Cologne, Germany: What to See, Eat and Drink (And Why It's Worth More Than a Day)

We have been to Cologne twice now and somehow the cathedral still surprises us every time. In this episode we cover everything you need to know about one of Germany's most underrated cities: the Kölner Dom and the remarkable story of how it survived World War II, the Kölsch beer culture that only exists here and the very specific way you have to order it, Old Town, the Rhine Promenade, the chocolate museum on its own little island and the ancient city gate with three-euro spritzes outside it. We also get into the origin of cologne the fragrance (an Italian perfumer in the 1700s, not what you would expect) and the Carnival season that officially begins every year at exactly 11:11 AM on November 11. Plus a quick detour to Phantasialand, the amusement park twenty minutes away that Dylan insists is the best in Europe. He is not wrong.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hello and welcome back. I'm Lisa. And I'm Erin.

SPEAKER_01 0:02

And this is the Getaways Podcast. Happy days. Happy Monday, everybody. Hello. It's hot here again.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Yeah, I think I feel like we talk about the weather like every time, and every time it's dramatically different than the time before because we complained about it being too cold last time.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

It was so cold last time, wasn't it? Like I was I feel like I was just wearing a winter coat.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Yeah, no, it's crazy. All right. So let's talk about where we were last weekend. Cologne, Germany. Yes. It was our second time there. The first time was around Christmas Market, and this time was just kind of a weekend getaway. And then we'll talk about it in depth. But we went to the amusement park that's close to there.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Since we've moved, we're about an hour and 45 minutes from Cologne. So it's it's a super easy trip.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

Yeah, and just like an hour to Germany. So it makes just going to other countries easier. And Belgium's very close as well.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Yeah. And the reason that we went is because Dylan graduated high school virtually, right? Well, not virtually. I mean he did. We don't have his final grades in, but he graduated. He finished his high school and it's his favorite amusement park. And so he said he really wanted to go there and celebrate. So yeah, we did.

SPEAKER_02 1:15

Okay, so two very, very different trips. The first time Christmas Market, which I absolutely love, and we'll get more in depth. We talked about before, but we'll get more in depth with as it gets closer to Christmas. But this was just really kind of enjoying the city. Yeah. Walking around, eating and drinking, all of that stuff in addition to the amusement park.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Which we did all of that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Really, real really, really well. We're good at the eating and drinking.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

Yeah. All right. So should we start with the history? Yeah. So tell me about Cologne. It's old.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

It's real old.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Like nearly 2,000 years old.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

I know that's kind of crazy.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

So, oh no, actually, yeah, older than that. That's the cathedral. The cathedral is nearly 2,000 years old. But the Romans founded the city in about 50 AD, right? Okay, yeah. And then they started calling it Cologne, and then they started calling it when German took over, they started calling it Cologne, which is the K-O-L-A. K-O-L-N is the German word.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

And it's just Cone?

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Cone, right? Cone, yeah. But those those those French guys. Then the French adopted it and called it Cologne. Which the English take too. Okay, now can we have a timeout for one second? Please. I'd never understood why all city names are not the same no matter what language they're in. They should be in the local language.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

I agree.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

It gets weird. It's confusing.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

And and after living in Italy, I started calling the Italian cities by the name the Italian name. Torino. Yeah, Torino. And then when I was doing all my research, nobody outside of Italy calls it Torino. Everybody calls it Turin. Well, not everybody, but all English speaking countries. So I found myself having to like revert back to Turin, but it's kind of weird.

