Despite it now being April and this being written in hindsight, the monotony of library days is still the same, so I thought I would share with you our little Christmas getaway, from the Oxford spires to the brutalist architecture of Cologne.
We stayed in this Airbnb, a perfect size for the two of us in a really cute neighbourhood. Being slightly out of the centre meant that we got to explore far more than just the touristy sights, which is always good when you visit a new city.
On our first evening there, we went to a pizza place that was recommended in this book, called 485°- after a long day of travelling, pizza always seems like the best idea.
The pizzas were laden with toppings- almost too many actually. I gave some of my ham to Barney as it made the pizza so salty, but delicious otherwise. Would recommend!
You can find the place here: http://www.485grad.de/
And here: Kyffhäuserstraße 44, 50674 Cologne
We ventured to scout out the Christmas markets the next day- and there are SO many Christmas markets. All of them pretty similar, selling glühwein, hot chocolates and lots of meats and sausages.
We turned to the Wallpaper guide for Cologne/Dusseldorf for our next dinner spot. Wallpaper guides are usually a holiday essential for us, but this one is out of print so we had to make do with the app. We chose a 70s-looking bar/restaurant for that night, called Hallmackenreuther.
The decor was really cool, with retro lighting and vintage vending machines on the walls.
The food in this place was slightly disappointing- I ordered the goat's cheese ravioli which was beyond rich, meaning I could only get halfway through. And with my fondness for pasta, that says a lot!
We decided we also wanted to venture into the slightly more touristy side of activities, so took a trip to the chocolate museum.
This place was really fun- it smelled incredible, you got free samples of molten chocolate from a massive fountain and the gift shop at the end was a chocolate-lover's dream.
For our last evening, we went off-piste without the guide books and went to a restaurant called Tanica, which we had passed every day and each time were intrigued.
The atmosphere was really good- it was really busy which is always a great sign, and big groups of Cologne-dwellers were passing through the doors (another good sign).
The food here was the best we had in Cologne- so delicately presented and everything we tried was delicious. If you're ever in Cologne, I would recommend this place highly!
We had a late flight, so had almost an entire day at the end of the trip to make any other trips we wanted to. We ventured into another area of Cologne, Ehrenfeld. The Wallpaper guide labels each of the districts with a different description, Ehrenfeld being characterised by its shopping streets, artistic cultural scene and residential areas.
After a lengthy walk in the park, we went for a quick spot of lunch, followed by a beer in what seemed like a British-esque pub, but turned out to be a very German drinking house where apparently tourists were not exactly warmly welcomed.
On our way back to the train station to get to the airport, I got the only photos of what Cologne is perhaps most famous for- its cathedral. In fact, we only passed the cathedral twice during the whole trip- once on the way out of the train station, and once on the way back in.
The Christmas market below was definitely the busiest, but the lights really did make the scene very pretty.
Cologne was a trip that was mainly hopping from cafe to beer-hall and back to cafe again, which is exactly why it was the perfect winter-break. It had a great festive spirit, loads of cool bars and cafes to try out, and seemingly endless little streets to explore.
If you're keen to explore the Christmas markets of Germany, definitely consider Cologne as an alternative to the ever-popular Berlin.
