Köln (Day 1) - Dom, Dunkin' Donuts and Dreizimmerapartment

We decided about a month ago to visit Köln (Cologne in the English-speaking world) for a few days during the kids' winter break this week.

We had to change train in Mannheim, but the ICE train that we boarded there sped through the Rhine valley, and we were in Köln only two hours after we left Karlsruhe. Gabriel was so excited to see the speed of 300 km/h (186 mph) shown on the announcement screen in the cabin.

It was only noon when we arrived in Köln, and we couldn't check into the hotel yet. But we didn't want to carry our luggage around until check-in later in the afternoon, so we left our luggage at one of automatic "kiosks": put 4€ into the machine (good for 24h of storage), kiosk door opened 40 seconds later, put the luggage into the compartment, pressed a green button, door closed, a ticket was issued, and the luggage was carted away on a conveyor belt behind the door.

As soon as we stepped outside the train station, we were welcomed by the sight of the Kölner Dom. But we were too hungry to hang out at the Dom plaza and went food hunting instead. Glenda saw "beef chow fun" 干炒牛河 on the daily offerings at a Chinese restaurant. That's something she had been craving for, and that's what she had for lunch.

After lunch, we decided to get inside the Dom. This magnificent building is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and was built (over the span of over 600 years) to house the relics of the Magi (the Three Kings). According to witnesses' accounts, relics from three persons were found when the Dreikönigenschrein (the Shrine of the Three Kings) was opened in 1864. We walked inside the church, then headed to its Treasury where countless number of glittering crosiers, monstrance, and other historical items (such as Frankish artifacts from the 5th century) are displayed.

By this time, the kids were yearning for some exercise, and off we climbed the 509 steps to the top of the Dom's south tower. Both kids made it to the top on their own (to my relief). I was a little taken aback by all the graffiti along the staircase and on the viewing platform. Why do people feel the need (or perhaps the rights) to scribble illicitly on this sacred building?

After we descended from the Dom's south tower, we headed to Hohe Straße (literally, High Street) where we found a....Dunkin' Donuts! Dunkin' is not as good as Tim Horton's, but good enough for a Canadian in exile (yours truly). Here you go, a picture of the kids with a walking donut, and our afternoon snack. BTW, the smiley face is called the Kölner and its filling is not as rich as the Berliner.



We decided to check in at the hotel at this point. The hotel should not be far from Dunkin'. Before we found the hotel, we stumbled upon a LEGO boutique shop where one can buy LEGO pieces by bulk (similar to buying bulk at supermarkets). Here you see the LEGO bulk selection and Gabriel's gaze at a display.


We dragged the kids (and myself) out of the LEGO store eventually. After a few more wrong turns, we found the hotel right by the bank of the Rhine. But the dreizimmerapartment (3-room apartment) we reserved, owned by the same hotelier, was in a separate building 200m away. The receptionist checked us in and walked us to the apartment at Heumarkt 48, which is a few steps from the site (Heumarkt 65) where Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels maintained the editorial office of their Neuen Rheinischen Zeitung. By the way, a dreizimmerapartment has only two bedrooms in Germany; the living room is counted as a room.

While the kids were crashing on the sofa, I went back to the train station to fetch our luggage. By the time I returned, they were ready to go for dinner. Before we came to Köln, we searched for restaurant reviews at Qype, the European equivalent of Yelp. Glenda was craving for sushi, and we took the U-bahn to a Japanese restaurant on our list (Tobioka). The sushi was much better than what we had anticipated, and was on a par with some of the good sushi restaurants in the Bay Area. I ordered a local Kölsch (and then another one) to go with dinner. I must say I like the weißbier from Bavaria more. Taste and quality aside, the quantity is no comparison: a regular Kölsch comes in a 200 mL glass, and a regular Bavaria weißbier comes in a 500 mL pint (and I am not sure one can order anything smaller than that in München).