Day Three - Cologne, Germany

When we awoke this morning, the ship was still making its ways to Cologne (or as the Germany's call it - Koln).  After breakfast, we decided to watch the ship enter the city from the sun deck.  The first thing that we saw was the cathedral of Cologne which the locals call the Dom.  I had never seen a ship parallel park between two ships!!  It was impressive. :)

Once we landed, we took a walking tour of the city which is the oldest city in Europe because it was an actual city long before the other towns of the Middle Ages were formed.  It was a city on the edge of the Roman Empire because the Germanic tribes of the time heldback the Roman Army from crossing to the east of the Rhine River.  There are several recently found Roman ruins beneath new construction including a nearly complete tiled mosaic floor which depicted the world of Dionysus.  In addition, we came across an excavation site of the old Medieval Jewish Quarter in which they found an old Jewish bath house of living water.  During thePlague, the Jews were blamed for the disease and were persecuted and later banned from the city of Cologne until the 19th Century.

We passed the building where the first Ode de Cologne was created and produced.  During the Middle Ages, the people of the city forced out the archbishop of Cologne and took power for themselves.  The city hall, called the Rat House is covered with the statues of people that have influenced the city and a clock tower with the "Snapper" beneath it.  The Snapper is a face that has a mouth that opens and sticks out its tongue at the top of every hour and then snaps its mouth shut.  This should give you an idea of the sense of humor found within the city that is also known for its annual Carnival Celebration since 1823 similar to Mardi Gras.

Our final stop in the walking tour was to the Cologne Cathedral.  Construction on the cathedral began in 1248 in the Gothic style in an attempt to build the largest cathedral in the world.  The foundation of a Romanesque Cathedral was completely removed and a new foundation that was 550 meters deep.  Construction continued until 1528 when the city ran out of money for construction leaving an enormous crane on the top of the cathedral unused as a sign of hope that construction would continue.  This hope was not realized for 300 years!!  The cathedral was completed in 1880 with the assistance of the entire German region which saw completing the cathedral as as a unifying symbol after war with France.

Inside of the cathedral are stained glass windows from periods throughout history from 700 years ago until the 20th Century.  The cathedral was bombed during World War II and was one of the only structures still standing.  The windows were removed after some of them were destroyed by bombings.

The cathderal was beautiful inside with the windows, the statues, the enormously high ceilings, and the other artwork located throughout the interior which was mostly an open area shaped like a cross.  The inside was described by our tour guide, Franco, as being as tall as a 15 story building . . . and that is all in one level!!