The Adventure

Köln is one of the few cities that I visited with intention to see something I already knew about. As opposed to my usual knowledgeless wanderings, the Köln Cathedral had appeared on my Instagram years prior and become a fascination of mine. The rest of the city, though, was a mystery to me. To my surprise (and joy), the cathedral was the first sight upon exiting the train station. This is where I spent most of my time, but first, naturally, I bought another pretzel. The time stamps on my photos show a 2-hour and 20-minute space between my first and last pictures of the Cathedral, including its interior. I was expecting to have to pay to enter, but it was actually free. The interior was as spectacular as the exterior. High arched ceilings, intricate details, and an underground chapel were all among the things that I saw. And of course the exterior too, with its massive towers and arches, is the most impressive church building I have ever seen.

I then crossed the river on the Hohenzollernbrücke to check out the other half of the city. The Bridge itself was cool and unique, covered in love locks. In the rest of my travels, I discovered this was maybe not as unique as I thought, but this was the first one I remember seeing. The opposite side of the river didn’t have anything that compared to the cathedral, but was nonetheless fun to explore. I’ve found that often big European cities have a few big attractions, but the rest of the city is also beautiful and often looked over.

At the end of my adventures in Köln, I stopped into a mall and bought a lot of food because it was cheap. Then I went to the Christmas market, which was right by the cathedral. There I bought a hot chocolate that was not cheap. I guess things balanced out in the end. Naturally, I took a few more pictures of the Cathedral before buying some food and heading back to the train station. I actually left Köln pretty early in the day, maybe mid-afternoon. I forget why I left so early, perhaps there was a very specific train I had to catch. When my train came, I was back to Malmö, with just a quick layover in Hamburg.

Highlight

It goes without saying that the Köln Cathedral is the highlight of the city. It’s a bit hard to describe why it stands out so much to me. Perhaps it is because it is so tall, one of the tallest cathedrals in the world, with two towers instead of one. It’s darker colour also lends to a more imposing look. Overall, the building is just a wonder of architecture and I am so glad I got to see it in person.

Cost

I spent more than usual in Köln. This was partly because of my love for German food, such as the Pretzel and Schnitzel I got that day. However, a lot of this cost was the almost €12 (~$18 CAD) I spent on snacks at some cheap food store in the mall. I also picked up that very expensive hot chocolate at the Christmas market, and a souvenir model of the cathedral. This all added to a total of €29.92 or $45.35 CAD. I also spent another $13.37 for a meal in Hamburg during the layover on the trip back.

Concluding Thoughts

I would return to pretty much everywhere I visited on my Christmas trip, but Köln stands out even among those. I think the main draw is the cathedral, but honestly, I think that’s a good enough reason to visit. It’s the third-tallest church building in the world, the tallest cathedral, and the tallest two-towered exterior. It’s a very impressive building to visit, and even though I haven’t said too much about the rest of the city, it’s also worth a look around. For me, checking something like this off my bucket list was so fun. I definitely recommend, if possible, to make efforts to check things off your own bucket lists, because it’s so worth it to go see or do what you’ve dreamed of for who knows how long. And of course, if Köln isn’t on that list, it’s absolutely worth adding!