Those who are passionate about photography certainly know Photokina, the largest and most famous photography fair which has taken place in the city of Cologne in Germany since 1950. In an edition several years ago the fair was advertised with a very popular photo that framed the iconic bridge and the beautiful and imposing cathedral in the background. I don't know who first took the photo with that perspective but it was certainly a popular image and reproduced by many, however the poster of that edition of Photokina fascinated me in a particular way. For some reason the event was over-hyped that year and seeing that photo over and over again haunted me in a certain way. It can be said that I began to know Cologne through Photokina, but the images of the city bombed during the Second World War with the famous bridge destroyed and half submerged in the river were also popular. The combination of these factors has always intrigued me about the city until the obsession became so high that I decided that I had to go and visit it but not during the edition of a Photokina. I started to study the city a bit only that it took about three years until I was able to plan the trip. Cologne was close to two other cities I wanted to visit; Düsseldorf and Bonn, the latter had been the capital of the then West Germany. In addition to this, as in many German cities, Cologne had some interesting nightlife which made it perfect as a destination to discover and enjoy. Finally in June 2019, together with a friend of mine, I managed to plan the trip and with a complex series of flights plus bus trips, we managed to reach Cologne which for photographers was the city of Photokina. Kölner DomMonths before departure, while I was looking at hotels to understand which area of the city was best to stay in, I noticed a sort of economic "border". Regardless of the hotel category, it was clear that the price difference was made by the train station; on the western side, the one overlooking the cathedral and then the centre, it was very expensive, while the eastern part of the station was decidedly cheaper. The strange thing was that the distance between the two parts was not excessive and initially I thought that to reach the center from the east side, you had to go around the station. Another thing I thought was that the eastern part of the station was neglected and therefore cheaper. This led me to look at that particular area on Google Maps, however from my research it didn't seem too bad. I opted for a fairly elegant hotel which was located two blocks east of the station, the price was very low especially for the standard of the structure. When my friend and I arrived at the Hauptbanhohf, after going down the stairs that led from the platforms to the ground level, I was very surprised by the modernity and functionality of the station. The ground floor was a sort of large arched tunnel and was full of shops and places to eat, it wasn't like the one in Vienna but still stood out positively compared to other similar places. The real surprise, however, was when we came out onto Breslauerplatz, the square outside the station on the eastern side; it was totally different from what I had seen on Google Maps. The square together with the adjacent streets had been totally redeveloped, a new and modern pavement, an external metro station and then many completely new and modern places to eat. The excellence in my opinion was the roadway which, compared to the one I had seen on Google Maps, had been narrowed in favor of wider sidewalks for pedestrians. Not only was that area of the city not bad but it had also been redeveloped into a more beautiful and functional shape. The hotel was much more luxurious than I thought and they even assigned us a mini suite. Let's say that after ten minutes of arriving in Cologne, my doubts about that area of the city had been swept away by a completely different reality. I had waited a long time to visit the city but the welcome it gave me was far beyond my expectations. If Breslauerplatz had been a surprise due to its redevelopment, reaching Bahnhofsvorplatz for the first time after crossing the station tunnel had been an equally beautiful experience but for different reasons. Personally I had a stargate effect, like arriving in a place that belonged to another dimension. In fact, the square opened on the side of the cathedral which remained slightly to the left and stood on a part a couple of meters higher. Even though from the square you could only see the profile of the cathedral, this was enough to understand that I was faced with something that was not part of our civilization. That dark stone structure, narrow and tall, with the towers that seemed to point towards infinity, seemed alien to me. What also increased my sensation was the surrounding context made up of other types of structures, both new and older, and the square itself populated by hundreds of people. There was a staircase that connected the lower part of the station with the part where the cathedral stood and it was a very crucial junction. There were people who used it as a place to sit, people who posed as if it were a set to have photographs taken or those who simply used it for its original purpose, that was to move from one level to another. That staircase, which was wider than it was high, was for me a means of understanding the majesty of the cathedral even more. In fact, people served me as a reference to make me perceive the proportions of the cathedral even more. It seemed impossible to me that the same species that was on the stairs, in theoretically less technological times, could have built that complexity with strange shapes. Looking at it from a certain distance