Climbing Cologne Cathedral & being insulted by ‘art’
Ok so I know I said to wait for ‘tomorrow’s’ update, (which never actually came) but we’re back a day later ok! I have been combining some days recently and though I could do the same for the 21st, to be honest I really can’t be bothered. The day was pretty uneventful anyway, I started the day in Munich and took a myriad of public transport options (including both the metro, train and tram) to finally arrive that afternoon in Bonn. Did I miss my connecting train because it randomly changed platforms 2 minutes before departure? Yes. But it does make me feel better that all the Germans missed it too, so I wasn’t the dumb tourist. Also now have trust issues with train platform advertising, as if I didn’t have enough beef with German trains already.
Anyway, I started with a leisurely morning, and decided not to set an alarm and just wake up when I wanted to, or when the other people in my dorm woke up. I must’ve missed them waking up, cause when I woke up around 9:30am the 3 other women had already left for the day. At least I know my expensive earplugs were worth it. I spent a bit of time planning what I wanted to do with my day in Cologne and packed all my things up. So far I’ve been really enjoying the hostel experience, it reminds me of being on school camp just with less chaos (at least so far). This hostel especially is very quiet, which is probably a good thing for the first hostel I’ve stayed in. I’m staying in a 6 bed dorm but there’s only the 3 of us so far, and I’m the only actual tourist, the other 2 are here for work. I guess that’s the only downside, I don’t have anyone to explore with, and the hostel in general is not social at all. I’ve probably spoken to 2 people since I’ve arrived, and I would definitely get lonely if this was the regular hostel experience. There is a really sweet German lady in my dorm though who is so kind, her name is Franci and she’s from a small town in east Germany. We’ve been chatting a lot tonight when we both got back and she’s so cute, yapping to her about my day was just the best after a day of not talking to anyone. The hostel itself is very clean, and the kitchen is really good and they have nice big lockers, so overall very happy. Just happy that I can expect more of a social scene with the hostels to come.
I think that also has something to do with where I’m staying. Bonn is already another town out of Cologne itself, and considering you have to take the train into the city I don’t think a lot of people would stay here if they mainly wanted to visit Cologne. And it doesn’t seem Bonn is very touristy either so I guess there’s just a different clientele compared to the next spots I’ll be travelling to which are definitely more popular with mainstream tourism.
Anyway, I went down to the kitchen, had some brekkie then planned my day around the Bonn train departures. I ended up taking the 11:20am train into Cologne I think, and got there in half an hour. Obviously I was most excited about seeing the Cologne Cathedral, and assumed I wouldn’t have to walk too far to find it. I girlbossed too close to the sun with that assumption. What I didn’t expect was to see most of it from the train station itself, even as I was still inside. Realising I did not, in fact, require google maps for this POI I pretty much just exited the station and walked around to the front.
I knew this thing was big but damn looking straight ahead you wouldn’t be able to see even a quarter of it. No, this attraction was definitely a big neck workout, but very much worth it. The dark, weathered style of the cathedral contrasted beautifully against the bright blue sky, and seemed to take up so much of it. I’ve never been intimidated by a church before, but now I can say I have. There was something oddly overwhelming about standing in front of it and just feeling so tiny and insignificant. And I’m not usually a fan of gothic architecture, and I wouldn’t say it was a very pretty building, but I can also recognise in terms of examples of gothic architecture you’re not going to be able to find much better.
Entrance into the cathedral itself was free so I had to check that out, knowing it would be difficult to compare to its exterior. And I don’t think there was any comparison at all really. The stained-glass windows were beautiful, but they were so high up you couldn’t really see them very well. Obviously the main indoor attraction were the expansive ceilings. I do think it’s a bit weird that in a cathedral so tall it’s only one floor, I feel like they could’ve made it 2 storeys that would’ve been cool as. I spent a bit of time wandering around, if anything the tiled floors were nice and cool to walk on and it was nice to get out of the sun for a bit. What I was trying to find inside was the entrance to the tower climb part, which I knew existed and wanted to give it a go. Turns out it was a whole other entrance next door, so I went on a bit of a hunt to find that.
It wasn’t much of a hunt (it was right next door) and I got myself a ticket and had to sign a waiver saying I was of sufficient physical ability to get up and down safely without the ‘assistance of a defibrillator’ (severely debatable). Under the ticket office was a sign that said ‘no lift no joke.’ This all made me a little nervous as to what I had just signed up for. They were just stairs? Sure, 530 or so stairs, but they’re just stairs. Right? I was banking on the ridiculous precautions being a result of unfit Americans tripping an trying to sue the church, but it did catch me a bit off guard.
