Thursday, March 11, 2021

Deutschland - Köln (Germany - Cologne)

In 2016, we took our first train trip around Europe. We started in Milan, Italy and ended in Amsterdam, Netherlands. One of the stops along the way was Cologne (Köln), Germany. Cologne was a stop-over night at Courtyard Cologne to break up the long trip from Vienna to Amsterdam. Neither of us had ever been to Cologne or knew much about the city so we watched some shows like Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown. We took time the following day for sightseeing before moving on to Amsterdam.


In our research we found and were delighted by the tradition involving Kölsch. Kölsch is a beer specific to Cologne and has an interesting history. In Cologne, if you order a Kölsch, you get continuous, bottomless, refills unless you place a coaster over your glass. 

We visited Max Stark because it had great reviews, was close to the hotel, and we wanted to try Kolsch. Let me tell you, they are not joking around. Servers walk with trays of glasses and as soon as you are dry, they do the switch. Somehow they keep up with it but you have no hope of keeping track.

We didn't visit for the steak but were thrilled to see a steak on the menu. After a starter salad, the food arrived fairly quickly but the people watching was great so we were thoroughly entertained. 




The steak was surprisingly good. It was tender and cooked a perfect medium rare. It was severed with a veggie medley, fries. It was nice to have a side that is not a root vegetable in Germany in the fall. 

I hope to go back to Cologne and spend the time needed to get to know the city. If you find yourself in Cologne, and I hope you do, Max Stark is worth a visit. 

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