Cologne; The start of a new trip

📌 Manchester to Cologne was surprisingly smooth despite train disruptions in the morning, a visit to Huddersfield was a nice detour.

📌 We arrived in Germany hungry for a hearty meal, the weather was better then the UK but still comfort food weather. Cologne is famous for Kolsch, a beer only brewed in the city boundaries as they need to be able to see the cathedral to brew it legally. So naturally we went looking for Kolsch and we enjoyed it's delicious light taste with some sausages and codon bleu. The Kolsch was highlight, they come in 0.2l glasses and the server continues to refill unless you place the coaster on top.

📌 Day 2 we wondered around the different quarters, cologne is super multicultural due to a post war treaty that gave people citizenship if they came to rebuild. This was highlighted in the walking tour with an American who'd been embraced by the city once he migrated. It was obvious that the city was cool, accepting and unique. Apparently they have the biggest carnaval in Europe. We ended day 2 with some beers, bratwursts and pork knuckle, German food was going down a treat after long days.

📌 On our last full day in cologne we ventured out on the tram to Bruhl Palace, a extravagant palace for the archbishop's back in the day. The inside was insane, particularly the entrance hall, it was also lovely to walk around as nobody was really there. Our last food adventure out was to get the biggest schnitzel in cologne, the restaurant was pumping and we sat at the bar, sinking 10 Kolsch beers and eating Schnitzel that wouldn't fit on the plate 😋Read more