With slightly more trepidation than was probably necessary, I set off up the staircase. And though I haven’t been to pilates in over a month now, muscle memory kicked in and I demolished those stairs. The process of getting to the top wasn’t exactly pleasant, but it wasn’t nearly as traumatic as I thought it’d be, and there were a couple of little stops along the way to see the church bells etc so it broke up the climb. It probably took me 10-15 mins or so to reach the tippy top, where I got a beautiful breeze to cool down and stunning views over all of Cologne. I could see down the Rhine, across the bridge, the old quarter and more beautiful angles of the cathedral itself. From the highest point we could climb to there was still the spires above us, so we could see up the side of the tower right up to the top. I would argue the views of the other towers and seeing the details of it up close were more impressive than the city views themselves.
I walked around the top loop a couple of times, soaking up the vibes and just chilling out in the breeze. I also met a couple of really nice British people and an Australian couple so I chatted to them for a bit before eventually starting the descent. If anything going down the tower was more difficult than coming up, mostly because the same staircase is used for people going up and down, so it got a bit tight in some places. Also I feel like I always get dizzy going downstairs, staring at the same spot on the step in front of you. It wouldn’t take much to miscalculate and miss a step, I was very close a couple of times.
But I made it down eventually, and next up on the list was to find a cute spot either in a park or just some shade to be able to Whatsapp call the family. My bestie Lani had gone over to visit the family for dinner that night, and we organised to call when they were all together. It’s nice to know they can still have some sort of daughter whilst I’m not around, we can’t have Mum being outnumbered by the boys for too long. That ended up being heaps of fun, I found the perfect spot on a little bench and ate my lunch at the same time whilst we had a yap. I even took them on a tour so they would be able to see the cathedral too (I’m a big fan if you couldn’t tell). We chatted for around an hour I’d say, before I thought I should go explore the city a bit more.
It's a very odd feeling to go from feeling like you’re in the middle of your dining room on a regular Thursday night to then be jolted back into the reality you’re currently in Cologne instead. I always feel a bit lonely and sad whenever I hang up on those calls, it’s one of those ‘so close yet so far’ feelings. It’s weird to go from feeling so connected and loved and understood to then be thrust into a city full of strangers. I decided to go for a walk to see if that would help my odd mood, and ended up crossing Hohenzollern Bridge, which turned out to be the second most visited part of Cologne, after the cathedral of course. I really liked the bridge, and the lovely views down the Rhine. It was also completely stacked with love locks, very similar to ones you’d see in Paris (when that bridge was still there at least). Walking across the bridge then back again was around 1.5km, and a good distraction from my weird current state of mind. A recommendation of Alex’s was Museum Ludwig, a modern art museum right near the bridge. I wasn’t convinced I would go inside, as modern art has never really clicked with me, but I trust his recommendations and to be honest, being around lots of people was starting to get a bit draining, so I thought it could be a nice activity.
And overall I actually really enjoyed the museum. There were definitely some pieces I really didn’t understand what was going on, or how that could be classified as anything special at all. There was one called Monochromatic blue. It was just a canvas of blue. No joke. Apparently it was some sort of big deal, there was one of the motion detectors in front of it that would beep incessantly when you stood too close, and a museum security person would come out to tell you off. I felt like saying trust me, I’m not about to steal that, I could quite literally do that in about 2 seconds and with zero talent. No theft risk here. There were also some other pieces that genuinely confused me, like I had no idea what the painting was actually of, but I guess that’s better than hatred?
Other than those, there were a lot I actually really appreciated and found super interesting. I loved their pop art exhibition, which I never took the time to consider in any detail as a genre of art before today. It was great to learn about how politically linked pop art was and how symbolic an iconic it became. That section specifically was done really well. I also really liked the Cubism and Surrealism sections, where I saw my first Picasso in real life (and then many more). I spent a lot longer in the gallery than I thought I would, and to be honest when I did end up leaving I really didn’t want to explore anything else today. Both my legs and brain were functioning at full capacity, and it was nearing 6pm.
I walked the 2 minutes back to the station to find myself a train back to Bonn which was due in 20 mins, and was completely packed. Unfortunately I did have to stand for the 30 minute journey which made me a bit sad, after the explorations of the day I was hanging out for a comfy train seat, but that’s ok. When we arrived back in Bonn I made a bee-line to the hostel where a shower was in immediate order. After a lovely hot shower, quick dinner in the kitchen and debrief with Franci, here we are! It’s quite late actually, 11:30pm now, although I did end up procrastinating writing for a bit so I could’ve been done earlier if I had any sense of self discipline.
Tomorrow I think I’ll spend the day exploring Bonn itself, there’s a couple things I’ve been recommended to do so think it’d be worth just hanging out here. Should be a fun time!
Currently MIA,
Lauren x
