The Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Köln is a fine art museum that opened in 1861. They have art from the medieval period through to the twentieth century. Each period had it’s own floor- Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Impressionist. I was surprised how well the girls did here. Just last year, there would have been a lot more […]
Around Köln
Kirmes with Grandma
Every Fall and Spring vacation we see advertisements for this Kirmes (Fair), but have never gone. We thought it would be a fun thing to do with Grandma while she was here… Dom in background It may look like they’re checking out the awesome Ferris Wheel, but I’m betting it’s the cotton candy.. Damfpnudel I […]
Special Guests (a.k.a. Grandma and Grandpa)
Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us for two weeks over Spring vacation. I cannot even begin to describe how excited the girls were. They were seriously more excited for Grandma and Grandpa’s visit than they were for Christmas (especially Kiera, which was surprising since she’s usually so stoic)! Every day the girls would ask, […]
Snow Days!
Köln is one of the warmest places in Germany, so we don’t get much snow. If we’re lucky, we’ll maybe get a day or two of snowfall in winter. This is considered a decent snowfall here. Just enough to make a scraggly, tiny snowman. our snowman I love that her hat is on backwards! my […]
Father’s Day Bike Ride (sorta)
On Father’s Day we went on a family bike ride with Papa and Opa (Father’s Day in Germany is about a month earlier than in America). The weather was beautiful so we packed a picnic lunch and our Frisbee… I love this beautiful, shaded bike bath. Unfortunately this is the only pic of Papa I […]
Basilika Sankt Gereon
The choir that Quinnie is in was asked to sing at a First Communion in Basilika Sankt Gereon. I’ve blogged about this beautiful church and it’s history before in this post. Quinnie and Kiera’s Great-Grandparents were married there, so it’s pretty cool that she gets to sing there occasionally. Oma, Opa, Tante Ruth and Maxim […]
Odysseum- Das Abenteuermuseum
The Odysseum is an awesome children’s science museum in Köln. The girls love coming here. I’ve been meaning to blog about this place for a while now. Most of these pics and vids are from a few different visits almost 2 years ago-yikes! Better late than never? This installation was cool. It teaches kids to […]
Springtime Excursions with Kiera
Mamas and babies everywhere… She was THRILLED about the feathers she found. She drew them right away when we got home… …then wrapped them up (with homemade wrapping paper) to give to Quinnie.
Karneval 2016 (Schull-und Veedelszöch)
I’ve blogged about Karneval a few times already. This post has lots of information about Karneval in Köln. Other Karneval posts can be found here and here. This year we decided to check out the Schull-und Veedelszöch- a Karneval parade especially for kids. Most of the schools in Köln are represented. Every school chooses a theme […]
Basilika Sankt Gereon
One of the perks of living in Köln? Being eight years old and getting to sing with your school choir (Chor) in Basilika Sankt Gereon! Definitely click on that link to see a pic of the outside- I didn’t get a good one myself. The Wikipedia page on Sankt Gereon states that “the first mention […]
First Snow!
This winter we finally got some snow! I can’t tell you how excited we all were- especially since we didn’t get any in Köln last year. We spent most of the day outdoors because we knew it wouldn’t last. Quinnie catching snowflakes on her tongue / Ella making snowballs We randomly ran into our old […]
Random Christmas Bits and New Year’s Eve
Here’s the last batch of pics that I have from Grandma and Grandpa’s visit (that aren’t already in other posts). Now that’s a pretzel! Grandpa doing magic tricks. The girls thought they were incredible. The next day I heard Kiera whisper to a friend, “My Grandpa can do magic!” The girls busted me relaxing in […]
Christmas Markets with Grandma and Grandpa
We managed to make it to every Weihnachtsmarkt again this year. It was Grandma and Grandpa’s first time seeing them, so it was extra fun to show them around. I’m going to put all of the Christmas Market pictures into one post this year since I documented each Weihnachtsmarkt thoroughly last year. I’ll give you […]
Goodbye Ebertplatz Park!
