There’s no better way to practise GCSE German than to go to Germany! We managed to find some last-minute, super cheap flights and accommodation so off we went to Cologne (Köln in German) for four nights.
Table of Contents
Where did we stay?
We stayed at the Koncept Hotel International in Cologne. We had a four-bed room (two bunkbeds) which had its own bathroom. It was spotlessly clean and there was plenty of space for us all. Each bunkbed had two plug sockets (handy for charging phones) and its own light. We very much retreated into our own little zones in the evenings! We paid just £55 per night for all four of us – an utter bargain!
The hotel is about a two-minute walk to an underground station but we only used it once when we went to the zoo; we just walked everywhere directly from the hotel on other days. It was a 15/20 minute round-trip to Lidl every morning to get our breakfast and roughly 20/25 minutes to walk through to the cathedral. There wasn’t really anything exciting in the direct vicinity of the hotel: the main shopping streets of the city were a 10/15 minute walk away.
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What did we see?
Cologne Cathedral (Kolner Dom)
Nothing can prepare you for the sheer scale of this building! We got the train from the airport into the city centre and this amazing building is right next door to the main station. Talk about a wow moment when we walked out the station door!
We had wanted to look around the cathedral as soon as we got there but our rucksacks (we travelled with carry-on bags only) were too large to take in. We therefore went inside later in the week instead.
We picked up a detailed brochure in English for 2 Euros and used that to take ourselves around the important locations within the cathedral. We soon abandoned all the history though and simply enjoyed our amazing surroundings.
There is an option to climb 533 steps to the top of the cathedral tower but we opted out of this as the tickets were pretty expensive and well, we just didn’t fancy the exercise! We opted instead to go across the river and go up the Cologne View (see below); this has a lift and a fantastic view back at the cathedral.
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Chocolate Museum (Schokoladenmuseum)
Of course we visited this museum on the day we arrived! We thoroughly enjoyed our visit which was both incredibly educational and tasty!
The museum starts off with lots of information about where cocoa is grown – the majority of the cocoa used in chocolate production comes from West Africa – and how it is processed. There were fantastic displays on the chocolate trade and market prices. We’ve been to quite a few chocolate museums over the years and this has been by far the best one for educational detail.
On the next floor is the glass chocolate factory. This allows you to follow the journey of the cocoa bean from the roasting machine to the packaged chocolate bar. If you’re patient enough with a long queue, you can wait for one of the robots to pass you a piece of Lindt chocolate.
The main feature at the end of the production line is the three-metre high chocolate fountain which is always filled with 200kg of fresh chocolate. We were able to try some on a wafer handed to us by one of the staff; sadly you can’t just help yourself!
Upstairs again is the hollow figure studio where you can see how they make chocolate figures. There are also glass cabinets showing the history of chocolate moulds. We were rather amused that one of the most famous mould makers is called Agathon! Up another level there was an exhibition about the history of cocoa from Meso-America right through to modern times. Every floor renewed our interest and so we happily walked around the museum for a good two hours. Our enjoyable visit finally ended with more free chocolate on our way out.
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Hohenzollern Bridge
This bridge is not only home to the main railway line into Cologne, but it’s also the keeper of what seems like a million padlocks. The story goes that if you attach a padlock to the bridge and then throw the key into the River Rhine, you will be blessed with everlasting love. There are thousands upon thousands of padlocks right across the length of the bridge, all with names and dates either inscribed in, or written on, them. We spent ages reading all the couples’ names and making up stories as to whether or not they were still together. We were also on the hunt for the oldest padlock we could find; we found a few from the late 1970s.
It’s a lovely walk across the bridge and you get a great view of the cathedral as you look back. To get an even better view, though, we then went to the Cologne View (or Cologne Triangle) which is at the end of the bridge. This was an even better view!
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Cologne View (or Cologne Triangle)
Instead of climbing up 533 steps at the cathedral, we opted instead to take a lift up 29 floors at Cologne View/Triangle for a small fee. The views at the top were simply amazing and probably enjoyed all the more for the minimal effort it took to get up there! The sky was really clear so we could see for miles and miles. There were helpful markers on the glass screens pointing out places of interest and you had a full 360 degree view. This was a fantastic way to see the city.
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Cologne Zoo
We would never normally go to a zoo on our travels (we have zoos at home and they also make us feel a bit uncomfortable ethically) BUT…Peggy loves animals. The main reason for our visit to Cologne was for her to practise her German skills and this proved to be a fantastic place to do just that. As we went mid week, there were lots of pre-schoolers around with parents. Peggy was able to listen in to their conversations which were at a much more basic level and so easier to understand. She could also read all the information boards and led us around the animals using the map in German. And because she was surrounded by things she loved, it didn’t feel like learning at all.
As zoos go, it’s a really good zoo. It has many animals we don’t usually have in the UK, like hippos, and it’s huge; we didn’t get to see everything in the five hours we were there as we simply ran out of time! The biggest attraction was the massive elephant house where seven elephants live. It’s an amazing building and we really enjoyed watching the elephants, especially the baby one. We tore ourselves away from the animals to get a reasonably priced snack lunch in the cafe onsite. We braved currywurst for the first time and actually enjoyed it!
