GerBeny: Eau de Cologne

This past weekend was my first hostelling experience! I took the 300+ km/h ICE train to Cologne, passing cars on the autobahn like they were standing still. Upon arrival at the hostel at 8pm, I asked the guy at the counter what there was to do at night here. His response: "get drunk."

Arriving on the brick subway

My Hostel

Awesome bag storage system

He gave me a map with all the bars in the neighbourhood, and checked out the local concert scene for me - I decided to go to some live music show 10 minutes away. After claiming a bed and putting my things in the locker, I bought a beer at the supermarket and set down the road solo drinking like a champ. Arriving where I thought the concert would be, I saw a huge lineup going into a warehouse. I walked up to some people in line and asked what was going on.

"Every Friday night this place has "happy hour" from 9 to 11. You pay 6 euros and get free beer until 11 pm"

Sold.

I got in at 10:40, drank 6 "test tubes" of beer (they were tiny mom, don't worry), and grabbed three more before time ran out. One of the guys from the line, Tim, had lived in Squamish for a year. We talked about cars, skiing, mountain biking, Vancouver lifestyle, and whatever else in between. After partying in the massive warehouse club, I called it a night at 2am and wandered on back to the hostel.

Saw this giant on the way home

After a solid sleep, I woke up and decided I needed a haircut. So I got one. Then I rented a bike from the hostel and went downtown.

Parking spots are different here

I made a beeline for the spires of the Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral); my mouth gaped ever-wider as I neared the massive building. This church is seriously big, and seriously crowded.

Big. It survived being hit by 13 bombs in WWII.

People give you an idea of the scale

The buttressed rear

Naturally, I had to climb to the top. I went down below to the cored-out entrance tunnel to the stairs.

Right through the foundation

509 stairs later, I was as high as I could get in the cathedral. The view was spectacular, but the tight mesh of the fence made for poor photos.

Stupid mesh.

A bit of the view, including a giant shiny slug

The 24-tonne Bell

The inside was equally as spectacular as the facade. Gorgeous 12th-century stained glass and amazingly high ceilings make one feel rather small and insignificant.

The architects meant business

12th Century Stained Glass

I like picturing a lone balloon floating for days, completely ruining the cathedral's presence

Leaving the Dom feeling a little more humbled, this drunk fella was wandering through the none-too-clean water feature in the cathedral square, occasionally stopping for some air guitar.

Getting some odd looks

I walked down to the waterfront and took a seat to watch a street performer for a while. He'd make fun of people passing by to draw a crowd before starting his show:

Segways and a game controller

In the middle of the show, some guy walked by and started doing pullups on the tree in front of ~100 people.

Redpants humoured me

After taking a quick walking tour of some city sights, I set across the bridge to the Music Store where Tim works.

Love padlocks on the bridge, some people have bigger hearts than others

They got seriously dense

Oddly enough, the Music Store store was a highlight of the trip. 5 stories high, it had thousands of guitars on display, along with entire floors dedicated to drums and classical instruments. Tim works on the top floor in the DJ/sound system/stage setup department. We got to play around with some seriously nice equipment (the centre light in the following pictures costs 18000 euros), and listen to the differences between expensive and really expensive monitor arrays.

Awh yeah.

I went home with the intention of heading out again, but found myself too exhausted. I chatted with a classically Eastern European Romanian guy for a while, but didn't feel like joining when he went out searching for prostitutes and an allegedly good time.

The next day I went to the Roman museum, which was pretty neat. The whole museum was built around a massive mosaic which was discovered while digging out a bomb shelter during WWII.

The mosaic

Statues 'n stuff

Gold leaf leaves

Closer shot of the mosaic floor

When I stepped out of the museum, I heard loud exhaust notes echoing through the city. I promptly changed course and headed towards the noise - guess where I found myself?