First time out of the country in five months - which I think is the longest I've been in one country in a decade - so a good time to reignite that winter trip to Germany thing.
I went to Cologne a few years back. It was the first time I'd seen the padlocks-on-a-bridge thing. At the time I thought it was something different, something to remark upon. Now it's remarkable in a whole other way. There are so many padlocks - no more than the amount you're currently thinking. Double it. Still more.
The other things I remembered about Cologne: 1. everyone wears fancy dress as a practice for the crazy days and 2. they eat their sausages raw. Both of those things were very much in evidence.
Aside from that I eas disappointed by how little I saw before, there is a whole load more city than just the old town. There's a sculpture garden where they have massive fried eggs; there's a botanic gardens where they have purple lawns; there's a river walk where you get to see crows pecking eagles. What's not to like?
Bonn on the other hand just came across as Cologne light. It probably didn't help that everything was closed but so much was just a rubbish version of Cologne. Don't get me wrong, it was a perfectly pleasant city. It just wasn't Cologne.
I've been reading "Stuff I've been Reading" by Nick Hornby. Much like the Polysyllabic Spree before it, it's made me want to catalogue everything I've read. Hmmm...
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