On leaving the train yesterday evening we once again got a strong icy blast as we had in Hamburg.
The front entrance to Cologne Cathedral
The Arctic wind seeemed to have followed us. What we were pleased to discover as we left the station was that the Cathedral is on the same square so we had only to find the Altestadt or Old City. It was well sign posted so we found it along the banks of he Rhine just behind the Cathedral..
A church in the Old City or Altestadt
The Jon Werth Fountain in the Altestadt
Our hotel was very modern with lots of chrome and laminated wood. We were told of all the security measures in place including one that prevented unwanted persons using the lift. Well, it did not work quite as they said it should. The system was activated by your room key card. There is a slot into which you put your card and then pressed the floor number. In theory, it will stop only your floor. If anyone else entered the lift they had to follow the same procedure or the lift would not stop on their floor.
The entrance to our hotel
The buffet breakfast was very large but not the best. The cappuccino was lukewarm, the scrambled egg was dry and the fruit looked as if it had behat it wouen prepared some days ago but the rest was delicious. The night before I had tried to complete the form to report my camera stolen on-line but no matter what I did it would not accept the train number on my ticket. We thought it might be because we had travelled on a Danish train and we were reporting it in Germany. On asking at the L&F Office though they said that it was correct. We returned a third time later that morning and they finally agreed to enter the information in to their system.
On our way to the station we stopped at the French Rail Company which was in the same square. The German representative had prepared a suitable itinerary with a connecting train between 2 main stations in Paris and plenty of time to catch the train bound for Lyon. At the French office, I handed the paper with the proposed bookings on it to the young lady and requested the same. She said it was fine and finalised our booking. I did not notice that she had not booked a connecting train to Gard du Lyon but gave us just a half hour to take a taxi there. (Do remember this as it caused us to be conned in Paris).
Anyway, we left all these activities to go and enjoy Cologne itself. In 2010 we had passed the city on our way to Liege so we were looking forward to seeing it today. It was a great help that the Cathedral is on the same square as the station and just a few blocks from our hotel. The Cathedral is a most amazing building. The height of the ceiling and the beauty of the stained glass windows were indescribable. At first, we sat in a pew and tried to take it all in. It was wonderful to see that the altar has been brought forward to the front of the sanctuary making it feel more congregation friendly. This is not something seen in many cathedrals that we visited.
2 of the Cathedral’s many stained glass windows
Twin spires of the Cathedral
A gilded Roderos in the Sanctuary
Having spent a couple of hours walking through the Cathedral admiring the workmanship that had been put into the creation of this amazing building we went out and found the route to the Altestadt or Old City. We spent another couple of hours just wandering through the Old City and along the banks of the River Rhine, something which we really enjoy doing, just ambling around absorbing the atmosphere of a place.
Rail bridge over the Rhine in the Altestadt
A tourist boat on the Rhine which is boarded in the Altestadt
At about 5pm we returned to the station to find some fruit for supper. We had been told that there was a shop there was a very nice young man who sold us bananas and apples which were really sweet and filling. We then stood totally mesmerised at the door to the station as we watched a seething mass of humanity going in and out of the station.
Statues of the Magi and Christ
