Day 5, Cologne

Leaving Bruges was bittersweet. We had such a nice time Ans agreed we’d both like to go back there someday. We interacted with really nice people and gorged on the beauty of the City and it’s treats.

Our hotelier Brend arranged for an 8:30am taxi and an early breakfast so we could catch our 8:58am train to Brussels. We finally got to meet Brend’s wife Veronika (from Peru) and she fed us and had us out the door by 8:20am. The wether was overcast and windy so standing on the platform was a cold affair. We huddled in a little glass box designed for just such weather. A minute or two before our train arrived there was a platform change announcement made and we and all of the others huddled in the box hustled from platform 9 to platform 6. The announcement wasn’t in English but Mike noticed a sign flashing “6” so we just followed the herd of people. Moments after entering platform 6 we were on our train and heading to Brussels Midi train station. A quick 1 hour ride to Brussels and we caught our ICE (inner city express=really fast train) DB Train to Cologne.

As the train jetted from Belgium to Germany I noticed it started to get hilly. This was quite a contrast from the countryside in Amsterdam, Bruges and our train ride in between those which were all were super flat. No hills at all.

We arrived around 12:30pm and grabbed a couple of wursts in the station, threw our bags in the hotel (our hotel is connected to the train station) and walked over to the Cathedral.

The photos below don’t come close to showing the size of this massive structure.

Flying buttresses support the structure allowing the windows to be big and the walls to be thinner.

Because this cathedral is gigantic and surrounded by the train station, museums and shops we struggled to get far enough to get a picture of the entire building.

The gargoyles are really interesting to me. Here’s a few we saw.

Screaming Gargoyle. Must look cool with water pouring out of her mouth.

Mike trying to squeeze the cathedral into his phone.

We went inside to explore. Again the photos don’t do the size and openness of the interior justice.

Cathedral floor plans are usually done in the shape of a cross, the top of the cross facing west.

On the right (south side) of the pillars.

Here are some of the things we saw inside.

Pulpit that looks like a popcorn machine. Impressive because it was built in 1544 way before popcorn machines were invented.

Closeup of Part of the mosaic. Each tile is around 1 cm squared.

The crucifix above is considered to be one of the first larger than life sculptures of the Middle Ages. It’s over a thousand years old. Jesus Christ that’s old!

The whole reason this cathedral was built was because of the Three Magi or the three Wisemen that brought gold, frankincense and myrrh to baby Jesus. The relics (bones?) were transferred to Cologne in 1164 and it was decided a grand cathedral was needed to house the relics. And here they are.

632 years later the cathedral was completed.

One of the many huge stained glass windows.

I call this one “Pull my finger Cherub.”

We wondered back outside and found this fountain on the south side of the cathedral.

We continued to circle the exterior of the cathedral trying to take it all in. On the west end we saw a bunch of people heading over a little hill. We followed and it turns out the we’re going and coming from the Rhine River.

There were at least 8 river cruise vessels lined up along the riverbank.

We are ready for a nap by this point so back to the room for a little rest. Because of the proximity of the hotel/train station/cathedral this had been or least active day and we both needed to catch up on some sleep.

Refreshed I wanted to take a little stroll. Mike wanted a bit more rest so I ventured out on my own. I strolled around the cathedral and headed onto the train bridge above the Rhine. Mike has seen a YouTube video of this bridge and mentioned it was covered with locks couples would attach to the bridge and then throw the key into the Rhine. I wanted to see it!

Since we would be in Germany for less than 24 hours I had 4 goals.

See the cathedral
Eat a wurst
Eat a pretzel
Get some magical German decongestant spray

Goal 1 and 2 were taken care of so it was time to head to a bakery and pharmacy. When I travelled to Germany back in 2011 with Wendy Morton and Nick Barone (we were performing at a shadow puppet festival) I caught a pretty bad cold. I went to a pharmacy and they gave me the best decongestant spray I’ve ever used. I’ve used it sparingly since every time I’ve gotten a really bad cold. I finally ran out a year or two ago so I wanted to stock up while here. I visited two pharmacies and got a bottle from each. I am ready for my next severe cold.