quinn's place

after our time in amsterdam, we took the train over to cologne for a couple of days.

we chose cologne because we wanted to take a train somewhere and cologne happened to be pretty close to amsterdam while also a near major airport in dusseldorf. we would come to have the beeeest flights of our life on our business class journey from dusseldorf > london > nyc.

cologne is a pretty small and quaint german city. we were there just after the new year, but christmastime was still in full charming force.

we thought two days was just enough time to get the lay of the land in cologne and check it out.

the cathedral here was insane! you walk outside of the train station and THERE it is. it took over 600 years to build! very coooool.

^ our airbnb where i watched 'seinfeld' and 'the holiday' in german. lol. just wasn't the saaaame.

^ the rhine river.

it's pretty hard to pronounce cologne the way germans do which is spelled "köln" and said like "Koooouln." anyhoo we were just waltzing around saying "koooln." "kuuuln." "koouln." over and over and it still never seemed right haha.

we walked through a sculpture park and also stumbled on the cologne zoo. kind of a random thing to do but we enjoyed it.

the zoo is smack dab in the center of a regular neighborhood, which is funny.

hi giraffe! hi german neighbor!

^ the german-est of german eats. taters, brats, cabbage, and kölsch beer, which reigns from cologne.

^ this photo was shared on design sponge's instagram and a couple different artists saw it online and sent me their versions that they drew or painted! i was shocked. sooo cooool and flattering. the internet is wild.

drinking kölsch in cologne is a fun experience. i think they only do it like this in köln because it's the birthplace of kölsch!

you get a small 0.2 liter glass of kölsch and the waiter marks a tally on your coaster that is essentially your beer tab. once your glass is empty, they come by with a big round carrier of beer and replace your drink until you cover your glass with a coaster to signify that you're done drinking. and they just keep 'em coming!

we became friends with this funny guy james who was traveling from england and chatted it up for hours. our tally was getting pretty up there but it was a lot of fun. the pub was also called 'peter's' and we brought some of these kölsch glasses home.

glad we got a little taste of germany on our trip. i lived in germany with my family when i was a child and this was my first time back in this area. i'm dying to go back to austria sometime and spend time in hallstat.. gorgeouuuus. i wish we'd had time during this trip to take the hogwarts express all the way to austria... but next time!

iloveitiloveitiloveit.

we flew from dublin to amsterdam to spend my 30th birthday and new year's eve.

this was my first time in amsterdam since i was just a wee tot. holy wow, i couldn't love this place more.

even though these photos look dreary and rainy, we had the best time. i cannot wait to go back sometime in the spring or summer and ride our little bikes all over the land.

love a nicely centered, brightly colored bicycle moment.

this city is just so damn charming & quaint. it was rainy and snowing a little bit while we were there, but weather doesn't stop the good people of amsterdam at all. that's what i loved about this place. these folks know how to live.

we saw so many stylin' women in fancy coats and heels cruising around on their bicycles with bouquets of flowers and wine in their baskets. for real! can you even belieb? it was like something out of an old tymey movie.

^ we spent the morning of my 30th birthday at the laundromat, lol. good tiiimes.

did i mention that we each only brought a small carry-on suitcase on this trip? with multiple big coats and everything! 16 days worth of stuff. it was shocking to me, but i was so glad to only have a tiny suitcase to haul all over the place. all i can say is - compression bags are the greatest thing ever. they're seriously incredible. it kind of sucked having to repack the compression bags every time we moved to a new location, but the amount we fit in our tiny suitcases was a true miracle.

what do you do on your 30th birthday in amsterdam when it's raining all day, and also snowing?

you hit up the heineken experience, of course. they made me wear a birthday hat and at the end of the tour they gave me this stein that i could refill indefinitely. how convenient.

^ lolz i got a kick out of this drawing of a hot dog as the menu.

^ that heine was flowin! afterwards we went on a light boat dinner cruise at G's. it was a fun and memorable birthday with my boo.

^ even though all the dutch words are wildly long, we still had an easy time getting around on public transit. people are so nice and everyone speaks english so it was an easy transition.

also the fresh mint tea they have at cafes is so delightful. so much mint in there!

this was probably my favorite little part of our time in amsterdam. exploring the canals is endlessly fun and enjoyable. we stumbled upon this little seating area on the canal across the street from the pub. they brought us beers and there were swans casually cruising by. i mean, TRY TO BE CUTER, AMSTERDAM.

and there were still tons of lights leftover from christmas :)

picked out some fun vintage knobs for my friendzies and we had delicious hot stroopwafel at this market.

pub life.

^ look at that dude's geetar thang! yuuuuge!

we stayed at the ultra hip and fun volkshotel. they had really cute details, lots of events going on and cool stuff to do. for new year's eve, they had a big party at the top floor bar where we watched the most insane fireworks show we'd ever seen. there were fireworks going off 360 degrees around the city, from around 6pm until 2am or so...it was amazing!

twas a happy new year indeed!