I took the overnight train trip from Berlin, getting on the sleeper about 12:30 AM and finding my way to the little compartment. It was just as described in Cats: Little basin to wash your face in, conductor coming along wanting to know if you would have coffee or tea with breakfast, and a crank to shut the window should you sneeze. It was a short trip, but I slept very well, with the gentle rocking and quiet whirring in the background very therapeutic. We arrived in Köln about 6:30 AM, and I was without any hotel reservations, plus it was raining. I was fortunate in that I walked to the nearest hotel which not only had a room available for the evening, but they even let me have it early at no additional charge. So, I was able to have a quick bite to eat then get a bit more sleep before venturing out on the town.
I took another one of the proverbial siteseeing buses, but this one was really great. It was an hour and a half which showed the diversity of the town, starting with the explanation that it is one of the older cities in Europe, a Roman city state complete with city walls (a small bit of which still remains). Most of the town was bombed into rubble during World War II, so even though it is an "old" city much of it has been recently rebuilt. It truly does seem to have the perfect mix: Munich was great, but a little too quiet and predictable, almost like a bedroom town. Hamburg was interesting if you could overlook the decadence of the Reeperbahn, but it was also a very "rich" town, something that is always a turn off for me. Berlin would have been interesting, but I spent very little time there since the wall was the only thing that interested me. Köln, however, seems to have the perfect mix: Fourth largest town in Germany, old sections, new sections, crowded enough to have energy yet easy to walk through. I can't adequately explain it yet, but in terms of favorite cities in the world, this might be my #2, just behind London. I booked the hotel through Friday morning, and I'll see how I feel then.I found another resort sauna/spa, Claudius Therme, and it is basically the same as Therme Erding but at about 10% of the size and grandeur. It has the same type of layout (clothed saunas and swimming areas combined with a larger "textile-free" sauna and pool area). I won't go into much detail as it really is much as I described Therme Erding earlier, only this spa was (1) smaller and (2) easier to get to since it is in the middle of town rather than an hour out. Germany really does these saunas/spas right!
The one thing Claudius Therme has which Therme Erding did not is an aerial tramway running right overhead. Where else but Germany could you get away with running an aerail tram over what most Americans would label a nudist colony!!It's very hard to explain the awe and wonder when you walk out of the hauptbanhaus only to look up and see something as magnificent and massive as the Dom Cathedral. I took a quick pass through it this evening and will look at it more tomorrow, but I'll simply say I am amazed that this town could have been as decimated as it was yet something this magnificent was spared. The Allies really, truly, did civilization and humanity a favor by leaving this beauty standing.
Continuing with the Cathedral Dom, I just went out and looked at it at night, and it is both the most beautiful and the most eerie site imaginable. It is so huge that even when you are quite a ways from it, it is overpowering, and the lights give it a glow which make it look quite literally like something out of this world, a veritable UFO. As much as I love London and all it has to offer, St Paul's Cathedral is nothing in terms of awe, beauty, and mystique when compared to Köln's Dom Cathedral.I also need to talk about the Central Hotel am Dom a bit, and pay attention to the details here as you will not find this one on Travelocity's "Good Buy" list, in large part because this treasure is too good for the travel sites. First off, if you clicked on the URL for the hotel, it is misleading, as many of the pictures are of places in the local area and not of the hotel per se, yet I would argue that is not really a problem. Yes, the pics are of local businesses, but they truly are right in the neighborhood, albeit not under the hotel roof. If you want four or five star, this is not the place for you, but if you want location, clean, friendly, and (I'll say again) location, this is a six star. The room only costs me 59 euro a night (about $100),which is very good by German standards. It is literally about a three minute walk from the Köln Hbf, and there are plenty of bars, restaurants, and take-away places (yes, including a McDonalds and Starbucks) in the immediate area. You don't need to hop on a subway if you get the late night munchies or if you want to go for a walk. The rooms do have in-room baths, something a lot of hotels in this price range do not offer. The floors have just been redone, the staff is friendly, and I am pretty sure the breakfast is indeed included in the room rate...I'll follow-up on that in a day or so. In any case, here are the details:
- Central Hotel am Dom
- An den Dominikanern 3D - 50668 Köln
- ++49(0)221 13 50 88
- info@centralamdom.de
And, one other old standby, Starbucks, was on today's playlist. I had to try a drip coffee, and it really is more of less the same as you get in the US: Weaker than the typical German coffee. The coffee wasn't much to brag about, but how many coffee shops can boast a front patio setting like this one. (Look closely at the upper left hand edge of the picture, and yes, you will see the Starbucks sign.)
No comments:
Post a Comment