my quaint world

Cologne is situated on the river Rhein in North Rhine-Westphalia and is the fourth largest city in Germany after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich with around 1,000,000 inhabitants. It is one of the oldest cities in Germany, having been founded by the Romans in A.D. 50. Today, it is one of the nation's media, tourism and business hotspots and is renowned as the country's gay capital.

So we went there during the long Christmas weekend. It was a smooth 2 hours drive away from Brussels in our new bus - Ford S-Max :)



The city's world famous Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom)


Another church around the corner.


In fact, I was intrigued by Cologne as I've heard in the past weeks that there in Cologne are the best and largest Christmas Markets. Also, as I was reading it up, then I realised that it is really where the 4711 cologne (after-shave) originated from. 4711 is my dad's ever favourite. It is an ever familiar smell.

The 4711 house is located in central Cologne on a street called Glockengasse. Eau De Cologne originated here, and eventually became the home of the famous perfume called 4711! The brand got its name from the house, Napoleon ordered his soldiers to count the houses and this was number 4711.

In fact, I read further and the story runs longer around the original owner who sold of the company but not his name, so the next owner rebranded it with the number of the house. Bla, bla, bla. I will not bore you here. If you are interested, just google it. (I AM becoming a google freak here)

Ok, and a faraway view of ONE of the VERY famous Christmas Markets. There are just 3 of my yummy favourite things found there :
- Gluhwein (hot wine)
- Curry Wurst (German Sausage)
- To-Die-For Mushroom Stew (Fresh button mushrooms cook in wine/ cognac/ porto - still googling for the recipe)


Lastly, it is also a fantastic shopping place. Lucky us, the day of our arrival was the start of the winter sale. I got a wool pullover from Massimo Dutti for 30 bucks. Muahaha, I always love best buys :)