11 hours of sitting on a plane. Ouch. Everything hurts. Finally arrived at Schipol airport.

Schipol airport is very well marked, the train ticket machines and the platform were easy to find. I first went looking for a place to buy a sim card with some data so that I can survive Europe with my non-existing sense of direction. Everything at the airport is super expensive, so I took a leap of faith and hoped I’ll find a vodashop or something in Amsterdam, so I jumped on a train to Amsterdam Centraal.

Amsterdam

The 30 min I spent here was great! It was fairly easy to find my way around, and conveniently there is a huge street from the station with shops all around. I took a stroll, got a sim card and stared in wonder at the architecture – and the random people.

Trip to Cologne

The trains are much more spacious than our Gautrain in South Africa, you can actually walk inbetween chairs! I also got a seat on the top floor (double decker train), in a section that indicates “Silence” on the windows.

The trip to Cologne started really well and I really enjoyed the views as we were driving through the Netherlands to Roermond – my first changeover. Somewhere on the route through the Netherlands I snapped a picture of another train passing.

Once I got to Roermond I had to take a bus to Dusseldorf, which was quite challenging! The bus stop was 900m from the train station (which I figured out after waiting at the station for 15min). The bus was late, which meant I missed my next connection. The flexi bus was really nice, with wifi, a vending machine and a toilet.

And then the train station in Dusseldorf, Germany… That was an interesting experience. Once I managed to find the station I walked into this big hallway with staircases on either side every few meters leading up to the platforms. The platforms are numbered, so you need to figure out which platform goes to where you need to go. There are these huge sheets on the walls with time tables which says to which stops each train goes, and which platform they leave from. I’m not sure if I did something wrong, but I read the first one and went up to the platform and saw on the screen that this platform is not the right one. I checked the next sheet, and it had different information! I probably went up 3 wrong platforms before finding the one that goes to Cologne.

Finally, Cologne!

As you enter you see the majestic cathedral. It actually scared me! At first glance it looks like something out of a horror movie. They’re unfortunately busy with restorations, so there is a nice scaffold structure on the side of the building.

I stayed at the Cologne downtown hostel, which is just a bit over 1km from the station. The hostel was extremely clean, and has an amazing kitchen. I shared a room with 3 other people and we had a private bathroom with a really nice shower. Each room also has lockers with 2 small shelves and a bigger area where you can squeeze in your backpack after removing half the stuff and hang up some clothes.

I arrived at the hostel around 5pm and was exhausted. I hardly slept on the plane and everything was hurting from sitting for so long and carrying my backpack from station to bus stop and up and down stairs to platforms. I decided to chill in the room for a bit to cool down and rest my feet and shoulders. After some time I decided to go out again, which I could luckily do this time with only my day pack containing my camera and a rain jacket.

There were a lot of people on bicycles, as expected, and then what I didn’t expect – scooters! There are scooters parked all over town and if you download the app (circ or lime scooters), you can scan the barcode on the scooter which unlocks it. It operates like a quad bike with your right thumb. This was absolutely my favourite way of travelling through town when I was not walking 😀

I made my way to the Rhine river to go find the pretty bridge with the cliché photo spot. It wasn’t hard. Next to the river there are rows of steps where people just sat chilling and some drinking next to the river. I loved how relaxed the vibe was.

I found a seat on a wall at the photo spot and sat waiting for sunset and the lights to go on. Unfortunately I didn’t think very far and forgot my tripod at the hostel, so I had to figure other tricks out to take the night-time photos.

After many photos and a lot of time spent here, I got on a scooter and went back to the hostel around 21:30. On my way back I couldn’t resist snapping just one (or 5) more shot of the lit up cathedral

The next day was overcast and so 2 of my roommates and I decided it’s museum day. We decided on the Wallraf-Richartz museum close to the hostel. The museum showcased works from the middle-ages to the 19^th century. It was amazing to see how the style and the subjects changed over the course of 600 years. Here are a few photos.

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After some time at the museum we went out to find some food and drinks, and then to find a place to sit out of the rain. We walked down the main road with all the shops, found some chips and found a grocery store with a huge selection of beers, wine, and m&ms.

The next hour or so was spent relaxing outside exchanging stories from our different countries. The guys then went back to the hostel and I went to the cathedral. On the inside it looks a lot less scary. It just looks like a giant church. I decided to go down to the treasure chamber where I wasn’t allowed to take pictures. It was quite interesting and somewhat scary to know that I was underneath this huge building. The treasure chamber and other rooms underneath contains a lot of gold trinkets with shiny jewels. Not sure if it was worth the 6 euros, perhaps if I knew more of the background about all the items it would have been more worth it.

Outside the cathedral I once again admired the detail of the building and took some more pictures, until it started raining quite hard.

Back at the hostel me, my room mates, and 2 random other people we just met at the hostel decided to make dinner instead of getting fast food, so we went to the grocery store conveniently located next to the hostel to get ingredients. After we had food and beer we decided to go back to the bridge as some of the others have not seen the cathedral and bridge lit up together.

On the way we found random art next to the road of a guy playing the piano and his cat under the piano (can’t see the cat on the photo below). This time I took my tripod with and could take some nice photos.

So my journey in Cologne ends, spending the evening with 4 people I’ve known for less then 12 hours, walking around town with beer (we had to refill at the kiosk at some point), and just having a good time. It was great fun and it was a beautiful city!