After Koblenz, we sailed up to Cologne, Germany – and, yes, before you ask the question Eau de Cologne really was invented there and still is a solid industry! Cologne is a huge city, the 4th largest in Germany. It is also an old city – it was originally founded in the first century AD by the Romans. Even at that time, it was a huge city, being capital of he surrounding Roman province and serving as headquarters of the Roman military in the region. There are still lots of Roman ruins and artifacts around and we were really impressed with both the size and quality of the exhibits at the Roman-Germanic Museum. Given its location, Cologne became a major trade route in the Middle Ages, which continues through today. It is also a major crossroads for people traveling around Europe. The train station is huge! Unfortunately, over 90% of the city was destroyed by Allied bombing during WWII. While damaged, one of the most impressive monuments of the city survived – the Cologne Cathedral (it actually has a long complicated name involving St. Peter, but everyone calls it Cologne Cathedral). It is a huge Gothic church, originally started in the 13th century. Apparently there had been a smaller Romanesque church on the site earlier, but with the somewhat dubious acquisition (can you say stolen goods?) of the relics (i.e., bones) of the Three Magi, it was decided a much larger and “modern” church was required. It has been under continuous construction since its beginning and locals believe when the last scaffolding comes down, it will mark the beginning of the Last Judgement.BTW, Cologne has the most pubs per capita in Germany. In celebration of that fact, we went on a pub crawl that night, visiting 4 pubs and drinking a whole lot of beer. Here you drink Kölsch beer, a light ale brewed only in Cologne, and served in small cylindrical glasses called “stange.” They like drinking from these small glasses so that the beer remains cold while you are drinking them. It is the job of the Köbes (not quite waiters and not quite managers) to make sure that you always have a fresh beer before your glass is empty. They are very good at their jobs! When you’ve had enough, you just put your coaster on your glass. I didn’t see that very often in our crawl! Anyway, this was our last stop in Germany. Now off to the Netherlands!
This entry was posted in Cruising, Europe, Germany, Travel
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
