the big city

Well, I am still in Köln (Cologne, to you)… one of Germany’s largest cities (10 million inhabitants). It seems as if it would be a fun city to live in, but I think visiting it can be quite problematic. I had an appointment on Ludwig Str.  As usual, I simply punched the letters into my GPS. I drove for about 45 minutes, quickly passing by the Alt Stadt (old city) and the main business center. Finally, following my GPS instructions, I ended up in someone’s driveway.  Turns out there are several Ludwig Strs in Köln and my navigation system could not discern which one I wanted... and neither could I. Then, I called the office of the person I was supposed to meet and asked for the names of parallel streets, landmarks, etc.  The instructions were quite good (drive to the Innenstadt – inner city… can’t miss it). She was right I could not miss it. But, as a traffic ticket lady informed me,  I could not drive through  it either…  which my GPS - apparently - was not aware of!!  I tried to drive around, only to be foiled by road repairs and construction.   Finally, after driving in circles for several minutes, I was able to get to the far side of the Dom (the cathedral) and low and behold, I drove right into Ludwig street. Ok, ok, I found it by accident, I was merely driving from 1 one-way street into the next. Köln seems to be full of tiny, tiny streets, lots of parked cars, lots of traffic and road construction!!!

 The next day I tried to find the club chair maker. Since he was not in the central business district / inner city, my GPS functioned properly. But the street was quite small and there no parking spaces available for blocks on end… so I abandoned the idea of visiting him. Pity!!

My suggestion: park the car somewhere, whip out your smartphone, key in your destination, then take the train or bus or walk!!

FYI: Köln was founded by the Romans (what city in Germany wasn’t!!) As a result, Romans artifacts are constantly being discovered. By law, all excavation must cease until the archeologists can examine the finds. The saying throughout most of Germany is ‘dig a meter and find a ruin… or an unexploded WWII bomb'. (If it is a bomb, the bomb squad – not the archeologists – are called. I find it a bit unsettling!!)