Day 4: Cologne!

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Due to some kind of error on my part, we are in an AirBnB with no laundry. You cannot travel to Europe for 2 weeks with carry on-luggage – and a baby – and not have laundry! Oops. So we were planning to do some laundry on Sunday, but NO Laundromats were open! I know, it’s bonkers.

Anyways, as you can imagine I had a plan to attack the laundry situation first thing Monday morning. So when Julian woke up at 6am, we seized the opportunity. With Julian in the stroller, notes-on-paper, old-school style directions (due to no cell service) we made our way to the “Waschsalon”, only to find German-only directions and a very confusing looking computer that looked like it came out of 1987!

Thank GOODNESS there was one other desperate laundry-doer at 6:30am in Bonn, because he helped us how to figure out the weirdest Laundromat computer system I have ever seen! We threw the Landry in, headed out for diapers, milk, bananas, and bread (like any family on vacation should), and then back to the Laundromat to put the wash into the dryer. During this time I watched a elderly woman, and seemingly regular patron of the Waschsalon, take off her shirt and bra, and place it into the wash. So there was that. We rolled with it, and had a little breakfast:

Anyways, laundry done, groceries gotten, 78 fresh new diapers! Let’s go… Today was our day to see Cologne.

Did you know that Cologne is a favorite city of many Germans? Apparently it has a special something about it. It is also Valentina’s favorite city – so if your guide loves the city you’re visiting, so do you!

We started with the Cathedral – because… well, have you ever seen the cathedral?

Actually, there is really no photo that could ever do it justice. The cathedral (The Dom) is insane. We walked in and around for awhile, taking photos and being tourists.

After exploring the city center, we headed across the river:

Where there’s a tall building topped with a fabulous observatory and a 360 degree view. Here are some photos:

After some looking at the Rhine and the city from the “other side”, we had lunch! More Kolsch, a bratwurst, and more potatoes – naturally.

We made our way back to Bonn, because Valentina has a business to run, after all, and we were so sorry to say goodbye! She is a fabulous person, and was an amazing host. He hope to see her again soon!

I was happy to be home by 5pm. It felt like the first time we got to relax! We relaxed, made some easy dinner, and packed up.

Tomorrow… Holland! See you then.

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