Cologne Lights

 

If you are planning to visit Cologne, check the calendar for the
summer activities to get the most of your visit. Kölner Lichter or
Cologne Lights is one of the main summer attractions in the city.
Thousands of tourists and local residents alike flock yearly to the old
city to watch the magnificent display of fireworks from the Rhein
river starting at about 11 in the evening with accompanying music.
But one word of caution...the city could get really so crowded
especially after the spectacular show of fireworks.
I experienced for the first time this crowd, coming out from
a birthday celebration of Helen S. at the flat of Marilou F. where
we enjoyed the lights and sounds of Cologne Lights from a live tv
coverage of the show and from her windows where we enjoyed seeing
some stray bursts of fireworks.

I really panicked when I was caught in this crowd of spectators who
were heading to the platform for their trains. My Japanese
fan came out to be a handy rescue when the heat inside the train
station became unbearable, und all I could see were Caucasian heads
towering over me. I forced myself to walk on toes fearing I might get
lost in the crowd while furiously fanning myself to the delight of the
people around me. To make the Cologne Lights story short, I was able
to catch my train which was similarly jamp-packed with homeward
bound sweating spectators, and I reached home nearly one in the morning.


Photos of Fireworks taken from www.wdr.de and
http://files.koeln.de