Groß St Martin is a lovely church from the 1200s. While it is much more basic than the cathedral,…read moreit is still quite nice and is well worth stopping by as you walk through the old town. The church itself is pretty, but the really impressive part is the excavation Roman ruins in the basement. They aren't huge, but it is a unique experience, and they are well signed and maintained. The church is free, but there is a ,50-cent fee to walk down into the excavation (they have laminated descriptions in four languages, but the signs are in German). Definitely worth the ,50 cents to see the ruins!

When possible, I have formed a nice little tradition when visiting a city for the first time. Maybe…read moreyou'll find it a worthy approach, too. When exploring a city for the first time, it's nice to see the city from a helicopter level. That way, you start out big before diving into the city in a deeper way. KolnTrianglePanorama is an awesome way to do so. It offers panoramic views of the city from the top of a skyscraper. First off, I will say that it's not easy to find. Even with Google Maps, the directions weren't spot on. There are several skyscrapers in the general vicinity that look very similar, so it took us a while to find both the correct building, and the correct entrance. However, once you're in, for a small fee, you'll take an elevator to the observation deck. You'll have the opportunity to see the city from high above and take some nice pictures. A quick but fun attraction. And one that's listed on TripAdvisor as one of the top attractions in Cologne. Overall, Cologne was an awesome city! Enjoy it to the fullest if you're visiting just like I did.

Köln Triangle building is definitely one of the best place that you can find to look at Cologne…read morefrom above. The place isn't difficult to find, is just 5 mins walks on foot from the station. And unlike most of the places, the price is really cheap. After we bought the ticket, we just follow the sign, didn't take long to find the lift which take the visitor directly to the roof. There are no guide or any service during the whole process. Let's call it, a self-service style. It's total fine by me anyway. We walked out of the lift and couple more steps, then we were already there. It was really an amazing view, we could see though the whole city, plus the weather was really nice as well. Although it didn't have much description or introduction of the places like most of the Panorama sightseeing places. The location really made it up for us, really romantic and impressive. We spent about 20-30 mins on the top just looked about and enjoyed ourselves. And of course we made couple fantastic photos. After that, because we have plan for other places, we didn't visit the café there. During the time there, I also didn't really see and kind of souvenir shop. We left the building and walked on Hohenzollern Bridge. It was not so far away. it was simply brilliant and we both had a great time.

Okay, while I didn't go inside (and I'm not even sure if you can go inside - I didn't check) this…read moreis still a pretty awesome place to check out. Like the towers of the cathedral and Martin Luther's church, the tower of the Historic Rathaus can be seen from most parts of the city, however the impressive nature of the building only comes to the for when you actually get up close to it. Basically the tower is covered in statues of various celebrities of the city. I have to be honest that I don't know who precisely the statues represent, but apparently one of them is a witch. However, even though I don't know the identity of the statues, it is still pretty cool to spend some time admiring the architecture.

If you're the sort of tourist who likes to learn a little about the social history of the places…read moreyou visit, and if you speak German, then I recommend popping into the City Hall. There are a couple tapestries and paintings to view that will give you insights into the city's history, and often art exhibits and such that will give you a sense of the current state of affairs in Cologne. There is also an atrium explaining the legend of the mayor and the lion. However, you need to speak/read German, as virtually nothing is written in English.