“Summer in the City!” These are the right words to describe this weekend. It was for sure one of the hottest days in Cologne this summer and we enjoyed it as much as we could, because we celebrated my birthday there.
My wife gave me this trip as a present and we picked a hotel in the city center very close to “Kölner Dom” (Cathedral of Cologne), the biggest cathedral with two steeples in the world, which is one of the attractions of this beautiful city. It was my first time there and I have to admit that I love this city.
We spent a lot of time outside by walking with our dogs through the pedestrian zone, looking at the shops, and along the Rhine River, which provides many options for eating and drinking.
Our hotel “Stern am Rathaus” is a small but very charming hotel with lovely and helpful staff, which is located next to the Cologne City Hall. We were so happy that the rooms had air condition so we could spend the afternoon in the room, because the sun was burning down heavily. The receptionist told us a bit about the city and interesting districts or places to visit. Beside this he gave us a recommendation for dinner, which we were very happy about.
The restaurant “Gasthaus Brungs” serves very good German food in a nice location, which is in a side street between the “Alter Markt” and “Heumarkt”. As it was very good weather, we could sit outside and enjoy the tasty food with nice wine recommendations to each individual dish on the menu.
After we filled our stomachs we went for a nice evening walk. We crossed the bridge called “Hohenzollernbrücke” to get to the other side of the Rhine River to the Kennedy-Ufer, which offers seating areas to meet with friends, to relax and enjoy the view on the river and the cathedral while the sun is setting.
We had a good sleep this night and the breakfast was really great. The hotel staff explained everything in a very joyful way. Before we left to go home, we took another walk in the morning to go over the bridge “Deutzer Brücke” to take some additional pictures of the skyline of Cologne.
It was nice visit and present by my wife and I want to say “Thank you!” to her. This was for sure not the last visit to Cologne as there are still some more things to see like the “Schokoladenmuseum” (Chocolate Museum) or the Cologne Triangle building with a roof top bar for a great view on the cathedral and the rest of Cologne. See you again, Cologne!
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