# a trip to cologne

so some family had some medical issues and thus they needed to go to a hospital asap. cologne had the best hospital in the closest range, and thus they went there and since i could, i joined them and tried to see some parts of cologne itself.

# chistmas vibes

since i went there from 18-12 till 21-12, i saw a lot of christmas stuff (for pictures, check the pictures section on my website, they'll be uploaded soon.)

there was even a little ice skating on one of the "platze", and there were a lot of little kids. the smiles of kids make me feel quite sad since i had that smile too when i was 3, and school took it al away. i love how kids can smile and can be happy with little things.

there also were a lot of little christmas lights and some people even decorated their baby pram thingies, how cute! :)

# environmental stuff

there were not too many homeless people as far as i've seen (i've seen stuff in corners for about 4 people i think, and one actual homeless guy), which is good of course, in contrast to another big city in germany (berlin), there where a lot less homeless people.

there where not too many people begging, i've seen about 10 i think.

there was also a little (not much) less smoking than in berlin (in all big cities, a shit ton of people smoke, and i dont know why. i saw this when i was in toronto, berlin, detroit, dublin and amsterdam).

there was quite a lot of trash on the ground, especially in the bahnhoff places.

# people

i've noticed a lot of nice people, but also quite a few people (in restaurants specifically) that were a little agressive to their customers.

in general, the people were very nice.

# historical places

i've been to the dom, a historical city wall thingy, a few old departs of the city, and i took a lot of pictures.

# zoo

of course, i also went to the "Kolner Zoo", and there were my favorite animals! monkeys and pinguins! also there were giraffes, rhino's, a lot of fish, some bears, some other typical animals and even see lions :)

# overal thoughts

even thought i stayed in a hotel in a little worse depart of the city, it was very nice to see a big city once again, and going out of my little hometown.

pros: a lot of historical stuff, a lot of nice places and people to go to, a lot of nice food (schnitzels :]), overal quite a safe city afaik

cons: smoking is popular, not as clean in every depart, quite slow mobile connectivity (4g, is not really a con for me, but for some it might be), going somewhere is always expensive

rating from me: 7/10