SPEAKER_02 2:55

Like Ferenza and like the local people should name their city, and that should be the name across the world.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

No, I know. Same with countries because Europeans call all different European countries different names.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Right.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

It's so so bizarre. But it should be named, it should be after the native language, the native country.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Right. All right. Well, back to Cologne or Cologne. So it is one of Germany's oldest cities and was originally the when it was Roman, that was sort of the capital area.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Province, yeah. Roman, the Roman What would that be called? The Roman Empire is huge.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

Hence the Empire Park. All right. So then the thing that you probably think of first when you think of Cologne is the Cathedral. The ginormous cathedral.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Huge. You can see it from everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

I mean, we were miles and miles and kilometers and kilometers away, and you could see the two spires go up. And at one point it was the oldest building in Europe.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Oh, it was.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

Yeah, for like a hot minute, not very long. But oh no, actually in the world. I just looked at my notes. It was the world, not just Europe. Wow. It took a very long time to build that cathedral.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Oh, yeah, that's the whole story, isn't it? It was like six centuries or something.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Yeah. So it started construction in 1248 and they worked for a little bit and then they actually didn't complete it until 1880. Just took a little break. But one of the things that I think people well, I don't know. Do people know this about the cathedral? About the relics?

SPEAKER_01 4:26

I didn't.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

So I didn't even know it, and I'd already been there once.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

Yeah. Well, mm-hmm. When we went with my my sisters for the Christmas market, they went in and they saw it.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Did you know about it before this? I did.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

I had read about it when we were going. But the there are relics from the three wise men that were said to have gone to bring baby Jesus, the three gifts of the magi, right? So there are relics from them. And there's a whole area apparently in the cathedral that's dedicated to these relics.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Well, does that mean there's like frankincense and myrrh? Isn't that what they brought?

SPEAKER_02 4:59

Yeah, but those are the gifts. These are relics from the three wise men, the three kings.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Oh, okay. So it's like the shroud of Turay.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

Well, relics can be all kinds of things, right? It can be like a little piece of bone. It can be uh all kinds of things.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Can I tell you a little funny something? Yeah. You sent me the pictures that Megan sent because I didn't go into the cathedral. Megan went into the cathedral. And so you sent me a picture from inside the cathedral. And then the second picture, I was like, oh, that must be the three wise men's relics. It was one of those creatures from the from the amusement park. Did you see the second picture? Oh, yeah. I couldn't figure out what it was. I was like, what is that? And I'm so glad I figured it out, or I would have just put it up as some of the relics. Did Megan see the relics?

SPEAKER_02 5:41

I didn't ask.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

But so, yeah, so it was obviously a very long time in building the cathedral. Then people actually make pilgrimages to come and see the relics of the three wise men, the three kings. So, and then in so for the cathedral, people make pilgrimages there. And the interesting thing is, like a ton of cologne was bombed out during World War II. I think like over 90%, right? Oh, yeah. But the cathedral stayed. So it's supposed to be that you are not allowed to bomb places of worship. And I mean, there's a moral code, but there's also like rules of war that you have to follow. And one of them is to keep the churches intact. And this one actually was, and so it sort of has become the symbol of recovery and strength and hope in Cologne because that was one of the few structures that were made standing during World War II.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

It's so pretty.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

And enormous. I mean, I can't, I cannot impress enough how just you feel like an ant standing in front of it.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

I mean, it is so enormous.

SPEAKER_02 6:47

The biggest cathedral. I don't know. I mean, like I said, I've seen, I think. Like I said, it was the biggest, tallest structure in Europe or in the world for a minute. Yeah. But I don't know size-wise how it compares to those.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

I I will say that when we went for the Christmas, because it's the Christmas market is right out front of it, the biggest alone. And when we got there, I had no idea. And when we walked up, I was just like, Holy crap, like that's crazy. It's so big.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Well, so pictures will be on the website, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

Yeah. So one of the other old structures that survived was the old city gate.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

Yeah. How do you say that?

