Days 168 and 169: Cologne and Beyond

After the great Rosenmontag we needed to rest. That’s why we devoted the remaining two days of our trip to relaxed, unhurried sightseeing. On Fastnachtsdienstag (Carnival Tuesday) we didn’t get up until midday, had something to eat, and after a long sobremesa we went for a walk through a hungover Cologne. Something calm, to see the cathedral in detail and stroll down to the river. Later, since it’s on the same metro network as Cologne, we went to Bonn. Bonn was the former capital of the Federal Republic of Germany. It’s a small city (so small that I can’t understand how it could ever have been the capital), picturesque, and the birthplace of Beethoven. To be honest, we only went to Bonn to return to a traditional German restaurant where we had eaten two years earlier, famous for its delicious sausages with Senf (mustard). This year it was a bit disappointing—perhaps they’d changed the cook… Afterwards we went back to the hostel and spent the whole night playing table tennis.

The next day, Ash Wednesday, we lazed around all morning and in the afternoon went to Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle in French), in search of Charlemagne. We visited the cathedral, where Charlemagne’s throne and tomb are located. Its octagonal chancel is very beautiful (it was even proposed as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World) and appears in every history book.

The photo above is from Wikipedia—I can’t show you my own photos because my camera fell during the exhausting Rosenmontag. Sorry. :(

Afterwards we went to see the town hall, built on the ruins of Charlemagne’s palace (now a hotel). Then, as it was very cold and snowing, we returned to the hostel in Cologne to continue the table tennis championship.

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