I told you way back in the blog that I'm a strange "tourist". I'm interested more in the way people live, how things operate, their culture and language, much more than the touristy spots (except for the Chocolate Museum here, that I must see..and taste, and buy!) or shopping (most of it is made in China, just like the U.S). So see what I find interesting? The garages!
As I said, real estate is at a premium. Eddie told me we should rent a car, but the travel agent and hotel warned that there is very little parking. Boy, were they right! One rarely sees a vacant space on the streets, and they are way too tiny for me to try my (very) old parallel parking skills. A few of the hotels have garages. The pictures here show a large garage by Cologne standards. One door marked Einfahrt (entrance), the other Ausfahrt (exit), the rest of the sign basically is saying "don't block the driveway". You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.
Twice I've seen another garage door, across the street, open but never had the camera with me at the time. That garage has only one door and the space is not very deep, and when it was open I saw four cars parked there! They were "stacked" in pairs. There is an elevator kind of thing that lowers the bottom tier (two cars) below ground level. If your car is on the bottom, one must raise the hydraulic elevator until your vehicle is at ground level, in order to back it out. The next person (car on top) lowers the "lift" (that's what elevators are called here) until theirs is on ground level. Very resourceful!
BTW, the public restrooms are marked WC (water closet).
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