...of the stonework is the same colour. More importantly architecturally is that the nineteenth century spires were built to medieval architects' drawings dating from around 1300.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Walking the half mile or so from our hotel towards the Cathedral, we had the best chance to actually appreciate the growing enormity of it. Our first impressions were actually in the dark on a damp October evening. It is at night that the exterior of Cologne Cathedral looks its spectacular best. The whole structure is beautifully illuminated, the spires particularly, lit by lanterns from within, make the most lasting impression.
In reality, whilst yes the twin spires point dramatically skywards, it is the sheer bulk of the body of the building which begins to make a real impression upon you. We finally approach via a flight of shallow steps...
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...WHY DID WE BOOK THE HOTEL VIKTORIA - COLOGNE?
It all started earlier in the year upon receiving an unexpected wedding invitation - not in Cologne, but in Lubeck, three hundred miles to the north east. Having decided on taking the car, and to make an autumn break of it, we decided that we would split our German holiday in two: three days in Lubeck and a further three in Cologne.
During the last six years we have driven through Cologne over twenty times on our way to or from Poland, but have never stopped to actually see this magnificent city.
We spent several nights on the 'net looking for a suitable hotel, quickly coming to two conclusions: 1) that Cologne is a far from cheap place to stay, and that 2) the actual choice of accommodation in the city is not all that great, especially if, like us, you want to stay in the city...
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...Hey there. I am new here; active at ciao-germany though. I am expressing my experiences at ciao.uk, cos i just wanna keep my english up to date. I used to live in America. Speaking German all the times makes me forgetting the english language. So I hope it didnt get so bad.
Well, Cologne is the city where i live at. I dont know why they put this picture for that "product", because the most important and popular part is the center of cologne. In the middle of the center, there is the hugest cathedral all over the world - the cologne cathedral. They started to build it in 1248 and it lasted more than 600 years to finish building it up. It is impressive when you look up the cathedral. Imagine how many Japanese people are running around there and taking pictures. That really cracks me up. Inside the cathedral there are the corpses...
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Stayed at the Hotel for 5 days/4 nights at the end of May/beginning of June, have stayed in various 5* hotels around European cities and this was up in the top list. Very pleasant stay, all the staff always had a smile and welcome and were very helpful... more
There are two Sofitel hotels in Berlin, and this review is for the Dorint Sofitel Schweizerhof, not the Dorint Sofitel am Gendarmenmarkt. Both are part of the Accor hotel chain.
~~~ Location and Getting There ~~~
The Schweizerhof can be found on... more