cologne

And once again my alarm went off at the most ungodly hour in the morning. 4:27 am. That was when I dragged myself out of the warmth and comfort of my beloved bed and tried to get myself ready for the adventure ahead of me.

A couple of weeks ago when I celebrated my 19th birthday, yay, as a present one of my aunts invited me to accompany her on a weekend trip to Cologne. Of course, I couldn't pass this chance. And seeing as this also was a last minute decision all that was left for me to do was book a train ticket from Zurich straight to Cologne, rather than spending a couple of zeroes more on an overpriced plane-ticket.

So last week the time had come for me to board the Eurocity train at 6:00 am in Zurich. Train journeys always had a capturing flair for me and allowed me to either shut myself away from the world with a pair of headphones, bluntly taking in my surroundings (and ever surprising train companions) or simply immersing myself in a lovely book. And that was exactly what I did for the next five hours. Soon enough, after seeing the sun rise over Frankfurt and passing Karlsruhe and Mannheim I suddenly found myself in Cologne. With luggage and map in hand I first of tried to navigate myself out of the train station. Not wanting to go through any more struggles after that rather challenging task I rewarded myself by taking a taxi to our hostel 'die Wohngemeinschaft'.

Now, this hostel wasn't anything I expected. As the name itself says it is constructed as some sort of flat share. There are single, double or bigger rooms each assigned different themes out of which we got the six bed ballet themed room. An absolute delight. Everything was arranged in a retro and late 80's kind of way which a total paradise for a blogger like me.

Honestly, all we did the first day was explore and shop. Pascale, my aunt is an even bigger shopping queen than I could ever be, and we both found and spent more than enough. From Pfeilstrasse up to the Dome we seemed to have walked miles and miles and saw shops - which to my delight - couldn't be found anywhere in Switzerland.

Cologne is beautiful in it's small and intimate kind of way. It reminded me a bit of Berlin with its the little boutiques, old buildings and lovely cafes. Although it isn't as fast and international in comparison it still held this great appeal, which will definitely lead me to come back again (great apologies to my bank account in advance) very soon.

After having feasted on a great meal the night before, on Saturday we made our way over to the yoga studio right across the street. However, it wasn't just an ordinary studio that offered the basic yoga classes but actual Hot Yoga, which I can tell you, I greatly underestimated. When Pascale suggested to take such a class I simply shrugged it off and thought, why not, I'll be able to tick it off my bucket litst. During Hot Yoga (also known as Bikram Yoga) the room is heated up to 40° Celsius throughout the whole 1.5 hours. I don't think I have ever shed so much sweat in those 1.5 h in my life. Even the lean and fit bodies in front of me had river like sweat trails floating down there legs in the down dog position. It was unbelievably hard to pull through without giving up but looking back and also the feeling after having mastered such a class, was incredible and if I find the time, I actually might start taking some classes in Zurich.

Check out the studio we went to in Cologne here.

Needing to get in those carbs after such a draining morning, we set out again and explored Cologne some more. Wherever you go, there are wonderful little streets and cafes to discover, seemingly never ending but that's exactly what I loved about it. 

I could go on and on about Cologne in my little rant, but I think for now and the short time I spent there this most definitely is enough and perhaps in the future I'll give a more detailed insight in my shopping experience over there (;

Not sure where my travels will lead me next but I'll sure try to keep you posted within the next week.

Until then,

J