Today i have been the calmest, happiest and most relaxed that i have been in a long time. I have been taking my time having a mooch round the stunning Cologne, but somehow managing to cram a lot in. Peversely that’s because i took my time. There was no hurry getting up, but there was still time to pop into the local bakery for a gorgeous pastry for breakfast. I did my usual trick when i don’t know the local language, pick something that looks different/pretty and unlike anything i have ever eaten before. A ginormous pastry that turned out to be a beautiful cherry and almond delight, karma is doing kind things to me today!
That pattern continued… after a breakfast time natter over tea Claudia kindly booked me a cab to get me over to the station. I stashed my bags in a locker and embarked on a wander round Cologne. I kept welling up on my way to the station, there was something beautiful in the journey. I am used to being in Germany and rushing to swim, to get ready to a meeting/call for 8, then rushing to a cab, then to a meeting, grabbing some lunch and then a dash to the airport to catch a plane home. There was a deep joy in being able to saunter out of the station, park myself on the steps to the cathedral and just watch the city go about it’s business for 20 minutes. Taking in the clueless tourists, taking selfies in front of me. People rushing to work like i used to, homeless people watching everyone and carting their lives on their backs. I saw a new beauty in the country by taking my time, by just sitting in the cab and taking it all in instead of furiously checking my iphone for work emails the taxi driver started chatting to me. He was astounded (as they all seem to be!) by my journey. He has a sister in England so has very good English, i never would have had that conversation in the old world.
The very grand old Cafe Reichard was my first proper stop of the day. It has an old school charm, the waitresses are all in very proper uniforms complete with frilly aprons and hats. The coffee comes in heavy silver pots and the cakes are vast in variety and of a quality to die for. I sat eating my sumptuous black forest gateaux outdoors, looking out over the majestic old cathedral. Again watching the bustle of the city and writing to my hearts content. This writing needs to be monitored though… today i have gone through 1 and a half ink cartridges, 30 pages of my notebook, 1 page of my journal (sticking to only 1 page per day so far!), several postcards and a letter to my future self. This could get expensive!
I felt a bit overloaded with sugar, so i took in some fresh air with a walk down to the Rhine. After getting past the mess of various building works (and some Americans examining some concrete road blocks outside the Roman museum thinking that they were Roman relics… the less said about that the better!) i got to the river. I’ve seen the Rhine before, but never taken the time to look properly. It’s immense, and puts into perspective how all those barge demurrage claims used to keep me busy many moons ago! 20 minutes later i was at the chocolate museum, what better way to get over a sugar hangover than to ride the crest of the wave and re-up on the hair of the dog?! I did have a bit of a reprieve in that it took me ages to wander round that place. A good 3 hours later and i have been educated on spice trade, the science of chocolate, the marketing and why Hersheys chocolate tastes awful (they actually designed it that way, to stop soldiers from trading it when it was a much needed ration in WWII. Just seems they forgot to add the flavour back in!)
Post chocolate education, some fresh air was needed so another terrace rest, this time with a view of the barges passing on the Rhine. Cake number three was a Gateux Noir – again the strategy being that i choose what sounds nice and what i haven’t had before. The response from the waiter being “you know that’s a small one don’t you?” do i look like i need to eat something big?! i don’t care how big it is, as long as it tastes good!
Having finished tea and cake number 3 i dodged the shop, there is no way i need to be carrying ANYTHING more with me at the moment and headed outside. Right next door to the chocolate museum is the rather splendid Olympic museum, a bit of a weird one as the olympics don’t appear to have ever been held in or around Cologne (this one needs a bit of research!) but good nonetheless. I was intrigued to see how the Berlin 1936 games were represented, there was a special section that was very frank and honest about how it was used as propaganda to promote racist ideology and backfired spectacularly with the success of Jesse Owens. The commentary throughout was very honest, charting the rise of gymnastic groups and children’s brigades as a way to prepare for military fitness etc. The far end of it had profiles of various sports, which were brilliantly done, life like seats and dug outs to watch goals scored and medals won. You could even have a go in a boxing ring and see for yourself how close the millionth of a second is by trying to stop the clock.
I ambled back to the centre of town to take a look at the lovers bridge, where oodles of lovestruck people have fixed padlocks with their lovers names on to mark their love for all eternity (or until the council takes them down 🙂 !) I couldn’t help but think there was something sad about it though when half of them were engraved and quite fancy, not really the spontaneous display of everlasting love.
Despite being three cakes into the 80 cakes around the world challenge my tummy was rumbling. So with a few hours left in Cologne i settled myself at one of the many brew houses in the city for some local food. I was not disappointed! I tried to do my luck of the draw trick with the menu in German, but the waiter rather impatiently directed me to the English version. Kind but not really getting into the spirit of my game. Anyhow, i ended up with a delicious dinner nonetheless. Crispy pork knuckle slow cooked in beer, with sauerkraut and sautéed potatoes with bacon. It was heaven! Accompanied by a little beer it was the perfect nourishment after a long days walking.
After dinner I was sat there minding my own business writing oodles and scribbling my postcards when the waitress presented me with another beer which i didn’t order. “oh no, this is from the guy over there” she says. That is the kind of thing that happens in films, my life is now like a film! People are kind to me, start chatting in the street and send me drinks across the bar. I had a man on the train tell me that i looked lovely the other day, there’s something in that rose quartz i tell you! With plenty of time to spare i headed back towards the train station, past the dome again which is breathtaking at night.
I wanted to be sure i had time to faff about with luggage again, good job i did. As i sat down to check airbnb messages i realised that there was a notification on my train app. Your stop has been cancelled! Ahhhh…. i hotfooted it to the DB Bahn office to be told that it’s OK i can get a train to Dortmund and the train will meet me there. The only catch being that it leaves 20 mins earlier than the scheduled one! God help the people that only arrive 20 mins early to catch their train. The universe is definitely trying to tell me to slow down, i’m quite liking it. The train was fine and pretty empty to be fair, if that was a 22:10 train from London it would have been full of drunk people eating Burger King. But it was civilised with just me and another solo female traveller from Argentina on our redirection. We got to Dortmund and patiently waited on platform 8 as directed by the train conductor on the previous train, to overhear someone say very grumpily “oh it’s 18 and not 8?!” ahhhh…. another slight miss from DB Bahn, we were on the wrong platform! It was a short hop to get to where we needed to be and the train was ready and waiting for us. The conductor helped me to my room and did all the necessary checking in bumph. I thought i was going to have to change trains but thankfully i was able to stay on this one all the way to Copenhagen.
I have a nice and quiet bunk friend who lives between Munich and Koln, i am tucked up in my very cosy and very spacious bed. Wrapped up in the romance of train travel, it never loses it’s shine for me. Tomorrow i will wake up in a new city in a new country, that will always be a magical experience.
