Creative Cologne

Cologne Cathedral

Cologne is one impressive city.  Following Berlin, we visited Nuremberg and Bamberg (and yes, many a beer was sampled) then caught the train to Cologne.  The first impression that you get when you step off the train is the Cologne Cathedral, shown in all its majesty above.  With this amazing landmark as inspiration, it's no wonder the town is full of creative people.

Crafty shopfront displays

As we walked the streets around our accommodation in Ehrenfeld (which we booked on Airbnb, and was fantastic), it became apparent to us that this was actually a very creative neighbourhood.  There were crafty displays in shop windows, as shown above.  The cafe where we ate breakfast also hosts poetry and wine evenings.  We also noticed many cute little theatres and vintage shops.  People from Cologne obviously have an eye for the handmade touch, and we found little hidden decorated spots around every corner.  Someone had even gone to the trouble of pretty-ing up this heating grill on the outside of a building.

Detail on the streets

I also noticed a fair bit of art (street and sanctioned) around the city.  Peeking through this gate I saw what looked like an abandoned building covered in posters and graffiti, but a closer inspection revealed that it was actually a working theatre.

Abandoned building?  No!  Uber cool theatre.

Cologne is a wonderful city to visit, perhaps a little bit Melbourney?  There's also a huge array of bars where you can drink the city's signature beer, kolsh, or sample many other fine ales.  We found a great brew-pub called Braustelle (below) in the trendy area near Leyendeckerstrasse.  This area is full of rock'n'roll types enjoying the region's many bars (I could have sworn that I walked past the Northcote Social Club).

Braustelle brew-pub

Meanwhile, the sock knitting was coming along well, especially with the train time that I had up my sleeve whilst travelling between German cities.  By this stage I had successfully turned my first heel!  Three cheers for me!