Hohe Strasse, Neumarkt Altstadt-Süd

- Chlodwigplatz, Severintorburg, Zeppelin Strasse, Globetrotter Store, St. Aposteln Kirche, Kolumba Museum, Hotel am Chlodwigplatz, A&O Neumarkt Hostel

Hohe Strasse (High Street) is the main pedestrian shopping street, near the cathedral. It has some rare stores and restaurants, but not many historical buildings, they were lost during the bombings.  It is often very crowded and has sometimes street musicians. The street that is Hohe Strasse today existed already in Roman times, as the city’s Cardo Maximus. Schildergasse is also one of the most busy shopping streets. 4711 is an interesting building at Glockenstrasse, it has a special architecture and is the HQ for the the Eau de Cologne brand 4711. Next is the Kolumba Museum that houses Roman artifacts and the gothic church Minoritetenkirche.

Neumarkt (New Market) is a busy, rectaungular square with trams (overground and underground Stadtbahn), trees and shopping arcades. The district is named after it. The large romanesque catholic church St. Aposteln is situated along one corner.
Globetrotter Neue Horizonte is a multi-storey department store just for sports, that opened in 2006 in an old expressionist building. The interior is ultramodern, with a circular glass elevator and there is a lake on the ground floor of the atrium.

There are a few towers intact of the 12 that were part of the city wall, one of them is Severinstorburg at Chlodwigplatz, a circular square in Alstadt-Süd, the South part of the Old Town, where trams go right through.

I stayed at Neumarkt in Altstadt-Süd the first night, visited Cologne for A day and travelled further to Düsseldorf in the evening. I then stayed at the A&O Hostel Neumarkt. I returned to Köln after the Luxembourg trip on the last day and then stayed at the Hotel am Chlodwigplatz in the South part of the city center. It was Saturday night and the city was really on fire, people were dancing and singing in the subways, drinking and smoking and playing loud music in the parks and singing and shouting all night long along karaoke tracks outside convenience stores. Did I mention the hotel provided earplugs for the guests?