Euro Garden, Cologne

Advantages: History. Scale. Drama. Art. Views. Free Admission.
Disadvantages: Crowds. Luggage.

...organ is supplementary to, although only half the size of the original instrument, located in the North Transept. IF YOU DON'T LIKE HEIGHTS LOOK AWAY NOW! Whilst on a spiritual and artistic level, the shrine of the Magi is the undoubted highlight of any visit to Cologne Cathedral, in my book the experience of climbing the tower takes some beating. This is something of a hobby of ours, climbing towers, particularly in cathedrals, if you think the view from the top of St Paul's in London is good, then that from the top of St Peter's Cologne is in another league! In order to make the 509 stair ascent of the South Tower to a viewing platform at the base of the spire, we handed over 2 Euro each at the kiosk and started climbing. This was at about 10.00am; by the time we came down, approximately an hour and a half later, there was a long... Read review

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Advantages: Milka...Lindt...chocolate in general
Disadvantages: cable car shut in winter

...my trip last century). Cologne also has a zoo, botanical gardens, various museums and dozens of lovely old churches which we saw in passing. We ate well in Cologne despite her being Chinese and not vegetarian and me being vegetarian and not Chinese. Or so we thought. We happened upon Rafaello, a famous ice cream café quite by accident one night, and went in. After greeting us in Japanese (they knew Fiona was Chinese?they just thought that what they were saying was Mandarin) the two waiters proceeded to have a conversation in German about whether only one or both of us were Chinese. As chat up lines go, "Are you Chinese?" is certainly a new one for me? We forgave them though when the food came out, and their sundae with hot chocolate sauce comes highly recommended. For main courses we either hit the markets or went to my favourite... Read review

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Advantages: Position. Clean. Spacious. Parking. Receptionists.
Disadvantages: Facilities.

...metres from Cologne's main railway station - one of, if not the, busiest station in Europe. The airport is around eight miles away. The much more expensive international hotels grouped around the cathedral would have been far busier and noisier, as well as being much more expensive and impossible to park at. We were blessed with superb autumn weather and, in such weather, it is a very pleasant walk along the bank of the Rhine from the Viktoria to the city centre, no more than fifteen minutes away on foot. The hotel is located in a quiet side street off of the main dual-carriageway that runs along the city side of the river. From our bedroom window we had a through the trees view of the river and the zoological gardens on the opposite bank. There is, unfortunately, nothing in the local vicinity of any interest though, this is... Read review

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