This is part 4 of a multi-part post about Craig’s parents’ visit to Europe.
Part 1: Netherlands: An Introduction to Amsterdam
Part 2: Netherlands: Seeing the Best Art in the Western Canon
Part 3: Netherlands: History Lessons
Mom and Dad were in Europe for three weeks, which seems like a long time, but the first five days went by pretty fast. Time flies yadda yadda. Our two days in Cologne (“Köln” for you Teutophiles) hardly seemed like a blink.
Our train from Amsterdam Centraal left at 8:00 AM, and three and a half hours later we were checking into our hotel. With the clock ticking, we rushed out to find Cologne’s top attraction, the whole reason for visiting Cologne – Kölsch, that refreshing ale that tastes like a lager. Well, we did take a minor detour to Cologne’s other well known attraction – it’s UNESCO World Heritage Site Cathedral.
Cologne’s Cathedral, officially Cathedral Church of Saint Peter, is big and old. It’s 474 ft. (144.5 m.) long, with a spire that reaches 515 ft. (157 m.) high. And although construction began in 1248, it wasn’t completed until 1880. A visit to a church that big and that old took us about 90 minutes and tested the endurance of our neck muscles.
We ticked the cathedral off the to-do list and found the nearest Kölsch venue. With a traditional serving size of 20 cL (~7 oz.), even Mom could take down more than one (less than two, but still, more than one).
Mühlen Kölsch in Köln 
Peters Kölsch in Köln 
Früh Kölsch in Köln
With a couple of rounds put away (slightly more than your standard American bottle of beer) we were happy to just sit and enjoy Cologne…from the comfort of a Hop-On-Hop-Off sightseeing bus. Cologne from the top of a double-decker sightseeing bus looks something like this:
Cologne Cathedral from the Top of a Bus 
Cologne Chocolate Museum (Lower Right) and Hadi Teherani “Crane” 
Dropped Cone on Primark Building in Neumarkt in Cologne 
FrauenMediaTurm in Cologne
Cologne is, however, home to more than just one church, so the next day was nominally dedicated to seeing its collection of other really old churches. Our Hop-On-Hop-Off sightseeing bus ticket was good for 24 hours, which let us cover a lot of ground. We ended seeing only three churches (St. Mary’s Assumption, St. Andrew, and St. Severin), but Meghan and I did find a few minutes to re-visit the cathedral after the journey while the old folks rested up in a cafe. Shockingly, we also managed to find another Kölsch outlet where we regrouped and recounted the zaney tale of how Dad left the camera on the bus but which was returned to the bus driver who we were able to get to and recover said camera from at the end of his route.
On our last day in Cologne, we managed to get one more church in before we caught our train to Brussels. But, just like that our 48 hours in Cologne was over. Our hop-on-hop-off time in there felt about as long as it took to read this.
Next week: Waffles and more beer and churches – Brussels!