Eau de Cologne

In early July I went to Cologne (Köln) for a work trip. Joe was supposed to join me, but had to make an emergency trip to Alaska. So, I was left to explore the city on my own, and with help of Sebastian, my brother's friend who is from the region.

Cologne is famous for 5 things, in my estimation, listed in the order I experienced them: beer, the Cathedral, cologne, Karneval, and being a major Roman settlement.

Kölsch coaster

As part of my work meeting we went out to a brewery for dinner. The beer that is famous in Cologne is Kolch, a rather light beer served in 0.2-0.3 L portions (small by German standards). Servers carry special baskets of beer, and when yours is empty you automatically get another and a mark on your coaster indicating how many you have received. My solution to stop this process was to not finish my last beer. In fact, the appropriate action is covering your glass with the coaster.

View of Cathedral spires.

After my meeting, I met with Sebastian and we climbed to the top of the Cathedral (“Dom”). We timed our visit perfectly, because we were in the belfry for the noon ringing. The views of town and the Rhein were great – although it looked a bit different from the style of wood-beam building I am used to in the south. We later went on a tour and learned that it took 800 years to complete the cathedral, which is evident from the different types of stone used at different stages. The cathedral houses relics of the three wise men, which has made it am important pilgrimage site. The cathedral was thronged with tourists when we visited; but only twice as many per day as visited in the Middle Ages.

Cologne (the fragrance) takes its name from the city, and there are two companies that claim to have pioneered the first cologne recipe (still used today, of course). Both occupy prominent buildings in the city’s center, and generally seem to be oblivious to the other’s presence. Well, whatever the technical definition of cologne is and who made it first, I’m pretty sure Cleopatra used something to make her smell nice millennia earlier.

Party on the riverfront

Cologne is probably the biggest party scene in Germany during Karneval season. You've seen the pictures of parades for the equivalent "Fasnet" in our region, but apparently Cologne celebrates on a much larger scale. Although it was not Karneval season, I did experience the city's party personality through the "Kölner Lichter", the summer fireworks festival. The riverfront was thronged with people and boats enjoying bands, food and beer, and awaiting an evening fireworks display.

The day I left I visited the Roman museum in the city. During building projects over the centuries, a lot of finds have been made beneath the current city. Some of the grandest include tile mosaics. Apparently one hosted a dinner of international leaders, including President Clinton. I still can't believe even world leaders were allowed to walk on it. There was a lot of other interesting stuff in the museum, but I really liked the pitcher and cup sets, complete with an inscription that said something like, "to your health!" I could imagine something similar for sale at World Market - so I guess we haven't changed so much from Roman times.

Roman wine service.