I wanted to spend our limited time in Cologne just sitting on the steps of the vaunted cathedral, watching people and pigeons, enjoying the vague sense of well-being that comes with a warm belly full of schnitzel and a crisp autumn breeze, but Mom was having none of it.
Really.
We’d landed in Amsterdam that morning, took the train to Centraal, then caught the DB to Cologne, where we had a long-ish wait for the sleeper… but my mother had inexhaustible reserves of energy and was practically bouncing up and down when she saw the bright-red double-decker tour buses.
So I allowed myself to be hauled onto one, and sleepily settled in for the tour. It wasn’t one to regret, and it was full of information that my mother likely enjoyed – and remembered – more – and it did take us around the city, which was as tidy and orderly as you would expect a German one to be.
A few hours later we were deposited safely back behind the cathedral; after grabbing some provisions, we made our way up to the chilly platform to wait for the EuroNight sleeper, and I made use of the Wi-Fi to catch up with friends (not work email), including one from Doha who happened to be in Dortmund at the moment.
The Austrian train pulled up on time, we bundled ourselves into our compartment and soon we were rolling into the dark German countryside. (More on the sleeper experience here.)
What I will remember most about our all-to-brief visit to Cologne though, are that staggering cathedral, because I always feel closer to God somehow in these vast spaces, and the automated luggage lockers in the station, because we don’t have such things in the Third World. 🙂
Next up: Vienna!
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