Our trip to Köln (or Cologne, the anglicised spelling) has been one of our more spontaneous trips. As newlyweds, we wanted to go on perhaps a spa break in Ireland. But the prices were astronomical, so after an email regarding a flash sale from RyanAir, we’d begun looking at destinations, and Köln was our winner.
Relatively close to Düsseldorf where I had proposed, and apart from a day trip to a football match in 2018, I had not been before (nor had Amy).
Our itinerary was quite blank going into the trip: try as many varieties of Kölsch as possible, and take a day trip to Bonn to see the Beethoven statue. It felt weird for me, as I usually have an itinerary meticulously planned out, but going with the flow felt good.
Our first day, we ventured to Papa Joe‘s Biersalon to kill a little time before we could check into our hotel, and it is the most unusual bar I’ve stepped foot in, in a long time, perhaps ever. There are mechanical puppets dotted around the bar who occasionally break into sing songs, and you honestly feel like there is a clown lurking nearby with a chainsaw.
After the freak show, we went to Peter‘s Brauhaus to sample some Kölsch and grab some local cuisine. I had an assortment of meat, and Amy opted for goulash. The food was gorgeous, even if my meat did not look the part.
As filling as it was, we still opted for some doner kebab from Lukas Podolski‘s store, Mangal.
We were exhausted from the wedding, so we called it an early night, so we could make the most of the following day.
First up on the Wednesday was the chocolate museum, which is ran in collaboration with Lindt. The museum was fascinating, not shying away from the ethics of cocoa cultivation prior to showing you how chocolate is made (and offering some free samples), with a floor dedicated to the history of chocolate, how it was initially drank in the Americas, and how the Spanish tried to keep it an upper class delicacy when they took it to Europe.
After the museum, we resumed our Kölsch mission, sampling a few of the Brauhauses. Kölsch is the local beer style from Köln, served in 200ml glasses, with bar staff bringing you a new glass as soon as you finish – unless you place your coaster on top of it. The small glass ensures there’s no beer left in your glass getting warm, as it’s easily finished in just a few mouthfuls.
Pfaffen, Päffgen, Gilden, Fruh and Sion were tried this day, alongside Currywurst from Päffgen. On our way back to our hotel, we called into Kleine Glocke, a Köln bar with an artistic clientele, where Anthony Bourdain famously visited on his Parts Unknown TV show.
The following day was our day trip to Bonn. And for a city which rarely gets any acclaim, I loved it. The capital of Germany prior to German reunification, it’s a stunning, small city. Delicate streets adorn Beethoven‘s birthplace, and if you aren’t too bothered about Beethoven, Bonn also gave birth to Haribo. The former Haribo headquarters now functions as an outlet store, with many varieties of Haribo from around the world on sale (including larvae themed sweets), and contains some infographics on the wall about the history of Haribo, from founding to present. It was a cool, free experience, and there’s a Lindt store opposite it, if chocolate is more your thing.
We walked around Bonn, and checked out the cherry blossom avenue (although we had missed cherry blossom season), Beethoven‘s birth house, the old town hall (where many diplomats visited the West German government officials during German partition).
The main university building in Bonn, is also a large, beautiful former palace, overlooking a park.
Bonn is beautiful and definitely worth a visit for a day should you find yourself in Köln. A personal highlight for me was the Bönnsch beer glass. Equally tasty and funky.
The following day was a bit of a wipe out regarding the weather with nonstop rain, but we ventured to Mülheim on the east bank of the Rhine to meet my friend Rumi, a Turkish-German who I’d been speaking to for years online after initially interacting to practice language, she suggested meeting in Kilim, a Turkish restaurant on Keupstraße, which was essentially a small enclave street dotted with lots of Turkish restaurants, shops and jewellers. It was my first time trying Turkish food (apart from donor kebabs), and no better way to do it than with a Turk who was able to suggest foods based on what we’d typically like. The food was delicious, and I’m 100% on the lookout for Turkish restaurants now.
We had planned on visiting the EL-DE house afterwards, but we needed to change from the rain, and by the time we got back to our hotel to change and venture out again, it was too late, so we resumed our Kölsch tour (with Mühlen and Shreckenskammer). Shreckenskammer’s bar used to be located next to a dungeon where people were executed. Many prisoners had their last meal in Shrekenskammer – and the bar is almost like a time capsule to those times with sandy floors.
We then ventured to the Altstadt for food. We went to Toro Negro grill for dinner that night, and I cannot fault it. Great food, and great service in this charming restaurant, just off of Heumarkt. It was our last night, so we decided to stay out a bit later than we did the previous nights, going to Joe Champs, a US Style sports bar decked in FC Köln memorabilia, and GigaCentre, a giant bar/arcade where we embraced our pinball and ice hockey skills.
We noticed Köln contained numerous Stolperstein memorials through the city, I’ve wrote more in depth about them in this piece.
I left Köln with very fond memories, and have been recommending it to people since.
