We headed to Germany's fourth largest city to see in 2015. In medieval times Cologne was the largest city of the Holy Roman Empire. Germany's most liberal city is located on the river Rhine and its skyline is dominated by the magnificent Kölner Dom. Unfortunately, due to icy conditions we were unable to climb the 509 stairs to the top of its south tower but we were able to explore its cavernous interior.

Köln is most famous for its perfume, 4711 Eau de Cologne and its 'Kölsch' beer . We focused on the latter. Kölsch beer is served in narrow 0.2l glasses called 'Stangen'. With every sip as fresh as the first, the 0.2l measures are consumed effortlessly and replaced by attentive waiters before the glass is even dry - easy to lose count! (Un)fortunately the waiters keep a tally with a pencil mark on the beer mat. Placing the beer mat on top of the glass signals the end of your session. For the traditional breweries, we visited the Altstadt around the Dom where we found 'Früh Kölsch', 'Sion' and 'Peters Brauhaus'. We had a more local experience in the intimate bars of the bohemian Agnesviertel early on New Year's Eve.

On NYE we spent several hours warming ourselves with Gluhwein and Bratwurst at one of the Christmas markets before heading down to the riverside for fireworks. Now this wasn't an organised display but rather the locals turning up after a few beers with their rockets and Roman candles ready for ignition in the most chaotic fashion imaginable. Very ungerman! We were grateful to leave with our sight and limbs intact... but it was a fun night.

We took a train to visit Bonn, the former capital of West Germany and birthplace of Ludwig van Beethoven, The highlight of this day was a visit to the great composer's first home and seeing his instruments as well as a lock of his hair!