I did not sleep well after day 1. I think my nap in the mid morning on day 1 must have thrown me off. I probably only slept about 4-5 hrs on my first night so I was slow to get out of bed on day 2. When I finally got up and around I did some game planning for what was to come for the rest of the week. I decided against getting a car and will probably just take a train around Germany and Holland. Once game planning was complete, I went downstairs to book another night in my hotel then next door to the train station to hop a train to Cologne. Why did I leave the ‘dorf for a city that I visited two years ago? Because everything in Dusseldorf was also closed on Tuesday for Xmas eve and there are more sights to see in Cologne than the ‘dorf. So off I went. On a local train. Whoops. The train I was supposed to take was one stop away from Cologne. The one I got on took about 15 stops. Doh. Bad train schedule reading on my part. But it went where I was wanting to go so that was good.
Bummer. Like in Dusseldorf, most everything was closed. Including the Christmas markets. Wah? It's not yet Christmas, be open! One good thing about churches is that they are open almost every day. And the Köln Dom is train station adjacent so I didn't have far to go to see it.
The Köln Dom (Cologne church) is freakin’ sweet. Looks similar inside to Gaudi's Sacre Coeur in Barcelona except not nearly as big. But very impressive inside. Laid out in the shape of a cross. Lots of little nooks and crannies with old religious stuff on the wall or paintings or statues or little alcove areas for people to pray. The ceilings are really high (141'?). Stained glass all the way up to there. A huge pipe organ. And the thing that it's famous for, other than being the tallest building in the world for a time after it was completed -- a gold box thingy containing what is said to be the remains of the three magi/wise men. That makes it one of the top three religious sites for Christians in the world. Boom. And here is the church:
Spent a good bit of time walking around and looking up at around. Sat down and looked around. I then walked about 30 minutes down along the river to the zoo. And at 2pm on Christmas Eve they were just closing. So I turned around and walked another 30 mins back to the Dom. Repeated my church takings-ins for another 30 mins or so. Here’s what the walk along the river looked like:
I had seen everything I could see in Cologne so I walked down the steps from the church to the train station and grabbed a bite to eat. I have had five meals in Germany so far. 2 small fries at McDonalds. 2 pepperoni on baguette sandwiches from a chain in train stations. And a bratwurst from a Christmas market. That's four out of five bought at a train station. Classy.
After my leisurely lunch I bought my train ticket back to Dusseldorf, waited 10 minutes, and got on my train. I have said it before but the train service in Europe is unreal. Fast. Convenient. Easy. But a little pricey. 30 minutes after I got on the train, I was back in Dusseldorf. I stopped at the ticket kiosk when I got back to the train station to check tickets to my next destination -- Luebeck. I saw a time and a price that I liked (€90) so I bought it. 1130 train the next day, 4.5 hrs w a change of trains in Hamburg.
Everything was still shut down in the ‘dorf so I went back to my hotel for a while. Went thru emails, looked at hotels in Lubeck, talked to a friend over Facebook that I met in Berlin years back that used to live in Luebeck, and finally booked another Ibis hotel near the central train station in Luebeck.
After taking care of business at the hotel, I got wrapped up again and went out to check out the tv tower again. I had read that it was the world’s tallest clock. And you know I had to go see that! In the middle of my 30 minute walk to the river and clock tower, it started to rain. Umbrella and hood were both back in the hotel room. So I would just get rained on. Walking to the tower, it became clear that everyone was doing something for Christmas Eve. It was only 830 and the roads were deserted. Only a few taxis looking for fares. I made it to the tower! Here's a picture of the clock on the tower.
It was 8:39 or 20:39. The two lights on top and no lights underneath it signify 20. Then there are 3 lights then 9 lights. With the seconds lit up underneath that. The red lights break up the hours from the minutes from the seconds. Time!
I then made a u-turn and walked along the river to the old town, made a right, and walked back thru the city to the hotel at the train station. Time for dinner. Back to the same sandwich place I had eaten twice before for a tomato and mozzarella sandwich and a Sprite. Healthy. (PS – I ended up losing weight on this trip to the point where my belt got too big for my britches).
Then back to my room to eat, catch up on emails and internets, then it was bedtime. Santa would be here soon!
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