We took a guided walk through Cologne city center, mostly to see the famous Cologne Cathedral. There were two main disappointments here: 1) the Cathedral is almost black with dirt and 2) after the war destroyed much of the city, they opted to replace the destroyed historical buildings with ”modern” buildings from the 50’s and 60’s. Eeew! For the most part, from what we saw it is not an attractive city. But we still enjoyed the tour and learned and saw some new things so all is not lost.
COLOGNE CATHEDRAL
Cologne Cathedral was begun around 1248 and completed in 1880, including about a 400-year period when no work at all took place. It’s an incredibly dirty building that could look amazing if it were cleaned. But given the size of the task as well as concern over how the 8 kinds of sandstone will clean differently means that it’s unlikely to ever happen. The Cathedral’s claim to fame besides its size is that it possesses the bones of the Magi.
The entrance to the Cologne Cathedral. It looks blacker than this in person. (That’s our fun guide looking this direction.)The golden sarcophagus containing the bones of the Magi and 3 golden crowns.
And below are a few other odds and ends of things we saw while walking around downtown.
This is an art display. It’s a Ford Fiesta with wings, covered in gold, sitting on top of a tower on top of a building. Hmmm….According to our guide, there are 25 brands of beer available in Cologne and hence 25 beer gardens. Each beer garden only sells their brand of beer. That sounds strange to me and perhaps I misunderstood him. (Maybe we’d been in there too long!) Beer is sold in small 7 oz. glasses so it stays cold. I like that part. When your glass is empty, they come by and give you a new one, necessitating putting your coaster on top of your glass if you don’t want a fresh one. (I’m pretty sure I understood that part correctly.)A local mailman with mail cart.I loved this fountain. It looked like mushrooms with water coming out of the bottom of the caps.Adorable German craft items. Haven’t had a chance to get into a shop yet.These Stolpersteine or ”stumbling stones” are brass-colored cobblestones embedded in the pavement in front of house entrances. They commemorate Jewish citizens and other persecuted individuals of the Nazi oppression who once lived in the respective buildings and were deported to one of the Nazis’ extermination camps during World War II. The art project was started by a Cologne-based artist in 1995 and has developed into the world’s largest de-centralized memorial with more than 50,000 stumbling stones in 18 European countries.
The Cologne Cathedral was as you say, very beautiful, but very dirty. Still worth a look. The stained glass windows were lovely. Not a fan of the Ford Fiesta statue – sorry. I liked the fountain too and even thought the mail cart was interesting.
Love the stumbling stones, but they make my heart hurt. It’s necessary to see the reminders, it’s just so painful to do so.
You’re doing a wonderful job Aunt Joyce. Thank you.
Our Viking River Cruise 
The Cologne Cathedral was as you say, very beautiful, but very dirty. Still worth a look. The stained glass windows were lovely. Not a fan of the Ford Fiesta statue – sorry. I liked the fountain too and even thought the mail cart was interesting.
Love the stumbling stones, but they make my heart hurt. It’s necessary to see the reminders, it’s just so painful to do so.
You’re doing a wonderful job Aunt Joyce. Thank you.
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