retiredmartin

“What are your favourite physical activities or exercises ?” asks Word Press this morning, somehow imagining me lost for inspiration to write about.

The answer, clearly, is walking between pubs or other houses of social or cultural value, whatever they may be. Another 20,000 steps on Day 3 of the Cologne trip.

3rd November 2022.

Back from Aachen with legal rail tickets (thanks for the explanation, Mike), Mrs RM got a belated introduction to Cologne Old Town.

Although I walk faster than Mrs RM, I do enable her to catch up by stopping suddenly to take photos and enable folk looking at phones to bump into me.

This abandoned book appears to be a guide to sunken football stadia. Possibly Duncan has been there ?

Cologne improved by the street, and although we never actually went in a single museum the pub decor and street art would keep you amused for a week.

Dave mentioned a classic Brauhaus that was shut when he visited; it may well have been 5pm opener Sünner im Walfisch, which I’ll leave you to translate at your leisure.

“Are we going in there, then ?” said an impatient Mrs RM as we almost walked past Peters, another of the classics on Ron’s guide.

This appeared to be the one ALL the tourists were going in, too, so it must be in Fodor’s.

Establishing we weren’t eating at 15:16, we were escorted to a little standing table, with two glasses of Kolsch brought immediately.

I, for one, welcome a world without choice. Mrs RM eyed up the seats opposite,

and made her usual dash for it.

As Boak & Bailey noted last month, you do what the Köbes tell you in Cologne, and seats in Peters were exclusively for diners or pre-booked groups, even mid-afternoon on an overcast Wednesday in November. Everywhere, we went, these old pubs were heaving.

But the Köbes were polite and friendly, used to dealing with English rule breakers, and we were only standing for long enough for two glasses (about 7 minutes) anyway.

Mrs RM spent most of those 7 minutes taking photos, and so would you.

Out on the street, it was time for a selfie…

(Mrs RM is the one on the left).