from the side, the cathedral seemed imposing, then as I got closer it was so big that I began to only be able to see the details, completely losing sight of the top which effectively disappeared. But the shocking thing was the frontal view from a distance; there I had a feeling of magic, like something that was not of this world. From the front, I could saw the unreal proportions where the two towers were disproportionately high compared to the width of the structure. This detail had a very strange effect that became claustrophobic when I got closer. The front view of the cathedral was like the sight of a strange mountain range or a strangely shaped rock, something that seemed born from the imagination of nature itself not from human nature. Another strange effect that the cathedral had from some perspectives was the 2D effect. It was as if it lost depth and was drawn on a canvas, this effect is very visible in some photos I took. Then I couldn't rationalize the sensations that certain structures like this gave me and basically I lost myself in the beauty and vibrations that the sight of these works gave me. On the one hand it was a positive thing because I experienced emotions but on the other, like being curious about things in the world, I missed opportunities to investigate firsthand or notice details for more rational than emotional purposes. That experience of sensations led me to be amazed by the cathedral every time I passed by it, and little by little the sense of claustrophobia became the sense of vortex because I began to like the close-up view of the top. I liked passing by the cathedral and looking at the top while continuing to walk, it was as if the towers were looking at me and following me, giving me the sensation that they were alive. This habit of mine and the fact that I passed by the cathedral practically every day made me forget to do something important; visit the monument inside. So I preferred to live in the moment and merge with it, perhaps it was the initial amazement and in the end even if using reason and managed to discover the secret of that and other structures, perhaps it is always more beautiful to experience the sensations they transmit live. CenterI mainly use Google Maps as a more interactive geographic map where in addition to looking at the blocks and street names, I can also zoom in and see more details photographed from above. However, it is not always easy to understand the size of a particular city or neighborhood. Many times blocks are much larger than I thought or vice versa. Tracking distances using google maps functions doesn't help either. In general therefore, even studying the maps, I do not have an exact knowledge of the place, let's just say more in-depth. Regarding Cologne I noticed that the central part, as places of interest, only had three-four squares and a main street. My feeling was that except for a part further west of the center, the rest was all close, all places that it was possible to get around in a couple of hours. Alter Markt was the first square near the Cathedral that I visited, the square that housed the Town Hall was triangular in shape. On one side there were all linear houses, with pyramid roofs and square windows that differed only in color. If it hadn't been for this detail, those homes would have been monotonous, impoverishing the beauty of the square. In the center there was a fountain with a statue of a person I didn't know, together with the cobblestone paving and the old clock tower they were the only things with a classic flavor there. The tower above all was very beautiful, restored with a Gothic design with arched windows decorated with many statues. What was very disappointing however was the town hall, a linear building with exposed concrete and balconies with iron decorations. The building had a cold appearance but luckily there was a wedding that day and the guests of the event who populated the area outside the town hall gave it a colorful atmosphere. One thing I immediately noticed about Cologne while walking through the streets of the city was that there were very few truly ancient buildings. Even though it had been rebuilt respecting the old urban planning, the buildings were mainly new, some more modern than others but in general not very original. A few blocks from Alter Markt, there was Heumarkt, a very large rectangular square, always paved with cobblestones and with two rows of trees on the longest side. The first time I visited, this square was hosting a culinary event so it was full of people, stands and tables where people stopped to eat. This square was probably often used for purposes like this but otherwise in normal conditions it didn't impress me that much and I never went back there with interest. A few blocks away from Heumarkt there was "Schildergasse" which was the main shopping street and developed cutting the city from east to west. To tell the truth, I discovered this route thanks to Kai, the famous photography YouTuber who is now based in London. I think that in the video he presented a new camera but I remember that I was more struck by a building than the road. It appeared behind him and was a sort of Flatiron building but with more rounded shapes. From the video I had understood that the street was one of the main ones, however before leaving for the German city, I had a bit of difficulty finding Schildergasse on Google maps, but once I did, I found the building almost immediately. Beyond the shopping street therefore, my aim in Cologne was to see and photograph this stone palace that had impressed me so much. In person the building was very beautiful, completely restored, it divided two streets and was in a certain sense the