Cologne is also called as the city of Churches. On every nook and cranny you will find a monumental church. Some of them are so huge that they will be the talk of the town in any other city. But not in Cologne. All of them are dwarfed by the central cathedral (dom) in the city center. For me the high points of the cathedral are it’s location on the river Rhine and it’s fantastic stained glass windows rivaling the best in Rome.
Cologne, the name comes from Colonia Agrippina. this was one of the westernmost colonies of the Roman empire, founded by queen Agrippina.
Today Cologne is the media capital of Germany and Continental Europe, with many media companies and TV stations etc. Take a walk through the Schildergasse, the central shopping street next to the cathedral. You can also visit the nearby townhall and other ancient buildings.
Cologne was nearly distroyed during the world war II bombing campaigns of the allies. It is said that nearly 99% of Cologne’s buildings were in ruins at the end of the war. One interesting reason is that whenever allied bombers started their flights over to Germany and had to turn back due to some reason, they dumped all their bombs on Cologne, the westernmost German city before exiting the German airspace. Amazingly the cathedral survived the bombs except for minor bruises. Maybe because the allied bombers used it as a landmark and didn’t want to distroy it so that they knew their bearings.
Cologne has the biggest German university and the campus is beautiful. It is also a very important junction on the Europe’s rail map and serves as a very convinient gateway to France, Holland and Belgium. Paris is just 4 hours by train and Amsterdam is only two.
One of the things not to miss while in Cologne is the local beer, Koelsch. There are 18 typical local breweries which brew the light golden beer and is best had chilled in 200ml tall glasses made for just that (stange). If you are the adventurous sort try the local delicacy of mashed potatoes and blood sausage (yes literally filled with coagulated blood, Yuck!)
It being a cosmopolitan town there is no derth of any kinds of foods you imagine otherwise including some nice Indian restaurants.