Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Koln (Cologne)

I started my Cologne (English), Koln (German) tour in Mon. We started from the city landmark, Cologne Cathedral or Dom, a 17 century building. The cathedral is among a few buildings which survived after the heavy bombings of WWII. It was the tallest building of the world for four consecutive years, from 1884 to 1888. It’s a Roman Catholic cathedral. Everything outside and especially inside is magnificent.
Cyrus then took me to the busy part of the city, where the shops are located in downtown. Euro is the currency of the country like most of other European countries and I need $1.45 to get 1 Euro. So for this reason most of the goods are expensive but surprisingly many more aren’t!
Water is horrible here and has a very bad taste. So does its coffee! I haven’t found a good cup of coffee after 3 days so far! Burger King, McDonald’s and Starbuck’s have all stores here but I don’t even touch Starbucks in Canada and tried McDonald’s yesterday and it was not the usual tasty McDonald’s I get everywhere in Canada. I think it’s because of the water. After all Germans are not big fans of coffee as far as I see. Beer is their favourite. Sandwiches are smaller and more expensive than Canadians and are served with no dressing which is good for health but not taste!
Konrad Adenaer is the most famous German born in Koln I guess but I haven’t found anything but a simple statue of him so far. I might check again today.
(Photo: The main entrance of the Cologne Cathedral opens to the west)

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