gateway to Schildergasse. However the palace had one major flaw; it housed an Apple Store inside. If on the one hand Apple has a minimal design that does not have much impact on the original characteristics of the ancient buildings where it has its shops, on the other hand seeing such a beautiful and central building with the Apple logo annoyed me considerably. A logo that today is too arrogant and opinionated; seeing that building "stained" by the Apple logo was unbearable, even more so because it was minimal. For me that apple was like an eye that looked at me and told me: "we are everywhere and we control you". Except for the building I described and a few others, the rest of the buildings along Schildergasse were of modern design, some had a touch of originality like the one on the corner of Neumarkt which had a giant ice cream cone upside down on the ceiling. Schildergasse merged with another street right in the place where the Basilica of the Holy Apostles stood, there on one side I saw a statue that made a bit of an impression on me, so I photographed it without even knowing who it was. She was ambiguous because she looked like a woman with a man's face. In reality the statue depicted Konrad Adenauer, first chancellor of the then West Germany, who in the statue was portrayed with a sad and frozen face and with a coat with a fur collar and a cut at the waist that looked more like a coat woman over a skirt. Even the pose, with the left foot slightly forward and the right shoulder bent downwards, was a woman's pose. I always trust my sensations and analyzing the statue I believe that it was designed precisely to confuse, to give an ambiguous meaning. Beyond the Basilica of the Holy Apostles after a couple of large blocks the street ended at Rudolfplatz. In this square there was what remained of a large monument called Hahnentor. It was a city gate but it looked more like a castle gate. The monument was composed of two circular towers joined by a two-level structure where the large arched door was at the bottom. Even though the part that remained standing was restored and full of details, the structure seemed to be "cut off", a bit like the "Portal de Quart" in Valencia. Beyond the presence of the Hahnentor, Rudolfplatz gave me the impression of being a sort of city, where the major offices were located, moreover it was a hub with the part of Cologne frequented by local people. In fact, right there the Hohenstaufenring intersected, a beautiful tree-lined street, full of restaurants and shops, yet a non-touristy street. There together with my friend we discovered “HANS IM GLÜCK”, a restaurant chain with a beautiful design made of bamboo canes. In this place the food was excellent and both the people working and the customers were predominantly German. Since then I always look for this restaurant chain when I visit a German city. About a ten minute walk from Rudolfplatz via the Hohenstaufenring was the Cologne Synagogue. As with all buildings of a presumed religious nature, I personally liked to go and see them and study them only from an architectural aesthetic point of view. This synagogue was a stone building with a singular appearance, it was both simple and articulated. Built from three blocks where the two lateral ones were equal and squared while the central one was pyramidal in shape with the wide part at the bottom until it narrowed as it went up. Also in the central part there were two symmetrical towers in the internal part and two slender and round towers in the outer part. The only anomaly in the lateral parts were the windows on the fourth level of the right block; compared to the left side these windows were square rather than in the shape of three arches like the others. To me it seemed more like a restoration detail, they had probably been damaged and were rebuilt without maintaining the original design. However, the impressive thing about the synagogue was the central rose window, very large and imposing compared to the size of the structure. Furthermore, it was positioned at the height of the second floor so the perception of size was amplified. In general I believe that the structure was renovated with great care and for this reason it also had a singular appearance because it was built with ancient and uncommon materials for today which however were in an impeccable condition. Colonius Turm-Köln and HohenzollernbrückeThe Colonius Turm-Köln was the city's observation tower, a standard one, let's say, like many of which can be seen in German cities, and it stood north-west of the city. Even though it could be seen in the distance from some parts of the centre, my friend and I went to visit it to relax for a day before going to dinner. The tower was immersed in a large green park and personally, despite it being quite high, I was struck more by the park than by it. In turn, the park wasn't much, but it was very large, in a residential area and surrounded by trees. This characteristic combined with its simplicity was like a sort of prairie in the middle of the city, that day there were people relaxing lying down or playing and it was a very beautiful and genuine form of connection with nature. This detail and the fact that we didn't go up to visit the tower from above made the view of the tower overshadow me and consequently also the details linked to it. Let's say that on the day of that visit I too was catapulted into nature rather than being the victim of a cold, artificial building. Probably influenced by the famous photo that I described at the beginning of this post, I have always identified the "Hohenzollernbrücke" bridge as an architectural work belonging to the opposite bank of the city centre, despite the fact that it