On our trip to Cologne, I almost immediately had a respect for the city's design. We drove about 2 and a half hours to get to there and found plenty of parking available and plenty of garages. Something very nice about these garages was that they had a digital countdown telling how many spots were available before you decided to choose that garage, which made it really easy to find a good spot. The next thing to impress me was once we left the garage and walked towards the center we went up some steps to a raised area. I didn't think anything of this at first since we were just walking over the street below. I quickly realized once we reached the top that there was almost a completely new level to the city that was above all the automobile traffic below. I LOVE this idea. It really makes getting around the city center convenient and opens up the city much more. They managed to even keep a lot of their historical landmarks preserved. Our next impressive moment was the Dom Cathedral which is huge but right across from it is the Cologne train station. Soooo cool. It was the great iron lattice structure I adore with neogothic stone work on parts of the exterior. There was even the ingenious idea to attach a modern mall directly to the train station with a very smooth transistion. The Christmas markets I thought were really nice but I've heard the ones in Berlin are better. We did find a Lego store along the way which had little buckets of blocks for you to make your own creations. I'm pretty sure had I been in that store at the age of 9 I would never leave. I was able to restrain myself since I was with Alyssa's family and because I was all padded down with warm clothing and gloves. I think I would like to go back to study the city more intensely... and maybe back to the lego store...
Now onto the city tour guide you've all been waiting for. I gave a tour guide to our friend Brandi because she was taking her dad there and its not too shabby so I decided to just reapply it here. This one is really cut and dry, not a lot of filler this go round.
We drove to Cologne in Alyssas Mom's car and ended up parking in a garage that is right under the Philharmonic Orchestra. That garage is right next to the Dom cathedral and an information center with FREE BATHROOMS. There is plenty of parking around the city center so if you drive its not much trouble to find something. I would suggest trying to get there about 12:30 or so if you drive because parking is still pretty open and it'll give you some daylight to walk around in. It's a 2 and half 3 hr drive by car and really not bad.
If you take a train, make sure to take it to the Koln Hauptbahnhof (central station). The station puts you in a real good location to start the tour right next to the Dom cathedral.
The Dom market has a lot of goodies, food, trinkets, candles, arts and crafts. It's really nice to walk around and peek in all the stalls to see what they've got.
Specific to this market: Bbq stand. Get yourself a warm alcoholic drink. They have them in all the markets and Gluhwein is the most common. Gluhwein is ok, kind of like hot sangria. There are other flavors they serve that look like they were a little more tasty. They also have candy and chocolate dipped fruit, yum!
From the edge of the Dom market you can follow the stream of people heading east to the Alter Markt. This market is designed like a old German town with lots of Christmas trees everywhere.
Specific to this market: Ice skating, ferris wheel, much more hand crafted things than the other markets
Where the South end of the Alter Markt is you can head west through Schildergasse. This is a big shopping street that isnt really a Christmas market but does have lots of other things to look at. It also leads to another market.
At the end of the Schildergasse is the Neumarkt. This is the largest one and made out like an old village as well.
Specific to this market: Bratwurst on a long bun with onions, crepes, stores with really nice Christmas decorations.
From there we headed back to the Dom, which is lit up real nice at night, then went home. So we spent about 5 hours walking around to these three markets. I think three was enough for us although there are seven available to go to. There is a little tram-like train that can take you to all the markets without having to walk so look for the green and yellow toy train if you would like a ride.
I did find out from Brandi that there is a medieval market further west of the Neumarkt which is supposed to have really good entertainment. I'd say it was a good experience with lots of yummy food. I would've liked for the merchandise to be a little less pricey but maybe when I have money to burn I'll return.
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