Hello, to make a short introduction; A few days ago, I moved from Istanbul to Cologne with my wife and son. In this diary series, I plan to share daily events and my thoughts. The short introduction is over.
Normally, I constantly take notes and write in my own note tools (notebook, notion, evernote). Since these writings always remained behind closed doors, I always had a desire to write a 'public' article. On top of that, when my niece Hilal said, "When you go to Germany, tell us about your daily experiences, I'm curious, at least I'll read it," I decided it was time to activate the blog again. Since I haven't had time to shoot videos for a while, writing was undoubtedly a better communication tool for me.
The Journey Begins
It's 4 AM and I woke up again without the alarm ringing; I was already sleeping with one eye open for days due to the travel rush. With Kadir's help in the early hours of the morning, we reached Sabiha Gökçen airport around 5:40 AM. Although the plane's doors were to open at 8:05, we had already quickly completed our procedures and arrived at the waiting lounge by around 6:40. The last one and a half hours in Turkey passed within 1-2 minutes, and the moment of the journey arrived. We took our last selfie.
First Impressions
When we arrived in Germany, the first thing we noticed was how many forests and lakes there were. Despite being in the middle of winter, the weather was partly cloudy and clear. While flying over the houses from above, I remembered the cramped houses, buildings, and the color of the tile roofs I saw while flying over Istanbul. The roofs here were dark brown. The settlements were orderly and spaced apart. That was my first impression.
Arrival in Cologne
When we landed, we took a bus to the entry area where passport control was done. After a short chat with the customs officer, the officer said, "Welcome to Germany," and we entered Germany. Since we had a lot of luggage, we decided to take a taxi to our destination. Of course, the taxi driver at the taxi stand said he couldn't take us because he didn't have a baby seat, but a few taxis back, there was a Vito that had one. Without squeezing, we arrived at the address in Cologne center where we would stay, and of course, we made our first expense with 35€.
The first thing that caught my attention when I got off was how quiet the city was and 'where these people were.' After getting the key for the 1+0 place we rented from Airbnb from the reception, we settled into our room and immediately threw ourselves outside.
First Discoveries
Since the weather was intermittently rainy, we took our umbrellas with us and went shopping for 100€. No, no, maybe later. (Note to self: Shoot a video with Mesut on how to spend a day with 1€). After shopping, we came home, ate, and rolled up our sleeves for the 'we arrived' notification sequence that lasted about an hour.
After eating, we went out for another tour in the evening. We discovered a place with luxury stores on a wide street (Schildergasse). After getting a bit cold around here, we returned to where we were staying through a deserted street. (When it gets dark, and there is no one, the streets become deserted). We made a note to ourselves to use the streets on our next trip.
The first article seems a bit long. I wrote it a bit plainly; I'll include more personal topics and my feelings in the second one.
Love, your uncle.
The first day of our move from Istanbul to Cologne: Journey, first impressions, and discoveries.