Leaving Heidelberg at around 10:30am, I arrived in Cologne just after 1pm. After checking at the tourist information office for some local information, that meant a nice easy trip to the apartment, which my host (David) even came to meet me at the central train station for - very nice. After settling in to my room, I went and got some supplies at the local supermarket, and then headed out for a connective tissue session with Judith Andras, which was a really nice way to round out my Saturday. After a quick wander to get information on using the local public transport, it was back to the apartment for something to eat and a rest.
As I have 3 full days here in Cologne, I wasn't too worried about just taking today quietly - and it's probably about time too. In fact, the message that I got from the tourist information office was that I'll be hard-pressed to actually fill 3 whole days ... but I'm sure I will!
Germany's fourth most populous city, Cologne is around 250km north-northwest of Heidelberg in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, fairly near the borders with Belgium and the Netherlands. Founded by the Romans in AD 50, Cologne straddles the Rhine River and with a population of just over 1 million, is the largest city within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.
With the intention of restoring as many historic buildings as possible, the rebuilding has resulted in a very mixed and unique cityscape.
In 1945 architect and urban planner Rudolf Schwarz called Cologne the "world's greatest heap of rubble". Schwarz designed the master plan of reconstruction in 1947, which called for the construction of several new thoroughfares through the downtown area, especially the Nord-Süd-Fahrt ("North-South-Drive"). The master plan took into consideration the fact that even shortly after the war a large increase in automobile traffic could be anticipated.