Hug me, I'm freezing

On Tuesday, we went to Cologne! We took the train from Bonn to Cologne and I was shocked at how close the two cities are! After twenty minutes on the Deutsche Bahn, we entered Cologne and made our way through Cologne Central Station (which resembles an airport with its shops and food court) to the fresh air.

As soon as I walked outside, the site of the Cologne Cathedral greeted me. It's official name is the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter but everyone in Cologne simply calls it the Dom (German word for Cathedral). It is so tall and looks like something straight  of a movie with its ornate windows, towering steeples, and  small and large figures of apostles, saints and angles lining the walls and doorways.

We continued our day with a walking tour that had many interesting stops including an ancient Roman wall in a parking garage, lunch in a warm restaurant, and a tour of a Gestapo museum. After this, we once again made our way to the Dom.

Our tour guide met us  at the main entrance and took us around to an elevator on the side of the church. Now, this elevator is not part of the church structure. It is part of the ever present scaffolding around one part of the church or another. You see, the Dom is not complete and there is a saying in Cologne that says when people stop working on the Dom it will be the end of the world. It certainly seems so.  The workers are constantly repairing or replacing older parts of the building and move from one section to another. The building is immense and this fact only becomes more apparent when you go up and realize how large the things that looked tiny from the ground really are.

The tour was incredible. Complete with shaking elevators and swaying scaffolds (totally safe of course. It just made the experience a bit more memorable), bells, a Prussian eagle, five foot wrenches, and incredible views of inside and outside of the church. For me it was like something out of a dream. I felt like I was with Quasimodo from the Hunchback of Notre-Dame as we passed gargoyles, walked through attics filled with treasures, looked down at altars and pews from indoor balconies, gazed at stain glass windows, and stood by the steeples of this magnificent cathedral. 

Now, on to the reason why I titled this piece "Hug me, I'm freezing."  It was a particularly cold day (at least for a Texan) with temperatures in the 20s.  Every place we went was amazing but I was very cold and was kicking myself for not wearing another layer. But, thankfully, I had amazing friends who hugged or huddled with me to keep me warm. Thanks y'all! Next time, I will definitely wear another layer.