Cologne to Konigswinter

A short train ride took us from Cologne to the Rhine-facing village of Konigswinter for a few days.

Travelling as much as I have over the years has built up this nifty little reservoir of I'm-not-sure-what... It's a way of just winging it, of doing only cursory research and planning before a trip and letting it happen randomly. Travel balls, maybe? Too crass perhaps - maybe travel confidence is better.


No strict agendas, no specific day trips planned, only a train or plane timetable and a hotel booking here and there. It's a matter of waking up and doing what you feel like, including nothing much at all if the body or spirit are not willing.

And in places like Konigswinter, it always works out. The town is right on the Rhine, with a bike path lining either side for many miles and a stop for the river tours right out front. You can take a boat or a tram to get here as well.

A boat tour is a must here. Criss-crossing the river, you can sit for hours looking at German countryside roll by, stepping off at various old-school postcard towns for lunch and a beer, and walking into Christmas stores in mid-summer if need be. Cologne and the surrounding region are renowned for its year-round Christmas markets, with every ornament and trinket ever created. Then again, you could just stay on the boat, drink beer and eat apple strudel.

You can also head up to Drachenfels ("Dragon's Rock"), a small mountain with a 12th century castle perched on top. You'll get amazing views of the surrounding area here.

Ah, the meadows, the rolling river, the lush countryside, and the zigaretten.

Stumbled across a car show  

These boats span the Rhine - at first, you feel like such a tourist, but then there's... 

...the view... 

...ze strudel... 

...the small town(s)... 

...and this guy, who invariably looks more like a tourist than you ever will. 

Uhhh...Small-town horror house of some kind. We didn't stay long enough to ask questions.

Smells Like Cologne

One of the beautiful things about living in Amsterdam - and in fact, 20 minutes door-to-door from the airport or Central Station - is the ability to leave Amsterdam. Not too often, mind you - but the weekend power trip is something to be cherished when it happens.

Earlier this summer, we took just such a trip to Cologne, Germany. It's a bit off the radar when one thinks of Berlin, Munich, or Frankfurt, but well worth the trip.

Cologne is a charming place. The riverfront location, the big town squares, the old-fashioned housing mixed with modern architecture, the striking Dom cathedral - it all made for a very welcoming stay, just 2+ hours by train from Amsterdam.

Like Kindergarten, but better

And then the beer. Kölsch actually, is the local type of brew. To me it tasted like a standard and perfectly fine beer, but others with more dignified beer tastebuds would do a better job explaining it. Beer aficianados, click here for the full Wikipedia explanation.

And it is EVERYWHERE. Each table we passed at the sprawling cafes had monster glasses of Kolsch being quaffed by men and women. Walking the streets, a group of men, girls or families from teens to omas and opas can be seen strolling with their bottle of beer in hand. Overlooking the Rhine, lazing in the grass along a long promenade, hundreds of people drink from bottles of beer like marathon runners shoot back water (ok, that last one was a bit of an embellishment). But really, beer is always near.

Bottle openers hang from the overhead awning outside most convenient stores - a sure sign of a beer-friendly culture.

They all drink it with any type of food, though I opted for pairing with some schnitzel and fries at one occasion, and this item below on another:

Some kind of unholy potato concotion - the name escapes me; the heartburn does not.

Day 2 we moved down to Konigswinter, a Rhine-front hamlet/town (I'll never know the difference, but hamlet sounds somehow more majestic. More on that on the next post...for now, some images from Cologne itself.

The bathroom wall at the excellent art 'otel

 The view from the hotel room - in the foreground is a replica of Noah's Ark, to the right is the Chocolate Museum. Very difficult to combine these into one joke. Still working on it.

 Dom Cathedral

 In Cologne's souvenir shops, memories of the previous wars are ubiquitous. These are placemats, sure to cheer up any meal.