Köln – January 16, 2023
First, some pictures from around the hotel:
I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this plaque honoring the German physicist George Simon Ohm.
Stickers and Signage
SID is the Sports Information Service (Sports Informationdienst)
Stickers are everywhere.
Nice rip-off of the Burger King logo. I have no idea what it means, though.
The sticker with the large type says “Better turn to Jesus”; the one with smaller type talks about how a lion can never get to heaven; you have to become a lamb, etc. etc.
Don’t get me started on Bitcoin.
This is at one of the major streetcar stops.
A strange juxtaposition of Spanish / German.
I wonder what that is. Döner with salsa?
Sign translates to early to late. Clever use of fonts; “early” is in an old style font, “late” in a modern font.
Dom (Cathedral)
Obligatory picture of Kölner Dom
Streetcar
The display in each car shows the next few stops. Why they don’t use the vertical space to show more stops, I got no clue.
It’s nice to be able to buy tickets right on the streetcar.
I spent much of the afternoon with someone I know online (we are “conversation partners”; he is learning English and I am learning German). Here’s the exterior of his bicycle repair shop.
The Hotel (Design Rant)
The hotel where I am staying has a very modern and elegant design, but it appears to have been designed by people who have never stayed in a hotel, not even once.
You want to use the reading lamp over the bed? Great!
Of course, the switch controlling that lamp also controls this great big lamp that illuminates the entire room...
As with many hotels in Europe, the room is small and there really isn’t a lot of space. There’s nothing wrong with a room that’s small if its space is used efficiently. But this room creates the illusion of space, and the results are frustrating.
For example, here’s a shelf under the TV, with the remote control to show you its approximate width.
The main desk has a shelf that is only a little bit deeper than an A4 piece of paper (11.7 inches).To be fair, it has just enough room for me to work on the computer fairly well.
Look at these triangular shelves. How creative and artistic! The pen on the shelf gives you an idea of how small (and useless) they are.
The space for clothes hangers is fairly decent (though there are only five hangers). Of course, if I put my suitcase vertically on the shelf, then there’s no room to hang the clothes.
The space under the hangers is fairly small as well (see the safe for an approximate idea of how much space is available to the right of the safe).
There’s space above the hangers, but I have to stretch to reach it.
There are two hooks on the wall, one with the “do not disturb” sign and the other with a hair dryer in a bag.
The light switch for the bathroom is separated from the door area by a small slat of wood, which you have to reach around when you enter the bathroom (unless you remembered to turn on the light before entering the door, which I usually don’t remember).
Also, the switch is wired backwards—the LED light in the switch is off when the light inside the bathroom is off. That means that when you go to the bathroom at night, there’s no LED to indicate where the switch is.
There’s not much room for things on the sink. Luckily, there is a shelf under the sink. I find myself constantly shuttling things between the sink and the shelf as I need to use them.
You would think that they would put a hook on the inside of the bathroom door so you could hang up at least one of the towels. But no; I am sure the designers felt it would mar the creative aesthetic they were trying to achieve.
So there you have it; definitely not one of the more practical hotel rooms I have been in.