. After checking the routes from the north and south to see which were compatible airports (flughafen) Dusseldorf it was … but due to good train links from the airport we went to Cologne as it seemed nicer …

We stayed at Köln Deutz YH … a very nice one it is too! Right opposite Köln Deutz/ Messe station (Bahnhof). We came to the conclusion due to who we saw on our floor and the lack of school kids that floor 6 is mainly small 2 beds rooms and the like (we don’t slum these days in dorms). A 5 mins walk at the start of the weekend (as the feet ached the walk took longer) across the Rhine and you were at the Cathedral (Die Dom) and our favourite market that was next to it.

We managed to get pretty much all of our Christmas shopping (with the odd cloth bag (taschentüte) on the way) done, had a good look around the cathedral (with the bling of the 3 Magi chest & the Schmuck Madonna), climbed up the tower (that’s lots of steps) and saw the views of Cologne … and taken lots of photos. All interspersed with Wurst (sausage), Glühwein (mulled wine), Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee & cake) und (and) Kolsch (the local brew drank with a head & in tall thin glasses that only hold 0.2l.

The only downer other than not seeing each other until the next girlie weekend … is that I had an awful descent/ landing in my coach with wings (it had 49 seats and was long & thin with only 3 seat across). Due to the windy & rainy weather it seem that had lapped the south coast since my departure on Thursday it was a bit blowy … so we had turbulence and a bumpy descent all the way until we had wheels on the tarmac and were breaking to a slow speed. The worst landing I’ve every had ... there was a collective sigh of relief once the heavy breaking had stopped. It was very disconcerting to have the plane turning from side to side when you can see Eastleigh Station, then when you see the first of the runway lights …. Particularly so when you’re the one sat next to the emergency exit! I shan’t be sitting in row 12 on those planes until I really have to. Everyone was still obviously shaky from the landing as they got off the plane… so walking through the front door last night was a relief (as our baggage was also delayed about 40mins).

A good weekend but where to go next year? Berlin? Paris? Eastern Bloc? Your suggestions in the comments…