COLOGNE - GERMANY

It seemed more than a little strange to be combining a trip to the Canary islands with a visit to Germany but there was a bit of method in the madness. I originally planned a side trip to Morocco but with no good flight times and the fact I wanted to visit Cologne the previous year it was actually convenient. I arrived late in the evening having to make a train journey so it was a case of stock up on money, walk round then go straight to bed.

It was nice to be in a city and have reliable public transport after Tenerife, you could go anywhere in the city whenever you wanted. I unfortunately had my bank card trapped in a ticket machine for around 15 minutes before I finally managed to release it. I walked a fair distance in the cold but clear weather before going up the observation tower.

I went back to the hostel in the evening to find it fairly quiet, the handful of other people all seemed to be stopping for one night only then leaving, It was hardly a social atmosphere so after a beer in the bar downstairs I had a fairly early night.

On the final full day the plan was to stay mostly outdoors but that went out when it started raining. I headed towards the NS documentation center, while interesting I found it very strange that the bottom floor had English translations but not the ones further up which cut off a big chunk of the time I would have spent in there.

Finally I went to the chocolate museum where I spent far longer than I originally thought I would. It was interesting and obviously one of the city's main attractions judging by the number. Stocked up on a few things including a chocolate beer which didn’t taste nearly as bad as it sounded. On the way back I passed the scene of a car crash.

I would have thought that I would have met at least a few people back at the hostel on a Saturday but the common room was completely empty at 7,8 and 9PM. It was the opposite of Gran Canaria where I had the people but nowhere to go at night. In Cologne the streets were full of bars and clubs to go out. I spent the rest of the evening on the internet and testing out video calling home.

With the ease of public transport I would have had no problem going into nearby cities and finding things to do during the day but I don’t think I could have coped with another evening like that. I was glad to be heading home…………………….