actually connected them both. Obviously it was right from the center or more precisely "circumnavigating" the cathedral that I crossed it for the first time. Except for a few small modern skyscrapers, the perspective from the center to the other side was not great and even the perspective of the bridge itself was not enjoyable because you could only see one section out of three. The part of the bridge on the city side was mainly striking for the infinite number of padlocks that were attached to the iron structure that started from the railing overlooking the river and ended beyond half of the bridge. Personally I found the padlocks to be something without infamy and without praise, even if without any meaning, their chrome plating and the fact that they were practically like a wall gave a colorful and different tone to an iron structure which in any case was cold by nature. To be honest, the only thing I wondered when I looked at all those padlocks was how much they weighed and whether by any chance they could affect the stability of the structure. However, the other thing that struck me towards the middle of the bridge was the view that finally became clearer over the long river on the side opposite the centre; it was a beautiful waterfront, a beautiful design despite it was modern. In fact, the opposite area had been totally redeveloped; in the background there was a square hotel made of glass and concrete, behind it a steel and glass tower and then on the bank a concrete structure at different levels which from the promenade in front of the hotel reached the river. I saw the very small people as a sign that the area must be very large, including the stairway design that reached the river. Clearly once I arrived across the bridge, I was like a pilgrim in the holy land and I began to observe, enjoy and photograph the legendary view seen on the Photokina poster many years before. Even though the view was much more compressed in the photo, the view of the bridge with the cathedral in the background was something unique beyond the iconic photo. I was happy to have accomplished what I had wanted to do for a long time even though it wasn't something extraordinary. I have always traveled like this, following my heart and sensations, without asking myself why but simply enjoying the goal achieved. Once something is part of our soul we must follow it and reach it at all costs, even more so if it is something simple like the view of the bridge and the Cologne cathedral. Rheinpromende was the name of that entire area made up of the staircase, which also served as a seat, and the upper part of the boulevard. The part of the staircase was used by people more for relaxation or contemplation given the magnificent view of the city. The upper part of the boulevard was more for walking and there were also bars and restaurants inside two separate rectangular modern structures. I immediately fell in love with that part of Cologne, not only for the iconic view but also because in a way it reminded me of the seafront in my city. In fact, with that design the boulevard there seemed to overlook the sea and not a river. Furthermore, although modern, the general design was harmonious with lots of greenery where the concrete parts balanced rather than disturb. I liked going back there, walking, relaxing, making some funny videos on the staircase or taking photographs. That area was very beautiful to also use as a backdrop for photography and the last time I went back, thinking about this purpose I realized that in Cologne I had missed a great opportunity and it concerned the girls I had met and frequented during the nights spent in the city. Nightlife and ConclusionIn Cologne I was very lucky with girls, both in clubs and on dating apps. I'm not exaggerating if I say that I was there with the three girls that I consider among the top 6 on my personal list. One of these especially struck me with the incredible physical compatibility that existed between us. Then I only thought about having fun and pleasure and I took everything for granted, so that perfect compatibility, even if it was the first of that kind, I took it as something that would return in one way or another. However, in my last walk on the Rheinpromende I thought about that girl and the time spent together, in that precise moment I realized that it wasn't something to be taken for granted to experience those certain sensations again. Today, five years and about forty girls later, I still haven't managed to experience that magical physical compatibility again, I regret not having exchanged any contact with that girl, simply because as a free spirit I only aimed for pleasure and adventure. As I said before, I was lucky in Cologne nights and the girls were like exponential whirlwinds, always getting better and better. It was luck and I didn't recognize it, I took it as a normal thing and even today during my nights chasing adventures, I wander in search of another compatibility of the same type. Every time I think about the trip to Cologne, beyond the thought of the discovery, of the good moments spent in the city, the adventure with that girl always comes to mind and consequently a life lesson that I could only understand in hindsight. Another awareness I feel is the fact that some moments are and will remain unique, there is no way to try them again or reproduce them because it would be a mistake. The long-term trip to Cologne taught me that we need to live in the moment, capture the magic of what is happening and immediately take advantage of certain circumstances that are not obvious but the result of a unique and complex combination of events. A.M.
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