SPEAKER_02 7:23

Like that.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Eigelstein Torberg.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Berg.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

And it is sort of like the entrance to like the shopping street that we go to a lot. So like restaurants and cafes and like little shops.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Like the entrance to the old city.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Yeah. And it's really, really cool.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

And it's just the gate.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Like all the wall around it's just like almost like an arc, an arch now.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Yeah. Yeah. But it was, it was originally the entranceway into the medieval city walls, and and it still remains. And it's really cool to see and kind of walk through in that area is really cool.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

And in the 13th century, it was the one of the largest. Oh, at in the 13th century, Cologne was one of the largest cities in Europe. And there were eight kilometers of walls and towers and gates surrounding it.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

So that tells you how much was destroyed, right? Like how much they were bombed, too, right? Because we didn't see anything either time of any other evidence of it staying. All right. So, and like I said, there are cafes and all sorts of places to eat and drink and be merry all around there.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

And I'm going to have to find the name, but a little insider tip. Right inside the gate, there's a cafe. And I will find the name and I will put it on the website that has three dollar spritz. It's outside the gate, right? Oh, is it outside the gate?

SPEAKER_02 8:42

Yeah, it was outside the gate. And but like in that little square right there. And it they it was m mostly a hamburger joint, I think. Yeah. But we'll have to find the name. But really nice, and not just Aperol. They had like different kinds of spritz too.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

No, yeah. I had a Sarty spritz.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

Yeah. So really nice and nice to people watch, hang out, have a nice summer evening.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

But that whole area is just hop it.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Yeah. All ages. But yeah. Yeah. All ages, all types of everyone. But yeah, a cool place to just kind of sit and people watch and hang out.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

All right. You want to talk about the Eau de Cologne?

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Yeah. So here's a fact I didn't even know about Cologne, the word cologne, that the fragrance cologne comes from the city cologne.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

I'm going to say I did.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Okay. So there was a perfumer. Oh yeah. There was a in the 1700s, there was an Italian perfumer that moved and was living in Cologne, and he created like this citrus fragrance, and he called it O di Cologne. And it means it means water of cologne. And it became so famous throughout Europe that everybody started using that as a name for all sorts of cologne. All sorts of perfumes.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

Okay, so other things that you should see and do in Cologne.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

Other than the cathedral.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

Other than the cathedral. And one of mine is a chocolate museum.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Yeah, it's Lint, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:14

Yeah, it's a Lint chocolate museum. And it is, first of all, you get samples, which you get so many samples. I'm all in for that. But you get to sort of see like kind of a bit of history and a bit of manufacturing, like a little bit of everything. And I really liked it. I mean, it you know, you should buy tickets in advance. It probably could take you like an hour to an hour and a half, but it's a nice little thing to do.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

Yeah, it is fun. And it gives you that whole like Lucille ball thing because there's chocolate going by on a belt.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

Yeah. No, it's cool. I liked it.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Also, the so I'm gonna butcher words as I always do, but the Hoenn Hohenzollern Bridge, which is the big bridge right by the cathedral that goes over the Rhine. Rhine or Rhone?

SPEAKER_02 11:00

Rhine.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Rhine. And it it's it's I think all big river cities have these, but it's the bridge where everybody puts the love locks on them. But you could see them from far away from far, yeah. But you get great cathedral views from there, great city views. It's a nice bridge to get over to the other side, which is where the a big park and zoo are.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

So and the bridge, it crosses, like you said, right across from the cathedral. And there's also like a big theater right there that has all kinds of things. Like it was Moulin Rouge when we were there right now.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

What was it? Christmas, do you remember? I think it was the nutcracker. Nutcracker, right?

SPEAKER_02 11:33

Yeah. And so it's also just kind of a nice thing to have right there. I will say about the Rhine too, you can do little like river cruises, but there are like for you know an hour or two, but there's also huge big river boats that stop in there. And it's a big dock. There's a lot going on. It's very social down there along the river. Like there's people walking, that's where I would walk the dog every day numerous times. But it's, you know, there's people running, there's people biking, there's it's just a very and people just sitting around like having a beer. Like it's a very social part of the city.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

That's the Rhine Promenade, right?

SPEAKER_02 12:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

And as you get closer to the cathedrals, it starts getting really cafey and bar y right there.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

And there's a park too. There's a bit of greenery, right? When we ate at a restaurant very close to that, but it's it is a very like nice social active area.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Yeah, which leads us to Old Town, which is also on the river front. It's you know, part of it's on the riverfront. They're super colorful buildings. And I know a lot of it was like Christmas based when we were there, and we really explored down in the old town, but really cute shops. Yeah. And and tons and tons and tons of cafes and bars and beer halls, right? And historical squares bills, which are my favorite part of Germany.

