Germany - Cologne

19th December 2014

Lc came back to Mannheim on 18th after his exam :) I went to the hauptbahnhof to pick him up at abt 9pm, and I was like half asleep (after helping C pack her luggage), and while walking from the bus stop into the station, my legs just suddenly turned into jelly and I fell on both knees -.- And everyone stared at moi. T.T Waited pretty long for him since we weren't quite sure which train he could catch, and some of the trains were delayed for 50+min!

On the morning of the 19th, we headed to Cologne! It was drizzling when we arrived, way colder than expected. The famous cathedral was right outside the train station, so we quickly snapped a few pictures before leaving for our apartment. There was a Christmas tree and some festive deco, but we didn't see the Christmas market (which was on the other side of the cathedral).

We found a cozy apartment at Cologne South on airbnb. It was slightly far from town, but not too troublesome, and quite reasonably priced. There were also quite a lot of shops/cafes around, so pretty great for tourists who want to save some money! We napped till 6pm since we were both exhausted.

We wanted to take a tram to the city centre (cathedral), but ended up alighting at Neumarkt Christmas Market to satisfy our growling stomachs. We ate a looottttttt. The food was quite expensive, although cheaper than Munich Christmas Market, mostly around 4-6€ per serving.

So we had fried fish fillets first (which was great!!!), then this even-better salmon sandwich! The salmon was roasted using charcoal and tasted really tender and juicy and yummy. Lc also had a steak burger, and we shared a cup of glühwein. After allll that food, we were still craving for more, so lc had a waffle (which was lousy), and I had this bowl of mushrooms. I loved it!! There was a variety of mushrooms cooked in this nice I-don't-know-how-to-describe sauce with onions.

It was a really great meal, but we spent about 25-30€ altogether, which is quite expensive, considering we ate this out in the open! But the atmosphere was great and the food was fantastic. Worth every cent!

We headed to the cathedral for some night views. We crossed over to the other side of the bridge, but unfortunately it was quite dark and scary over there, so I quickly snapped some pictures and went back to the train station.

That concluded our first day in Cologne.

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20th December 2014

We woke up late again! We planned to see the Schloss Drachenburg at Königswinter that day, but first, we went to the city to get some perfume as gift for my mum and some other people.

4711 is one of the oldest and most famous brands that you can only find in Cologne (or very difficult to get elsewhere)! A lot of the scents were too exotic for me, but I managed to find a really nice female one, and another reasonably nice male one. The prices were so low! Typically about 20€ for 100ml. I definitely recommend it to everyone who's traveling to Cologne. On a side note, it's cheaper to buy from 4711 shops than souvenir shops.

We arrived at Königswinter really late. I didn't really expect the city to be so abandoned lol. We almost didn't meet anyone there. The hike up the mountain was a bit longer than expected, but we got there after about half an hour! Sadly, the castle was closed for maintenance T.T Well, at least we got some great exercise and nice views of the city along the way.

It was a gloomy day, but the sun finally greeted us when we arrived at the castle!

Slow tortoise :P

Look at that! Rhine is awesome.

We had to wait quite a while for the train, so we had a short walk around the city.
Everything was closed! Guess it was Chrismas time and everyone was gone?

Back in Cologne, we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant that we had been eyeing since we arrived. We had a plate of Peking Duck (which was actually just roast duck to our disappointment) and 回锅肉.

Afterwards, we visited the main Christmas Market at the cathedral. I didn't really think it was better than the one at Neumarkt. I liked the atmosphere at Neumarkt more!

We were too full for any food, but we got a packet of cathedral shaped butter cookies that had a tinge of cinnamon taste. I liked it even though I hate cinnamon, but it was too pricey!

We also got some chocolates for our friends in Singapore. And trust me, THIS IS THE BEST CHOCOLATE EVER. The Ragusa Blond with caramel is really... too good to be true. I'm not a fan of chocolates (or sweet stuff), but this chocolate is not overly sweet, smooth, and melts in your mouth. 3 bars for 10€. My friends also loved them! :)

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21st December 2014

Time to head home again :( Last 2 days in Germany!