In the City Heat – Cologne – Mountain Lifestyle

On the hottest day of the year it’s been part blessing and part curse to be stuck in the city centre. The planned ‘rest day’ has been spent off the bikes, but at times it’s been hard to feel like you are resting, when it feels like you might just burst into flames at any point.

That said, the day started in the blissful cool shade outside the apartment, where the happens to be a very nice coffee shop. Still dripping from a quick cold shower, we took breakfast on the quiet street, while watching the world go by.

While it was still relatively cool (28°C), we walked the shaded streets to see the main Cologne Cathedral, passing some old Roman ruins along the way.

The sheer size of the cathedral is hugely impressive. So much stone and so much intricately carved stone as far as the eye could see. We stood in its shadow and just looked for a while.

Inside, the air was cool and protected from the noise of the city. We took a seat and took it all in.

When we returned to the Pad, the room was insanely hot, so we spent the afternoon moving between air-conditioned shopping malls and a couple of coffee shops that became oasis’s of calm and tranquility from the heat outside. Between buildings a wind was blowing by the evening that felt like standing in front of a hot hair drier. Incredible.

Clare was hoping to buy some light trousers to cycle in to protect from sunburn, so we had some fun shopping. She got a cool outfit and I might have got something less practical, had I been able to transport it! Ha ha!