SPEAKER_02 12:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

And then there's one other thing that we haven't done that we didn't see the first time we were there, and we saw it the second time.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

Well, I wonder if it was closed the first time because it was so cold. Oh, it may have been.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

So there's cable cars, it's called the Cologne cable cars, and it goes from the main city side across the Rhine to the zoo area and Rhine Park. And it was it's been operating since the 1950s. And they're true cable cars, but they close, they're all the way closed. That's what a cable car is, right? Yeah, but yeah, they go they go across the whole river, and I want to try it, I think. Do I?

SPEAKER_02 13:27

I don't know. I'm afraid of heights.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

But yes, when we were doing research on them because I wanted to see what they were, it says many people miss them because they don't know about it. So we are telling you about the cable cars. Go do it and tell us how it is.

SPEAKER_02 13:38

Well, and it's interesting because, like I said, I walked wrecks like along the river both directions. And yeah, and like I, you know, I was watching them and it's it doesn't even seem like it's that far, but it just goes right up and over the river, and and it was busy. I mean, there was definitely people actively on it. The other thing I'll say about Cologne is that if you wanted to get around and you didn't want to walk, there are loads of bike shares and scooter shares that you can pick up almost anywhere. You just need to create an account and make sure you follow all the rules, but they are very, very readily available to get you from one end of town to another.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

And it felt like a pretty flat city, so biking wouldn't be that.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

Yeah, the only thing that I would say is it's cobblestone.

unknown 14:19

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

So a lot of it's cobblestone, so just be careful with the bumpity bumps.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Yeah. All right. So now we're gonna move on to the reason we went this second time.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Right. Which I mean, technically, we've been to the area three times because this is our second time to Fantasialand. The first time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

So we went to Fantasialand, which is an amusement park. Did you found it on Instagram?

SPEAKER_02 14:45

Oh, I don't remember.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Either Lisa or I found it on Instagram after we moved to the Netherlands, it just kind of popped up. And it was like all it's an Asian-themed. I mean, there's Africa in there too, but it's an it's primarily an Asian-themed park. That's why it's called Fantasia, right?

SPEAKER_02 15:03

Yeah, but they do have a mix of a bit of everything. I mean, you guys had Mexican for lunch.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Well, I wouldn't call it Mexican.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

They did. Mexican-themed food, but it is a little bit of everything, and it's it's the theme, although sort of random, the the specific theme for the rides and the areas, they're really good at. I mean, they do such a nice job of having a through line and making and detail. Like the detail in some of these areas and some of these rides is just the best I've ever seen. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

And I we took Megan there and it was her first time there, and she could not stop talking about how clean it is.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

I mean, it is spotless.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

And it was it was busy. It was so busy.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Yeah. You don't feel so dirty after being there. You know what I mean? Yeah. We still washed our hands, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

But so they have great roller coasters. You know, very much thrill-heavy. We I think there's like four or five like big, hearty grown-up rides. There's, you know, even a roller coaster that you ride that's got VR, so which is just kind of like something that you don't see everywhere, but it's really fun and really cool. And then they have, you know, all the they've got good family stuff. Yeah, they have all the rides for the kids and the younger kids, and and you know, it's it's like a you know, it is clean, and there's lots of food choices. There's lots of, you know, all like the themes are really great. It's it's a fun place to be. And and it's the prices, if you buy early, the prices are not bad at all.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

If you buy early, they're like $30.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Yeah, for adult.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

For an adult. And and we were like, oh yeah, this is great. And but we didn't buy them early, and so then they were like 69.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

Yeah, so you have to plan ahead and food is cheap there too for the food. Yeah, it's not expensive at all. And parking is like eight euro.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

Eight euro. Like that's unheard of.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Yeah. So well, I mean, we also come from Southern California where like Disneyland is, you know, you have to sell half of your We also live in the Netherlands where you could go downtown Rotterdam and it's still 20 bucks for right. No, parking can be very expensive in general.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Yeah, I will say that if you're in Cologne with a family, if you want to break up all the historical museum-y type sightseeing stuff, it's it's 20 minutes, it's 25 minutes drive. Yeah. To the to fan. It's you have to have a car to get there. There's no public transportation there. But it's it's a quick, quick break up your trip with a day at the amusement park. Everybody'll be happy.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Yeah. And it is really fun. All right. Should we move on to our faves?

