OCEANS AWAY

The year’s last, loveliest smile

Filed under At Home

Fall is here. FINALLY. Every year I feel like spring and summer last forEVER, and by the time fall rolls around, I’m so excited for winter and Christmas that I can’t enjoy what is really the loveliest of all seasons: yes, fall.

Temperatures are supposed to drop to below 10°C (50F) next week but right now, all of Cologne seems drunk on these last golden days: it’s hot and sunny and the streets are crowded with impossibly happy and beautiful scenes. I’ve made a point of leaving the office for lunch (as has everyone else), even if just to get cheap coffee somewhere. If you know anything about me, you know that I don’t enjoy warm weather – or, in fact, the hopelessly cheesy nostalgia it brings out in people. But it’s different right now; maybe because we’re so close to my favorite seasons already; maybe because it’s Cologne.

So, against all odds, the pensive, pessimistic Kat you all know and love (ahem) has turned into someone who wants to hug everyone on the street and yell at them JUST HOW AWESOME SHE THINKS LIFE IS. LOOK EVERYONE, WE’RE GETTING TO SIT IN AN ARTSY CAFÉ IN A THRIVING CITY ON A BEAUTIFUL DAY, IN PEACE, DAY AFTER DAY AFTER DAY – HOW LUCKY ARE WE TO BE IN THE TINY PERCENTAGE OF THE WORLD’S POPULATION WHO GET TO DO THAT?

Some things I love about Köln (so far) ♥
surprisingly affordable lunch deals at downtown restaurants • tiny flimsy caps on chimneys or A/C vents that spin and sparkle in the sun • tall lush trees all over the city • the silence in the fancy lobby of the building I work in – and the explosion of noises and colors the second you step outside • never stopping stream of planes flying low (because the airport is so close) (I love watching planes) • inspiration to finally start watching German movies • tiny cute bunnies on minuscule patches of grass on four-lane streets (seriously, Cologne – there’s happy and friendly, and then there’s creepy cutesy) • hot air balloon over the skyline in the morning light today • street art • pockets of peace and quiet even downtown, like Rathenauplatz or cafés like The Reisecafé • the subway • people asking you for personal recommendations at the supermarket (this hasn’t happened to me once in my tiny hometown) • the fact that I’ve only seen about one 16th of the city so far and the list is already this long

More to come for sure!