Cologne is famous for its huge Gothic cathedral which we dutifully visited and were impressed by a great deal. However we didn’t spend nearly as much time at the cathedral as we did in the other great attraction of the city: (for us, at least) the Globetrotter outdoor store.
Four stories of high quality equipment for use in outdoor activities, a climbing wall and an indoor lake for testing out kayaks and canoes, we understandable spent a few hours in such an Aladdin’s cave.
As if a bivvy and a tent wasn’t enough, we had come to the Globetrotter with the hopes of buying a tarp. We felt it was the one piece of equipment missing that could really keep us comfortable at camp no matter the weather. We had considered picking one up before but the deluge we had spent the night in a few days prior convinced us.
So we bought the tarp. And then a few other items. And after a couple of hours left the store to visit the Cathedral. It is an impressive site and climbing to the top you get a great sense for the scale of the whole thing.

  
  
A bit more wandering and then we returned to Rolf and spent another lovely evening hanging out with him and his friends at the wall.