Cologne Christmas Market

I'm almost tempted to recommend NOT going to a German Christmas Market simply because it was so crowded you could barely move. We lost our tour guide, each other, the bus...


This was an ISOW day trip, only made bearable by being with friends...who I lost, but when we were together it was fun. The crowds are nothing to joke about and I heard more than one American voice raised trying to find lost family members. Prices are high as you would expect from a tourist trap and you'll pay 50c to use the toilet, but the attendent will make you wait while they clean it up inside after each use, which is kinda awesome and somehow very German.


Of course, me being me, I was thrilled to go into two different churches and then got told to hush for calling out at wedding that the balloons they released were going to kills hundreds of sea turtles (my bad...eh..not so much). We also went into the Eau d'Cologne store (Farina House) and heard about the original cologne. Word for the cheap, just go into the store and pick-up a free history of the perfume in your language of choice then sample some of the scents on tester strips (they will spray you without asking, so be careful). 


Cologne Cathedral

We had a drink waiting for the bus outside the market watching people go by and freezing under a very thin blanket and then when we went back to the bus pick-up point, found out (after waiting an hour), we had to go somewhere outside the main city to pick it up. We were almost left behind in Germany we were so late!


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