Shunkan.org - Blog

Having grown up in Cologne, Germany, I pretty much hate rain. Rain is annoying in so many ways, you can't ride a bicycle without getting super wet, you can't sit outside, you catch a cold and rainy weather requires having rainwear on you all the time. Only at night, when the lights of the city are reflecting in the wet surface of the streets and everything that's covered by wetness, then you get to discover the beautiful side of the rain.

It rains a lot in Cologne, and sometimes it seems to rain forever.... well at least occasionally the rain doesn't stop for almost one or two weeks.

These pictures are actually from October 2010, they have been sitting on my hard drive forever. From what I am hearing there is a lot of raining going on right now though.

That's one of the places you can't enjoy when it's raining.

Shown in the picture is Cologne's central railway station, which is an important local, national and international hub, with high speed train connections to Amsterdam, Basel (Switzerland), Paris and Brussels (Belgium) and lots of national connections as well. The station is now also infamous for the sex assaults on women by migrants on New Year's Eve.

I used the Canon EOS 5D at that time, ISO set to 1600, which reminds me that the 5D (the very first version) still is an excellent full frame camera. If you ever visit Cologne, don't miss out on that famous art museum, the Museum Ludwig, with an awesome collection of modern art.

One of the tunnels under the station connecting the south and the north side of the station.

Same tunnel facing south, with one of Cologne's notorious taxis, which dominate the streets at night, especially on weekends.

The tunnel stayed mostly dry, except for the asphalt, the tunnel's lights hazy from all the mist.

The illuminated pivot bridge at the chocolate museum next to the old port entrance.