We were wowed by German ingenuity every time we went from the cold outside into a tropical enclosure. Thanks to a blower like a hand-dryer, we were able to clear the steam from our glasses. A genius idea!
Entry to the onsite aquarium is included with the zoo ticket. We could only fit in a 20 minute visit on our way out before closing time but you could easily spend an hour plus in there alone.
So if you want to go to Cologne Zoo, we recommend you arrive as soon as it opens and plan to spend an entire day there. I bet you still won’t see everything there! Make sure you check Groupon before you go, as they usually have heavily discounted entry tickets for teens and adults.
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Ludwig Museum
This museum is dedicated to 20th century art and includes works from Pop Art, Abstract and Surrealism. It has the largest Pop Art collection outside of America, the third-largest Picasso collection in the world and the most comprehensive collection of early Russian avant-garde artworks outside Russia. All of this is housed in a stunning, modern building which showcases the collections perfectly.
We won’t pretend that we understood half of what we saw, but we did enjoy trying to work it out! There was plenty to puzzle over and talk about and we all came away with a different favourite piece. It certainly made for an interesting and varied visit. This museum is definitely worth a visit!
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Roman-Germanic Museum
We were gutted to find out that this museum is currently closed for refurbishment. It was on our must-see list and so we were really disappointed. We did find out, though, that they’d set up a pop-up museum with a tiny sample of their collection so we went to visit that instead.
This temporary museum had a fantastic array of objects to see. The museum is famous for its Roman glassware and some of the articles on display were stunning. We came away thinking we definitely have to return to see the full museum once it’s open again!
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Wallraf-Richartz Museum
This museum houses an art collection of fine art from the medieval period right up to the early 20th century; the more modern art is housed at the Museum Ludwig.
We were blown away by the medieval art. The colours were so vibrant considering some of these paintings were 550 years old. Every picture clearly told a story, much needed when virtually everyone in those time was illiterate. The Baroque collection included works by Rubens, Rembrandt and van Dyck; Monet, Van Gogh, Cezanne and Renoir featured in the 19th century collection.
We are not massive fine art fans but, as avid history enthusiasts, we really enjoyed following the history timeline through the medium of art.
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Where did we eat?
We travel on a very tight budget and rarely go out for full restaurant meals when we go away. On this trip, we mostly dined Lidl-style during the four days. We got breakfast from there every morning (fresh bread/pastries and fruit) and also got our evening meals there too (think pre-packed salads, bread and anything made with boiling water from a kettle; we’re very creative after many years of practice!).
We did, however, enjoy two meals out and they were both very good!
After a very early start for our flight on the Sunday morning, our rumbling tums took us for lunch at Cafe Extrablatt on Alter Markt. There was plenty to choose from, most of the menu was also in English and the portions were very generous. We really enjoyed the food.
It was very busy when we arrived around noon and they were turning people away by 12.30pm. So, we reckon it’s worth getting there early if you can. It’s a busy, bustling place so not very relaxing but it’s perfect for people spotting and being surrounded by the German language.
Overall, we gave our meal 7/10.
We treated ourselves to a meal out on our final day and we most definitely didn’t regret that decision. We all had a fabulous meal here at Hanneschen und die Pfeffermuhle. There were lots of traditional German dishes on offer and the rest of the customers all appeared to be locals which is always a good sign. The food was clearly freshly made for us and the portion sizes were very generous.
The atmosphere was welcoming and relaxed and the server was very accommodating of our attempts at German. She was laughing and smiling away with us. Or was it “at” us…
Aggie was particularly impressed with the music on in the background. We wonder if the owner had a teen daughter who had chosen the playlist…
Overall, we gave our meal 8/10 and would definitely go back if we found ourselves in Cologne again.
What’s our honest opinion of Cologne?
Did we have plenty of things to see and did we enjoy doing those? YES, we most certainly did!
But, did we actually like the city? NO, not really!
Cologne is very much a concrete city. It was pretty much completely destroyed in WW2 and I guess they built it back up in a hurry. There are no parks or green spaces; nowhere to just sit and watch the world go by. The area outside the cathedral is grey and dirty with graffiti everywhere and rubbish blowing about. It won’t have helped that we were there in winter so I’d be intrigued to see if they bring plants/flowers out for spring/summer and tidy things up a bit.
During the day, there were many “undesirables” hanging around near tourist areas and at times I firmly put my phone away out of sight; I certainly wasn’t prepared to let our girls walk around without us. There were homeless people on most streets in the centre too. We have plenty of cities like this in the UK but I probably wouldn’t go on holiday to those!
Overall, we absolutely loved what we could do in Cologne but just didn’t like the actual city at all. I don’t think we’d ever go back unless we were travelling through Germany and the Romano-Germanic Museum was finally reopened…
