If you've been following along on my adventures, you know that during February, my first month in Dusseldorf, I took a trip to Cologne for the annual Karneval festivities. On that day, I got up and ready, shoved myself onto a packed train, got off in Cologne, blindly wandered through crowds to find a spot along the parade route, and eventually froze to death (lol jk) and decided to go back home. So, I've been meaning to get back to the city to do the real touristy things.
As many of you probably know, this past weekend was Easter weekend. In the US (and many other countries), this holiday is a big deal for Christian families, or families who enjoy copious amounts of chocolate and people dressed as scary, human-sized bunnies. However, here in Germany, the vast majority of the population is Christian and so Easter (and all Christian holidays, really) is a HUGE deal.
I had Good Friday and Easter Monday off from work, and most restaurants and businesses were closed for the weekend. Also it rained all weekend and decided to drop back down to the mid-40s. And, as I mentioned in a previous post, plane tickets and hotel prices are rapidly increasing (thank you @summer peak season), so I was stuck at home most of the weekend. Honestly not horrible though-- I bought myself an amazing Easter brunch, started and finished the second season of The Get Down (stop what you're doing and watch it right now), and caught up on some reading. A+ weekend for one that had the potential to be awful.
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| Just thought I'd share my overly artsy photo of my homemade brunch to really drive home how much I LOVE breakfast. |
BUT ALSO, I finally got around to going back to Cologne! On Saturday most businesses/restaurants were open for normal hours, so I got on the train and was off to Cologne. I had looked up a few different things to do there on TripAdvisor (aka my favorite travel partner), but one of the best things about traveling alone, in my opinion, is being able to scrap whatever plans you had, and do what you want to do in the moment.
That included: the Kölner Dom (famous Cologne cathedral), a nearly two hour trip on my favorite big red tour bus (I'm literally such a toursit OMG), and then some shopping! Here are some of my favorite pics:
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| Kölner Dom from the outside |
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| Kölner Dom inside, all decorated for Easter |
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| I think I actually laughed out loud when I saw this on the tour bus |
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| The Rhein river, and a carnival in the background |
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| More of the river and the carnival |
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| More of the reason I came to Cologne. So weird (and sad) that there's no TK Maxx in Dusseldorf, despite the German home office being located directly in the city. I bought a carry-on sized suitcase in an eggshell blue/mint green color, in case you're interested. Also-- it's called TK Maxx in Europe due to copyright/trademarking issues, they went from J (in the American version, TJ Maxx) to the next letter (K) and voila! TJX had their European store name! |
All in all, a great weekend, and a beautiful city, despite the rain. Also, there were a LOT of people, as you can kind of tell from the TK Maxx picture. I've learned that I kind of despise crowds (especially when carrying my beautiful, brand new suitcase), so I booked it out of there pretty quickly once the crowds closed in.
This weekend I'm off to Hamburg, which I've heard is beautiful. I already got a ticket for a 90 minute tour of a chocolate museum, so I have the important things taken care of, for sure.
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