Bettina Wirtz

Ich bin e Kölsch Mädche, a Cologne girl, born in the Südstadt within sight of the Severinstor. I have guided in my city since 2007, first for the tourist office and now on my own, and I have walked the cathedral roof with more school classes than I can count. My husband is from Maastricht, so I speak Dutch with a Limburg accent that makes the Dutch laugh. Cologne is a city that does not take itself too seriously, and I try to guide the same way. We have two thousand years of history under our feet, Roman floors in the car parks and a cathedral that took six hundred years to finish, but we also have Kölsch, carnival and a very long list of local sayings. I love the brewery taverns with their blue-aproned waiters who are rude on purpose. I am in my fifties, I have two grown daughters, and I sing in a carnival choir from November to Ash Wednesday. You can now join my walks through Cologne live on video, from any device, and ask me questions as we go.