A Weekend in Cologne

In keeping with our theme to travel through the alphabet (A - Amsterdam, B - Brussels, C - Cologne), we headed to Cologne, Germany this past weekend.  Once again, we rode our bikes to the main train station with our travel backpacks on.  From there we took a 1 hour bus ride to Aachen, Germany and then caught the train from Aachen to Cologne.  (There were no direct trains from Maastricht to Cologne...if we took the train we had to go nearly to Amsterdam then change trains to go to Cologne and it would take 4 hours, which is absurd considering that Cologne is about 100km directly east of Maastricht.)  When we exited the train station we were confronted with the Cologne Cathedral (Kolner Dom in German).  We took a minute to admire the cathedral, then headed to our hotel, Cerano.  Again, our hotel room was small, but had everything that we needed...except a mini-bar.  While waiting for our train to Cologne at the Aachen station, we bought some beers for the weekend (Ron was stoked to find Budweiser, even though it was imported from Czech Republic rather than USA, and I bought Becks.)  Since we didn't have a minibar, our plan was just to open the window and stick them on the ledge to keep cool for the weekend.  However, the window had no ledge.  Ron's genius idea (**sarcasm**) was just to keep the window open all weekend and keep the beers near the window to stay cold.  I didn't go for that idea, but came up with a better scheme of my own (**no sarcasm**).  We got a plastic grocery bag from the hotel lobby man and put the beers in the bag, then opened the window and hung the majority of the bag (and it's important contents) outside but draped the bag handles to the inside of the room and closed the window so the bag was stuck.  It worked great and kept our beers cold!  What a success!
After our successful beer jimmy-rig, we went out to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner.  I'm usually against going to mainstream chains like Hard Rock when travelling, but we were quite hungry and got sick of looking for someplace decent to eat.  When we told our waiter we were living in Maastricht, he said (in broken English), "Ahh yes, I go there to smoke weed sometimes"!  Oh my, I thought it was Amsterdam that was famous for that, but I guess we have seen a few "coffee shops" around Maastricht too.  After the Hard Rock Cafe, we found a little pub and had a drink, and Ron bought me a rose (**brownie points**) and then we headed back to our hotel.
Saturday morning we got up at a decent hour (9:30am) and partook in the hotel breakfast.  Since Ron is really missing his Saturday morning breakfasts with Vic, he was quite excited to stay at a hotel in which someone on tripadvisor.com had boasted had the "best breakfast in Europe".  I thought that was quite a bold claim to make, but the hotel did have quite a spread.  Much larger scale and selection than I'd expect from a little hotel.  After starting our day out right with a solid breakfast, we headed to the Cathedral and climbed the 533 steps to the top!  500+ steps doesn't sound like much at first, but we were certainly sweating by the time we got to the top.  (On our way down, we saw a group of 16 year old girls climbing up huffing and puffing, so that made us feel a bit better about breaking a non-intentional sweat.)   It was an incredible view from the top of the Cathedral (100m in the air); truly a breathtaking view of the city.  I couldn't help but think about the people who were building this Cathedral hundreds of years ago: I was blown away by the intricacies and detail in the architecture and design of the Cathedral.  After heading back down the 533 steps, we looked around the inside of the cathedral.  We were hoping to catch a guided tour, but we were a bit off with out times so instead we bought a pamphlet guide and informed ourselves around the Cathedral.  In addition to the architecture, I also loved the stained glass windows.  (Both are true for any European Cathedral, but they always amaze me.)  We took some time to sit in the pews and silently reflect and pray.  We're really missing our church community back home but are staying spiritually in tuned by praying every night together and reading our Bible after dinner together.
(Sorry for the lack of segue here...)  We then went (mostly window) shopping in a large shopping district.  I got a new watch and a spring/fall jacket that will hopefully weather the rain better than my current one.  Ron didn't buy anything, but continue to keep his eyes open for a pair of everyday shoes and a new pair of jeans.
After shopping, we had an afternoon nap then headed out for dinner to Brauhaus Fruh am Dom, a traditional German brew house.  Ron had beef medallions with an egg on top and I had pork schnitzel.  We ordered a beer each and found out that the waiter will keep bringing you beer when you glass is empty until you put a coaster on top of your glass.  All the brew houses had a round tray with a handle and about a dozen slots for the glasses which the waiters carry around continuously exchanging empty glasses for full ones.  We learned that Kolsch is Cologne's beer and every bar or brew house that serves it has to have a special license to do so.  After dinner we went back to our room and played cards for a while, then watched a Top Gear episode on Ron's computer and went to bed.
Sunday we started off again with breakfast and then just lounged around a bit and took in a few more of the sites on foot while heading back to the train.  We made it back to Maastricht in the late afternoon and got cracking at homework.
Although unrelated to our weekend in Cologne, I should also mention that we had a great overnight visit with Ron's uncle Romke and aunt Marjot in Oosterbeek (about a 2 1/2 hour train ride away from our place in Maastricht.)  It was my first time meeting them and the hosted a lovely evening of dinner and conversation over coffee and tea.  They told a few stories about Ron's Oma and late Opa, and it was nice for me to learn about his family.  We hope Romke and Marjot will come to Maastricht before we leave so we can visit some more and have a dinner in our neck of the woods.
Until next time,
Robin and Ron

 Ron on the train from Aachen to Cologne

 Robin on the train from Aachen to Cologne

 This is what you see the minute you walk out of the Cologne train station

 Our hotel room at Cerano Hotel ("best breakfast" in all of Europe)

 Ron enjoying the guitars at the Hard Rock Cafe

 Ron getting in Robin's good books by buying her a rose

 (part of the) Cologne Cathedral

 Ron and Robin outside the cathedral

 View through one of the windows on the climb to the top of the cathedral

 About 1/2 way up are the cathedral bells

 Robin climbing the 533 stairs

 The view of city of Cologne from the top of the cathedral

 Our "jimmy-rigged" mini-bar (hanging beer in a bag outside our hotel window)

 Ron with his Kolsch beer and steak with an egg on top (very German) at the Brauhaus

 Robin with a coaster on top of her glass indicating "No more beer"

 Cathedral at night

Back at the train station to go back to Maastricht