Stage 3 – Cologne, Germany
August 10, 2016
Cologne
For Wednesday we headed to Cologne, Germany for the day, by ourselves. Mario dropped us of at the train station and we took the train to Dusseldorf then on to Cologne. The central train station is right next to the Cathedral – it’s impressive when you walk out of the station and there’s this large Gothic building rising up to the sky. We’ve seen quite a few Cathedrals in England, but none of them so far can quite compare to the Cologne Cathedral – it’s imposing and the fact that it is black adds much more to its presence.
We had a bite to eat on the steps before heading up the tower. 533 steps to climb, up and up, round and round. The wraparound view of Cologne is spectacular as you walk round the top of the tower. There is room to walk around the bell level.
Once back down at ground level, we headed off down the main shopping street. We wandered in and out of stores. Went into the Lego store – they have a wall of pick n mix Lego pieces.
We found the Hard Rock Cafe, but went round the corner in the square to have lunch.
Saw a building with a massive upside down ice cream on it.
After our wandering of Cologne we took the train, about mid-afternoon to visit Düsseldorf and to enjoy a drink next to the Rhein.
Dusseldorf
We went up Königsallee – as Micha suggested to do, it follows up beside a small river, lined with all the expensive name brand stores. She had also told us about one of the intersections that had been closed off due to this whole “Pokemon Go” phenomenon. This intersection apparently had a number of Pokemons to ‘pick up’. 
My word, she wasn’t kidding – you could see from about block and a half away – the entire bridge was jam packed with people.
We meandered our way to the Rhein, where it was lined with a number of seasonal, pop-up bars from which to choose from. After deciding on one, we sat in the afternoon sun watching the boats pass along the Rhein. The sky was clear, barely a cloud and we saw the odd plane fly by or take off in the distance.
S&S
xoxoxo
(Fitbit data: 16.79km – SRT 26,074; SJT 19,458)