The day after our visit to the Christmas market in Brussels, Lars and I took the train of 6.25 to Cologne. There are 5 Christmas markets there and we were going to spend half a day at the one near the Dom. We arrived around 8.45 at the main train station, which is located right near the mighty Dom. Though it was raining quite hard, the first look at the Christmas market cheered us up, especially when we saw the giant Christmas tree in the center and all the beautiful lights, that spread a cozy atmosphere.
We still had to wait 2 hours before the market opened. Since we hadn’t had breakfast yet, we started looking for a pub or restaurant. The nearest one to the Dom that was already open, was Fruh. Lars and I enjoyed fried eggs with bacon and around 10.00 we tasted our first beer of the day. PS: we usually don’t drink beer that early, but I think the salty bacon made us extra thirsty!
Around 11.00 we finally hit the Christmas market! First thing I did: buying myself a Christmas hat…
It started raining harder, but we found shelter in a huge cabin, where they sold drinks and food from South Tyrol. Lars and I spent a really good time here!
When we were outside again, the weather had become so bad that we sought refuge in the Dom.
From the Dom Lars and I went straight to the restaurant, to get some rest and more drinks and food, before going back to Brussels. We stuck to Koelsch, a beer that can only be found in Cologne and had a Mett Happen, an open sandwich with minced meat.
In general, we loved the Christmas market in Cologne and plan to come back next year.