Our first day to explore Cologne! We have to take the train because someone made the mistake of booking our Airbnb outside the city center. I felt the pain of that decision a lot. Look at Lillian in the picture below. Even she is disappointed in me. 

We went straight to the west side for some hip coffee shops and playgrounds. That’s right: hip playgrounds. We had lunch at a beer garden adjacent to an impressive playground. The kids played for 1.5 hours and had to be dragged away. It was perfect.

Then we just walked around this trendy neighborhood. It had a bit of grit, somewhat similar to Sodermalm in Stockholm.

//Stefan Note: Mal would have liked this neighborhood, reminded me of her hood in madrid.

We liked it a lot. Yes, I should have booked us an Airbnb here instead. Oh well. Oly was particularly moody this morning, so we brought along the stroller instead of his scooter. He fell asleep after the playground and slept almost the rest of the day. I think he has a small cold (that I’ve had since last week), so I’m glad he got the extra rest. I’m not gonna lie, the extra peace and quiet was welcomed as well. 🙂

We found an amazing little coffee shop and sat outside on the sidewalk with coffee and the most amazing apple cake and rhubarb cake. They definitely know how to bake apples in Germany.

An old church sits on a square a couple blocks from the cafe. It’s listed in my guidebook as a square to walk around, but it reallly is just an old church in the middle of a gritty neighborhood. But everyone treats it like a park. There were tons of hip young people chatting, new moms sipping coffee next to strollers, kids playing soccer (sorry, football) in front of the church doors and of course the usual riff-raff that comes with any public space. It was very cool.

We headed toward the city center knowing it would be a long walk. We discovered many walking streets along the way! Cologne is a very nice city to wander. Before getting downtown, Stefan and I started feeling sick to our stomachs. Perhaps the lunch? Who knows. But it caused us to cut our day short and head home. Oly wasn’t feeling well anyway, so this just allowed Lillian some time in the backyard while we rested.

Funny enough, now the kids are “scared” to be outside in the backyard. It’s like they don’t know what to do with this strange deserted playground. It’s “spooky.” Unbelievable. They’ll only play a bit if I sit out there with them (not just inside the door where I can watch and hear everything). So there goes my primary reason for renting this remote house in a suburb. Boo.  

We had a family movie night, which we all love. We watched Zootopia for the first time, and it’s good! It was a nice cozy evening with family. Love these small moments.