Cologne (Part 2)

After tearing ourselves away from the ginormous cathedral we decided to head down the small alleyways to look at all the different shops. There really wasn't many different shops than what we have in Bonn's city center, just bigger. We tried checking out a few stores, but everything was packed and we just weren't in the mood for trying things on. Cologne's city center had a Burger King calling out our name, so that's were we had a bite to eat before heading off to try and find Old Town (Aldstadt).

We did end up walking the wrong direction and basically got lost within the city for about a half hour before finally getting our bearings straight of which direction the Rhine River was. While trying to find our way we came across some very interesting things. There was some sort of religious demonstration going through the streets, it was somewhat scary, so we just picked up our pace and walked the opposite direction. We also saw a buggy full of about 8 guys peddling down the street with the name "Beer Bike". And that's exactly what it was, there was a keg on the front! There was even a Mexican band playing outside one of the shops.

Finally we made it to Old Town and yes it was very old town. Aldstadt is one of the few remaining towns left standing after WWII and it was very neat to see it in person. Everything is bright and cheery, with lots of restaurants and bars. We wanted to fit in with the crowd, so we found a kiosk down by the river and bought two Kolsch beers. It still baffles us that you can randomly walk down the street drinking a beer and its okay. I still felt like I was doing something illegal though, haha.

Our plan was to visit the Chocolate Museum and Olympic Museum, but after walking there and not finding the Olympic Museum very interesting and seeing the Chocolate Museum was 7.50 euro a person, we decided to wait. We will probably be back there another time anyways. So, we decided it was about time to head back to Bonn because we didn't think our feet and bodies could handle walking any further. We had to finish the trip off with a bang and some how managed to find the only "gay street" in Cologne. Everywhere you looked there was a different XXX store (for men only). Last time Andrew decides which direction we go, haha!

It has come to our attention that its not as easy to find a public restroom and most of the ones you do find here, there are those people that supposedly are keeping the bathrooms "clean" for you (which requires a tip at the end)! We thought that was bad until, we were searching for a bathroom in the train station before heading back home. It costs 1 euro to use the restroom and you have to walk through a turning gate, like you are going on some roller coaster. The men's and women's bathrooms were basically together only separated with an imaginary wall... very strange!

So finally back on the train we went and it was definitely a more peaceful trip home than the one heading to Cologne. We hope to go to Cologne again before leaving Germany because we had a really great time. We could see the Dom Cathedral a hundred more times and it would never get old!!

Enjoy the pictures!