Nov 21, 2010

Köln and Jimmy Eat World

For the first weekend in November, we drove to Köln to see the city and Jimmy Eat World in concert! Köln is famous for its gorgeous cathedral and its delicious little Kölsch beers, and Brian and I were excited to experience both :)

We arrived on Saturday afternoon and started our visit with a pizza at this really cute little Italian place near our hotel. Then we took a nice walk around the city. Köln is very different from any other German city we've seen, and at first I wasn't the biggest fan. However, after walking around for awhile, it started to grow on me!


I liked this street sign - made me think of Christmas!

Speaking of Christmas...we found some great shops, and I broke one of my cardinal rules. I shopped for Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. But all of the stores were so cute! We even stopped for some pre-Christmas market Gluhwein and roasted chestnuts- yum!

Sheepish...but loving it

We made our way to the cathedral, which definitely lived up to its reputation! It was huge and so gorgeous! It was very majestic at night - the lighting was really cool.



As I mentioned before, the Kölsch beer is very popular, and it really is delicious. It's a little more smooth than normal German beer...but not too smooth. It's just right. There are tons of little bars throughout Köln that serve different kinds of Kölsch, so Brian and I decided to try out a couple of them. We also found a jazz bar that was pretty nice - the music wasn't the best, but Brian was so sweet to endure it to satisfy my desire for live jazz music :) It was a great night!

Cool little Kölsch-y bar

The next morning we enjoyed a way-too-delish breakfast at this pastry shop. I just had to sit down and let Brian pick out what we were going to eat because I was overwhelmed with all of the choices! Berliner donuts, apple pastry, and croissants were the pastries of choice for our breakfast feast!


We walked back to the cathedral after breakfast to see it in the daytime and to walk up into one of the bell towers. In the sunlight, the cathedral was quite ominous with its dark colors.


Inside, the windows were spectacular, and I couldn't believe how tall the ceiling was!


Time to walk up into the bell tower! Now, we've walked to the top of cathedrals before, but Brian and I agreed that this one felt like there were WAY more stairs than any other we've seen. We were glad we made the hike when we saw the bells - they were huge!



When we made it all the way to the top, it was kind of sad to see the entire look out area covered in writing, most of which was in white out. I can't imagine sight-seeing in a city and then whipping out the white out I carried around to write my name on a famous church. I don't understand why people do that...or why people carry around white out...oh well. The view was still nice!

After all of that climbing, it was amazing to me that the steeples still continued upward!

On the back side of the cathedral, we found this huge open space that everyone was walking around. There were even officers guarding it. We figured out that there's an entire underground opera house behind the Köln Cathedral, and walking on top of it could disturb the concert going on! The civil engineer side of Brian was quite excited about this little find!

The red brick is the roof of the opera house

As we continued our walk, we found this fun row of Kölsch bars

So we decided to stop in a couple!
Aren't the little Kölsch beers cute?

After a delicious dinner, we made our way to the concert - yay! I was very excited to find that the venue was pretty small, which means every seat is a good one! When we walked in, we first stopped by the coat check. This sign was posted at the entrance, which we found hilarious. Only in Germany would they have to post a sign to ORDER you not to form a line.


We ended up finding a great spot up in the balcony. Standing on the floor can be fun, but I usually have a hard time seeing. And, with a band like Jimmy Eat World, we knew things were going to get a little crazy on the floor. So all of that to say - woohoo for balcony spot! The opening band was Minus the Bear, and I really enjoyed their music and their energy.


Then it was time for Jimmy Eat World! They really put on an awesome concert, playing a good mix of new and old songs, which made me VERY happy :) I like their new album, but their old stuff is definitely my favorite.


If you're wondering..."Jimmy Eat World? What do they play?" Here are a couple of their songs to enjoy. We took a few videos, but because it was so loud, the sound quality of our camera doesn't do the concert justice :) So you'll enjoy these links more! Plus, I'm not singing in the background of these!

The Middle - a popular one from several years ago that you might recognize
Futures - Bri's favorite, which they played!
Let it Happen - My favorite, which they also played



After the concert, we took a taxi back to our hotel for the night. But it wasn't just any taxi...it was THE fastest taxi ever. We live in Germany, the land of fast drivers, so we've seen it all, but this guy knew how to drive fast in the city! At one point, I put my hands in the air, pretending to be riding a roller coaster. I whispered under my breath, "Texas Giant!!!" like I used to when I was little. Anyway, it was a fun way to conclude the evening, and we got back to our hotel in what I'm sure was record time!

The next morning we woke up super early and hit the road - we had to be at work that morning! Brian was the best - he drove the whole way and let me sleep. And we got stuck in some pretty bad traffic, which definitely wasn't fun for poor Bri. But he had the best attitude about the whole thing! Thanks, B! Conclusion: it was a rockin, Kölsch-y weekend!

2 comments:

  1. Koln looks amazing - great shops. Love the cathedral. And I do like this group...after hearing the music. Sounds like a wonderful weekend. What time did you get up to make that 120 mi journey before work? Impressive and a little crazy. Can't wait to see you.
    hugs,
    Mom

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  2. Oh my goodness - that cathedral is beautiful!

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