Cologne, Germany (Part 1)

I had leave the entire 2nd half of Dec and decided to spend the first few days of it visiting my friend Chi Mee in Cologne, Germany. I had heard so much about Cologne and its famous Christmas Markets, so it was imperative that this trip be done before the 22nd of Dec, the date when the Christmas Markets close.

So I took the EK flight from Bombay to Dusseldorf via Dubai on 17 Dec. The entire journey was uneventful till 1 hour prior to landing in Dusseldorf, when I started chatting with this Pakistani guy sitting next to me. As it turned out, it was his birthday the next day and someone had ordered a cake for him to be served inflight. So not only did I get to share a slice of it but he insisted that I carry the rest with me!

Once I reached Dusseldorf, I had to take a train to Cologne. Unlike expectations of German punctuality, the trains were running late (as much as 40 mins). Chi Mee met me at the train station and took me to her apartment which is very cosy. After freshening up, we went to visit the first Christmas market where we met up with Chi Mee's colleagues from the Cologne-Bonn airport. We had some gluhwein and a bratswurst and generally walked around checking out the various stalls.

 

Then we went bowling and from a sluggish start, I ended up sharpening my bowling skills to finish with the highest score in my team.

The next day, Chi Mee had to work half day, so I went to the Lindt Chocolate Museum by myself. It was a wonderful experience for a chocoholic like me.

Especially interesting, were the chocolate dispensers of years gone by. We don't make innovative and pretty things anymore; everything is so functional.



The rest of the afternoon was spent with Chi Mee at the famous Cologne Cathedral or Dom which is a huge gothic structure with absolutely beautiful stained glass windows.

 We then went to Bonn in the evening to drop off some stuff at Chi Mee's brother's place. It started to snow which was a first time experience for me!!

And of course, we ended the evening at another Christmas Market.