Meine Reise nach Köln und Bonn – Chris' Contemplations

I decided that after Maastricht I didn’t want to go back home on Sunday as that was such a short trip and a waste of my days off and a waste of being in Europe. I decided that I would look at the map to see where was close to Maastricht that was easy enough and short enough to get to on the train.

Cologne won the battle. I had been there on the same trip Jamie and I did the Christmas markets and we only had a couple of hours here and a brief look in the cathedral. I decided that this would be a good place to go since I hadn’t seen a lot of it.

I also decided when I was in Cologne that I would go to Bonn (since the tram went from Cologne to Bonn).

In this post, I will write about Cologne and Bonn. Apologies if it is a long post.

Map
Sunday

Today I arrived in Cologne via Aachen. I got a train from Maastricht and decided for a couple more Euro’s I could get a first-class ticket and that is exactly what I did.
I had to change in Aachen and it was really strange to be here as the last time I was here I stayed in a hostel just across from the station and I could see it from the platforms. You can read about that trip here.
I arrived in Cologne and headed out of the station and was greeted by the awesome sight of the cathedral. I had a quick look at the map and headed to the hostel (not without being sweaty due to the temperature) to check in so I could have a bit of a rest as I was still tired from being up early and having a late night.
I got to the hostel and I was there before I could get to the room so I had to leave my case and headed out for a couple of hours. I found a McDonald’s and had some food as I was hungry – I took it to the train station and sat there and chilled and had my food.
I then went and checked in and had a couple of hours in the hostel before I headed back out towards the cathedral.
After the cathedral, I went on the tram and hopped on it to the end of the line. What I didn’t realise is that the last stop was the last stop and ended up in the tram sidings wondering what was gonna happen. The driver came by and spoke to me in German and I said I didn’t understand and he asked if I wanted to get off at the last stop and I said yes. I got off there and spoke with Jamie and I’m pretty sure she found it funny what had just happened.
I then found myself some food and went back for the night and went to bed to get some decent (ha, as if in the heat) sleep.
You can see some of the pictures I took today
Monday

Today was my first full day in Cologne and I got up early and spent all day outside of the hostel as I wanted to see as much as possible and do as much as possible.
I was trying to decide if I should do the sightseeing bus and the cable car but I was on a tight budget so decided against it for the trip. I decided that I would just use the trams and scout out some places to visit.
I decided that I wanted to go see a church down by the river called Kath. Kirche Groß St. Martin. I checked it out on the map and it looked quite far away so I got on the tram and headed there. I realised later that it was only a 15-minute walk from the hostel. The maps make it look further away than it really is.
I wandered around the cobbled streets and it was really nice to see the architecture. I wandered down by the river too before heading to the church. It turns out the church was closed on a Monday so I decided I would go a different day. I then walked back by the Rathaus towards the cathedral to go to the tram.
I looked on the map to see where there was a cemetery and I headed there and had a wander around for about an hour before heading to pick up the walking tour.
It turns out that I was the only one on the walking tour so it was just like having my own personal tour guide. She was really knowledgable despite being in the country for only 4 years. The tour itself was around 2 hours and it was a nice walk around.
Once the tour was done, I decided to go get some dinner and then head back to the tram and tram surf until I was ready to go back to the hostel to sleep.
Below are some pictures from today.
Tuesday (Bonn)

I decided that I would get up and head out to the tram and get it to Bonn. I realised that since it was so close I might as well go. It took around 55 minutes on the tram to get there.
I decided that I would wander around without a plan of where to go or what to see. As I was walking around I came across Münsterplatz and a statue of Beethoven. As it turns out, Beethoven was born here in Bonn. After I looked around here I opened the map and decided to find a souvenir shop to pick up the regular souvenirs of magnets and lanyards. I got to the souvenir store and all I could find was a magnet.
As I was walking there, I saw a church that I wanted to go to but it wasn’t open until 11. After picking up my souvenirs I went to McDonald’s to have some breakfast (and I also may or may not have needed the toilet). Once I had eaten, I then wandered around some more and walked around Markt and found a church to go visit. I spent about 45 minutes here and the respite from the sun was very welcome. The church was St. Remigius.
After I was done here, I had a bit more of a walk around and then headed to the tram and went to the end of the line and found some food – granted it was 5 miles outside of the city but that was cool.
After I had eaten, I then went back to the city centre and to visit Stiftung Namen-Jesu-Kirche to see what it was like. Once done here, I then had a walk around some more and to get a drink and then decided I was way too hot and tired and decided to get the tram back to Cologne. This was not without incident – I thought I saw the right platform so went to it and it turns out it was the wrong platform and I should have stayed where I got off. Grrrr.