SPEAKER_01 17:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:35

The old the old food, food and drinks. All right.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Now, what I will say is there's a lot of great restaurants that I've read about. We've eaten at the same place both times we were there. And I would go back.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

Well, yeah, because the do you remember the first time we went by there was with my sisters the first night we were and we couldn't get in because we weren't good at making reservations and didn't really think. I think it was like a Thursday night or something, and it we didn't think that it was gonna be a problem to get in. And so then we made reservations for the next night, and it was suit, it's a beer hall style.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

Yeah, it's a beer hall, yeah. It might be one of the oldest in town.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

And it was delicious and not crazy expensive.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

And I just remember we made reservations for the next night, and then we did Christmas market stuff, and then we were having like an aperativo, and I kept going, we gotta go, guys, we gotta go, we've got a reservation. Remember, I was so anxious. I don't remember. I even left early to go get Dylan to make sure we didn't miss our reservation. So beer hauls, I I didn't even know the history or like the approach to a beer hall. So the food is what you would expect viener schnitzel, sausages, splitzel.

SPEAKER_02 18:44

I had a slow roasted pork. Pork, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

And then which was like, let me tell you, that was so good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

Heavy on the potatoes, heavy on the sauces. But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

And I didn't remember this from our first trip, but so I ordered a large beer. So I thought I was gonna get, you know, like your Oktoberfest Stein, but they that's not what they do in the beer halls here. They it's called Kolsch beer. It's a Kolsch beer, it's Kolsch beer culture, and they bring you these little, like they might be two ounces. Is that what it is? Where they're like two or three. They're small, they're small little beer glasses. But what they do is they put coasters down on the table and they bring you your beer, and then they just keep the waiters have these little trays that have like eight or nine of the little glasses of beer, and they just make rounds, and when you're out, they just keep throwing beer down in front of you until you're done, which I didn't know this. You're supposed to put the coaster on top of your glass, and then they'll stop serving you. I never got there. I never got to that part.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

Now, the Kolsch is only brewed in and around cologne.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Is that right? Yeah. Okay, so this is just a cologne thing.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

So it's just a cologne thing, and the small glasses are called standin.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:56

I don't know how much they hold, but they are quite small.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

They're they're so small.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

Yeah. So that and then yeah, and like we said, the the food is very what you would think of being is German. Very hearty, very like what I would call like cold food. Pork heavy or cold weather food. Comfy. Yeah, but delicious.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

And but very pork heavy. Pork heavy.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

Very pork heavy, yeah. And there's also something else that I can't believe you haven't said yet that you love food-wise in Germany. Pretzels? Well, just the bakeries in general.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Oh, okay. I think I have I said this in a podcast before, or I've just said it to Megan. And people are gonna this is gonna be controversial, but German bakeries rival French bakeries, in my opinion. Now, maybe it's German pâtisseries, so they're doing French method, but they have some of the best pastries I've ever had.

SPEAKER_02 20:47

Right. And the pretzels, well, they call them Bretzels there. Yeah, they are you know, you can't beat them. And in fact, this week on Plates and Parties, we will be making them. So you can check out a recipe to make them at home, but I'm certain they won't be as good as they are in Germany.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

Absolutely, absolutely not.

SPEAKER_02 21:05

But we still give it a shot. All right, other food and drink places? Well, we just went to two beer halls. Yeah, but that's what you do when you're in Germany, right? Like all right, you got anything else?

