Cologne - a city on the Rhine

We arrived in Cologne yesterday (Sunday) and Daniel and Leonie went back to Hirschberg and Heidelberg.
There are football games playing here for the UEFA 2024, Spain vs Georgia tonight, and earlier England vs Slovakia in a town north of here, there are so many football fans in town, they are everywhere.
The weather has cooled down a bit so we went out for a traditional German meal at a brewery/restaurant in the Alter (old) Market, Peter's Brauhaus which still brews its own Kolsch beer. The food was hearty and the beer good!

There are Canal cruise boats tied up right along the Rhine River in front of Cologne, even the foreshore is heaving with people.
We started this morning walking over the old Hohenzollern Bridge (the bridge of love, which is covered in padlocks), this also gave great views of the Dom (Cologne Cathedral) which is where we went next. This impressive Gothic church was begun in 1248 and took 632 years to complete, although there were previous churches on this site dating back to 313. The most notable item in the Dom is the Shrine (relics) of the Magi, who were the Three kings in the nativity story.
We then found the Rathaus (town hall) another notable building.

We spent the rest of the afternoon searching the beer halls and pubs for, and tasting, Kolsch beers for which Cologne is famous. Kolsch has to be made within 30 miles of Cologne. The beer is served in 200ml glasses by waiters (supposed to be humorous but also grumpy) called 'Köbes' who bring the small glasses around, carrying them in a circular holder (a kranz). You sit there and they just keep bringing them until you cover your glass or ask to pay.もっと詳しく