After a morning of sailing on the Rhine, we arrived in Cologne for an afternoon walking tour. Cologne is a large, relatively modern, industrial city. The main attraction here is the cathedral.
On our morning cruise, we saw these pillars from the Bridge at Remagen, a famous bridge over the Rhine in WWII. Toward the end of the war, the allied forces reached the Rhine and were surprised to find this bridge still in tact. This allowed the US Army to establish a bridgehead on the Eastern side of the Rhine. After the crossing, the Germans tried many times to bring it down, but it was 10 days before it finally collapsed. Capturing the bridge shortened the war and V-E day came two months later.Cologne and the cathedral spires from our ship.St. Gereon BasilicaMosaic floorThe remains of a Roman towerThese plaques can be found in the sidewalks of many towns. They contain the names of Jewish residents who lived on that block and died in Nazi concentration camps.The CathedralWe went to a beer hall to sample the Kolsch beer brewed only in Cologne. Neither of us are beer drinkers, but when in Germany. . . ,We walked down two blocks of the main shopping street near the cathedral and found three large candy stores. I guess the Germans like candy as well as beer.
I climbed the cathedral. I believe it may be the tallest in Europe. It felt like it. It was about 1979 when we lived the FRG while I was in the USAF. Found a modern bar down River where I had my first Pilsner Urquell. A favorite ever since!
Beautiful
I climbed the cathedral. I believe it may be the tallest in Europe. It felt like it. It was about 1979 when we lived the FRG while I was in the USAF. Found a modern bar down River where I had my first Pilsner Urquell. A favorite ever since!
We did not try to climb the cathedral. I could blame it on a lack of time, but I don’t think we would try it no matter how much time we had.