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Yeah, I do. I just need to find it again now. Okay, so I'm gonna ask you some questions and you're gonna tell me if you knew any of these.

SPEAKER_02 21:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

And if you didn't, we're all learning something. Cologne is Germany's fourth largest city.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

Yes, I did know that.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

The cathedral houses, the largest recol in the entire world.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

Oh, I did not know that. I just thought it was the thing. Entire Western world. I thought it was just the three kings.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Cologne has 12 major Romanesque churches in addition to the cathedral. I didn't know that. You did know that two of them.

SPEAKER_02 21:48

Because the Roman Empire was there for a hot minute. That's true. So they did quite a bit of building.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

Did you not know this one?

SPEAKER_01 21:55

No, I didn't know this one. Carnival season officially begins on November. November 11th at exactly eleven eleven AM.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

Well that's interesting because Easter changes every year, but they I guess they November 11th.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

Easter's not in November.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

Wait, November 11th? That doesn't make any sense. Like that's during Christmas market.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

Okay, so Carnival season does begin eleven eleven on eleven eleven in Cologne at least. That's crazy. I know. The funny thing is that they it it's such a big deal, Carnival. It starts then and then goes quiet until February or March that they call it the fifth season.

SPEAKER_02 22:33

That is so I've actually read about the fifth season, but I didn't understand what it meant. That's so interesting.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

That's what it is. Do you know what happens at eleven eleven on eleven eleven?

SPEAKER_02 22:42

I do not.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Well, most people guess a church bell, a parade, or something military.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

That's not what I was gonna guess. Alright. Well, we'll have to try it out.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

Okay, here's one. Cologne is often considered Germany's most LGBTQ plus community. Nice. Isn't that nice?

SPEAKER_02 23:08

Well, you know, there were quite a few flags and and they celebrate pride pretty big. Remember, there was like a bunch of stuff for pride up when we were there.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

They do, and I didn't mean community, I meant capital, like the capital of gay rights in Germany.

SPEAKER_02 23:22

Oh, in Germany, okay. Yeah. Okay. I was gonna say the Netherlands might beg to differ.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Yeah. And then there are still Roman ruins and infrastructure hidden beneath the modern streets.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Yeah, because there are apparently tunnels that you can go into. I don't know if they give tours, but but I read a long time ago about like tunnels and underground things that you can see and do. But I I couldn't find any way to go see them, so maybe they're not safe anymore.

SPEAKER_01 23:47

I guess maybe since we're so close now, we'll have to plan another trip to like really explore the city. Because we've always gone on on a mission. We're going on Christmas market mission or we're going to the amusement park. But now we're close. Like, why don't we go do a weekend and like explore? Why not? Yeah. And eat more.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

All right. So here's our suggestions. Go to Cologne, go to Fantasial Land, go to the cathedral, drink a lot of beer, drink a lot of beer, eat a lot of pork, and get a pretzel. And I think you will find that you and go for a walk on the river. There you go. That's that's my that's my two cents.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

So a few things. Today's the last episode for season two. Oh, I know. We officially start our vacation this week. So we are gonna put up like some replays of some summer spots that we love. Of our some faves. Because some of our new listeners may not have gone back two years to listen to Sicily and our 20 million episodes of Pulia because we love it so much. But so we're gonna put those on replays over the next five weeks, and we'll be back in August. And also, if you guys could do us a huge favor and like and subscribe and maybe leave some reviews, it really, really helps us a lot.

SPEAKER_02 24:59

And tell some friends, tell some travel friends about this. We love this, and we want to keep doing it, but we need your help in that.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

So here's here's what's happening. We're doing a big road trip down to Croatia. So we are gonna come back in August with some great, great nuke stuff. Some Bavaria, some Austrian Alps, yeah, the oldest city in Slovenia. And we will bring them all to you. Check out the website www.thetawayswithaz.com. Have a good coming five weeks, and we will see you guys in August. Have a great summer.

SPEAKER_02 25:32

Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening. Bye.