When you leave the train station in Cologne, the first thing you see is the famous Chapel of Cologne, which is one of the most famous places in Germany and a World Heritage Site. It's a really interesting building, as it took 2000 years to finish construction completely and was one of the few buildings in Cologne to survive the WWII bombings. The twin spires of the Cologne Cathdral are ~500 feet tall; the only word that comes to mind as you stare at this massive, dark building is "WOW". On a more descriptive level, tt's even possible to tell which part was constructed at which time because the builders in the 1800's used igneous rock from Drachenfels, and older constructors used different kinds of sandstone. The overall texture is kind of hodge-podge of light and dark, mottled and smooth, but it fits together well. Within the cathedral is a massive, ornate golden shrine that is allegedly the resting place of the 3 wise men. I definitely made sure to ask for wisdom with Physiology (kidding--kind of). It was also cold in there . . .I could still see my breath after I went inside! As we were touring the upper walls of the church, this huge organ started playing some hauntingly minor music, echoing the sounds of centuries through the ancient halls.
Thanks to our wonderful program coordinator, Kristin, we were able to tour the upper levels of the Cologne Cathedral with a guide. This included inside and outside gables, nooks, and crannies. So us Texans, in all our non-cold tolerance, went up on the roof of this giant building in the cold rain (don't worry, it was pretty safe) and got to see the city from the spires of this magnificent building that has cast its shadow over Cologne for two centuries. It was breathtaking. Our passage to the top was through these dark, narrow corridors and tiny spiral staircases that made everyone feel a little claustrophobic. I even had trouble squeezing comfortably through some of the passageways and I'm one of the smaller people! Ryan and Kunal, our tall guys, basically had to crawl most of the way.
When we got to the top, we got to see the bell tower as well as the "small tower", which happens to sit right at the geometric center of the city of Cologne. It was a magnificent view of the city and the bridges lacing across the Rhine river. As we reached the belfry, our tour guide made sure NOT to tell us when the bells were about to ring so we all had a collective heart attack at 5:30 on the dot. There was also a giant wrench in the belfry that was used for--you guessed it--giant bolts that had to be secured! The wrench weighed a solid 80 kilograms, and the boys had a great time picking it up over their heads and pretending to be "der Hammer!" (which is the German way of saying that you're the bomb.com).
Other sights that we saw were courtesy of our lovely tour guide, who was pretty sassy and funny! There are still kilometers of Roman sewers beneath the city of Cologne. In ancient times, these sewers ran all the way to Dusseldorf (I think it was Dusseldorf!) and dumped out there. As our guide quipped, "That is why they have such dark beer...!" Something that I didn't know before this trip: there's a significant amount of Roman history in Cologne and they're currently excavating the old Roman city hall right next to the modern Cologne city hall right now!
Our tour guide also showed us the main street where Karneval (kind of like Mardi Gras) takes place. Apparently this is when the Rhinelanders get VERY enthusiastic about their Kölch (beer) and parades. (Funny side note MOM DON'T READ, we were talking about Lent and apparently the ancient Germans had as much trouble with giving up fancy foods and eating only fish for 6 weeks as we do..apparently they came up with veal-stuffed ravioli called Maultaschen that were supposed to "deceive God" into thinking that they weren't eating fancy meats when they definitely were. Because apparently "God can see into your soul but not into your pasta". The tour guide was seriously hilarious.) OK MOM CAN READ NOW.
Oh fun side trip, we also went to the original "Eau de Cologne" house (yep, that's where the term "cologne" comes from!). They immediately bombarded us with samples of the original perfume when we walked in, which is actually really quite nice--fresh and kind of lemony. Apparently some crazy famous people wore this scent, including Napoleon Bonaparte and Oscar Wilde. I seriously considered buying some to count myself with the greats, but I didn't....yet. :)
Finally, we went into the EL-DE Haus, which is the house originally commissioned to be apartment living but was given to the Nazis to become the Gestapo Headquarters. The building is located right in central Cologne, and it honestly looks pretty normal from the outside. You walk inside and the upstairs are normal sized offices and passageways, just like any office building. But downstairs, where a garage had originally been blueprinted, the Gestapo had installed 10 prison cells, each about 15 feet long and 4 feet wide (that's my estimation). Each of these cells was said to hold up to 20 people at a time that were being "interrogated" (tortured) by the Gestapo police. There were also 400 executions at this location, either by hanging or shooting. What stood out the most to me was the fact that the Gestapo had their "game room" adjacent to the prison cells--it truly shows how callous these people had become that they could relax so close to such torment. It made me feel a little nauseous. I'm very glad that the Allies won WWII!!!
Anyways, those are my memories from Cologne. Since January 27, which was the above visit, we have experienced a midnight train ride through Cologne HBF during Karneval, which was an ordeal in and of itself . . . but I'll save that story for some other time. :)
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