24/5 Eau de Cologne

Thursday 24 Cologne

We had bought yoghurt last night so there was no need for anyone to venture out. The internet shop outside doesn’t open until 10 – we are still waiting for advice from the insurer about how to reinstate our house insurance, which has expired. I emailed Air Malaysia last night to see if they will tell us if they have a booking for us, since we are apparently not going to hear anything from Air Asia.

Elisabeth fetched us at 9.30 and went to buy her partner a birthday present. This gave me the chance to dart off and buy her the orchid she had admired on the first day. Then it was off to Cologne. We had vistas of the Gothic cathedral from various angles, including down. Elisabeth kindly went to a lot of trouble to drive us around and even took us up a tower that afforded sweeping views of the cathedral, Cologne as a whole and even the surrounding area, although it was a bit murky that far out.

It is certainly a very attractive cathedral, part shiny clean, part scaffolded and part grimy. In circling the cathedral we saw a lot of interesting architecture, figures on the corner of buildings, hanging off walls etc (see photos). Also old pubs, which set us to searching for somewhere to have a worst and a beer. Elisabeth found us a nice shady restaurant where we had sausages and herring respectively, with the local beer, called Colsh, which comes in little 200ml glasses.

Nutcracker

We then came across the showroom at the famous address 4711 – yes its called Eau de COLOGNE which is where we are. We had no idea it was there. Bit of history: the street number was issued during the French occupation when they went down all the streets numbering each building with chalk.  Elisabeth treated J to a spray pack.

Finally, after emulating the trailer park girls for most of the day, we got to go into the cathedral (which is rightly very famous, which might be how it survived the war in which Cologne was heavily bombed). 

The side entrance

Top of the front

Front - Bottom half

Cologne is somewhat similar to Rome, where it is impossible to dig anywhere without unearthing major ancient constructions or ruins. We passed a couple of excavation sites where archaeologists were laboriously watering and sifting their way through sandy rubble looking for fragments of bones and pottery. At least, that is what they were finding. Apparently this was about the northernmost limit of the Roman empire.

Working on Roman buildings

Just as Elizabth said that this building is favoured as a wedding venue- out came a wedding party.

This whetted our thirst and led to a rest in a coffee shop in one of the nearby streets. I have to say how surprised we are that we can afford to eat out and drink coffee in such places in Germany- it is certainly cheaper than Aus. You may be tired of hearing this but . . why do we pay so much??

Fairy tale fountain.  The trolls do all the work for the girl

Panels underneath show them butchering (above), baking (below) woodworking,cleaning etc.  Very sweet.

We headed out to a well-off area next to the river with some very nice houses, probably typical of houses on the Mandurah canals. What was interesting was the very heavy watertight doors at street level and even sliding steel screens to block floodwaters from the upstairs balconies. The late afternoon stretches on past 9pm here and we lingered for some time watching people cycling and jogging past, or enjoying the sandy “beach” next to the river. We hadn’t noticed before just how fast the river was running – boats that lost power went shooting off downstream and apparently there are whirlpools. So although it looks inviting, swimming opportunities are limited and very dangerous.

Heavy waterproof doors in the high wall

Metal runs for the waterproof shutters/door panels in case of flood

Historic riverside pub (above/below)

Elisabeth dropped us off just before 8, which gave me time to catch the local internet shop, where we found that the insurer had decided that they COULD offer us the opportunity to pay with Bpay . . . before close of business on 24/5. By the time we received this, it was 25/6 in Aus already L However, we got the wifi details from the landlord and managed to skype the payment through.

We skipped dinner and jumped into bed.

Will he fit in the lugguage?????  Will he fit in the house?????