I really like the cosmopolitan feel of this city. My culinary experiences would be a good example of the variety here: I have eaten GREAT Thai food here at a little restaurant along the river, Nakhon Thai. The food was so good, I went there two days in a row! I stumbled upon one of the best mojitos I’ve ever tasted at a random happy hour. There are sushi restaurants everywhere. This week, I went on a few dates with a very nice man from New Zealand (thank you, OkCupid); on Thursday night, we ended up in an Irish bar. The night before, we went out for tapas. There seems to be a little of everything. The tour leaves on Monday, sadly. I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface of possible nightlife!
I was here once, a long time ago, with my parents. I don’t remember much, and I’ve had a much better time this visit than I did then; after all, I was an awkward and sulking pre-teen. I remember sleeping through all the historical lectures our tour guide gave, and only rousing myself in order to shop for (shocker!) cologne. Even then, I was a firm believer in the Power of the Purchase.
They make this very famous scent here in Cologne called 4711. It has a very fresh, unisex-y feel. I’m convinced that it was first intended as a bathing-alternative; now, thankfully, it seems to have matured into an after-shower body tonic. When I was here as a child, I spent all my money on a big bottle of it. I used 4711 faithfully for years—if I remember correctly, it was my “summer scent.” I used Love’s Baby Soft in the winter. (My father bought me a new bottle of that every Christmas. Aww.) When I got too old for Love’s Baby Soft, I graduated up to Jean Naté in that horrible yellow and black bottle. I was such an 80’s girl!
Now that I am older and wiser, I have managed not to spend all my money on perfume—I did buy a little bottle of orange and basil cologne made by the same people that came up with 4711, but otherwise, I’ve resisted. There are some lovely pedestrian shopping plazas around the HUGE Dom, but I’ve steered clear of them for the most part. Like the rest of my friends on tour, I am anticipating that the real shopping should be done while we are in Berlin, next week.
Speaking of the Dom in Cologne: our theater is right behind the Dom, so I walk past it every day. People come from all over the world to gawk at this awe-inspiring behemoth. Night and day, there are tour groups with multi-lingual guides holding up ratty umbrellas or little signs on paint sticks as identification. (They are no doubt recounting the same historical information that I slept through twenty years ago.) There are always people on the plaza in front of the Dom taking photos from weird angles in a futile attempt to get the whole thing into the frame. There are artists that draw intricate pictures in chalk on the plaza, and musicians that serenade the tourists. All around the Dom, in addition to the shops, are restaurants and cafes, with cheerful tables spilling out into the streets—not to mention the main train station just at its back. The Dom is where it’s at.
I remembered being horrified by this structure as a child. The flying buttresses, the skinny little windows, the statues of sour looking men nestled into the outer walls—it seemed to belong atop a big barren hill, accented by a full moon and shrouded in black clouds, with eerie organ music for a soundtrack…DUN Dun DUN!
I have to admit that even now, as a 6-foot tall and fully capable 33 year-old, it’s still pretty creepy. I don’t know. Maybe I’m missing something. My colleagues seem enraptured, and sigh over how beautiful it is. They pay money to climb up the 500 some-odd steps up the tower. I think it’s definitely impressive: but beautiful is not a word I would choose. Foreboding, maybe. Gothic. Sinister.
Oh, and DIRTY.
Is it totally unreasonable for me to think that maybe the city of Cologne would take up a collection and get its most recognized and celebrated landmark power-washed? I mean, seriously, look at this:
I’m just saying: cleanliness is next to Godliness.
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