As excited as we are about moving into our new neighborhood, we sure are going to miss Ebertplatz Park. The commute to school was long, but it forced us to walk through this beautiful, leafy park, and to pass by the duck pond every day. We will still be able to visit it, of course, […]
More Fun with Isaac and the Girls
In the middle of Köln there’s this cute little pond that has swans floating on it. During the warmer months they have these cool doughnut shaped pedal boats that have huge squirt guns on them. The girls had been asking for a while if they could go on them. With Isaac and his girls visiting […]
Köln Arboretum
Trying to get all of the pics from summer out before wintertime (sorry for the sporadic posts- it’s very time consuming unpacking ALL of your family’s belongings and making a new place feel like home… Last month we had our friends (and soon to be new neighbors!) Achim and Claudia and their kids Ella and […]
Outdoor Beaches and Pools in Köln
Since we mostly stayed in Köln during summer vacation, we checked out some beaches and pools that would help us cool off and beat the heat. The pool culture in Köln is pretty amazing. I have no idea how may pools there are here-but there are MANY. And these pools aren’t just pools. Most sell […]
Altstadt with Papa
(I wrote this post a few weeks ago before our move and forgot to publish it) Simon took the girls to Altstadt (Old Town- right near The Weckschnapp) while I stayed home to pack for our move. We’ll miss living so close to such a beautiful place (though it’s not hard to get there from […]
Eigelstein
The Eigelstein is the closest shopping area to The Weckschnapp (our place). I snapped a few pics with my iPhone on a few shopping trips there (throughout the year). The Eigelsteintorburg is the medievel Prussian old castle gate The back side of the Eigelsteintorburg. A few months ago I saw a wedding take place inside […]
Roncalli Circus
Taking the girls to the Circus has been on my list of things to do with them for a while (everyone should go at least once!), so when Roncalli Circus came to Köln, we bought tickets. The girls LOVED it. I apologize in advance for the blurry photos- My camera has no zoom and we […]
Lentbad
Lentbad is a massive building next to Lentpark where you can go swimming or ice skating (and probably lots of other activities that I don’t even know about!). The girls have really developed a love for ice skating and ask to go there most weekends (just a short bike ride away!). Lentbad next to Lentpark […]
Pony Rides in Stadtwald
Just found this batch of pictures from October and they were too cute not to post even though they were taken 5 months ago. We met up with our friends Chloe and Axel and their kids Matilda, Annie and Mimi at the Stadtwald. The Stadtwald is on the outskirts of Köln and is a huge […]
Random Photos 2013
I have a folder in iPhoto where I keep pictures I like (or think are interesting) that may some day turn into blog posts. But I figured since it’s the start of a new year I’d clear them out of the folder and put them in one big blog post together (with some captions to […]
Kaufhof
Kaufhof is one of the big department stores here. We decided to take the girls there to get some ideas on what they wanted to ask Santa for for Christmas. They almost never ask for anything, and when I asked them what they wanted for Christmas they just kind of looked at me blankly. Opa […]
Things seen on the way to school
Sometimes Quinnie and I walk to pick up Kiera from school instead of taking the train. Here are some snaps from our most recent walk. I remember these round advertisement columns from when we lived in Amsterdam. Lots of these around the city. These street lamp posts are everywhere. This sort of represents Köln to […]
KVB
KVB is Köln’s subway/ transit system. It works on an honor system of sorts in the sense that there are no turnstiles- you just walk onto the train. They have machines where you can buy per-ride tickets or you can get a monthly pass (unlimited rides). To keep you honest they have ticket checkers who […]
Hohenzollernbrücke (Hohenzollern Bridge)
Right down the street from us (you can see it from our 2nd floor window) is the Hohenzollernbrücke. It connects Köln’s central train station (Hauptbahnhof) with major European cities across the Rhine. 1200 trains daily! In 2008 couples started attaching “love locks” to the bridge fence along the pedestrian walkway. Simon and Kiera in […]
Currywurst mit Pommes and Döner Kebab/ Street Food
One of the most popular street foods that you will find everywhere here is Currywurst (wurst with a curry sauce over it) with fries (usually with mayo to dip them in). Döner Kebab and Gyros are also popular and sehr lecker (very delicious). Currywurst mit Pommes. Curry is a VERY popular spice here. It’s everywhere- […]
MediaPark Spielplatz
A close Spielplatz to our new apartment is the MediaPark. It’s a fun one! I figured I should get all of the older posts where we’re wearing summer clothes posted before full-on winter.
Our new apartment
Around Easter we should be able to move into our new apartment that is being built. As much as we love The Weckschnapp, we’re looking forward to being able to finally unpack everything and set up our own place. Every time we tell anybody from Köln where we’ll be living they usually just look at […]