Cologne Cathedral

We drove to Cologne today and explored the Cologne Cathedral, one of the largest churches in the world. The above picture is from Wikipedia, but the rest are ours. I think the Wikipedia article is interesting, although it doesn't come close to describing how interesting the dome treasury is.

I can't entitle this post "Cologne," because we really only did justice to the cathedral and the downtown area. It took us several hours. The cathedral is a UNESCO world heritage site. And I don't know how to begin describing the fascinating artifacts, both religious and secular, in the dome treasury. (Also, for obvious reasons, no photography of the ancient articles was allowed.)

Cologne is full of Roman ruins and reminders. It began as a Roman settlement ("Colonia") before the birth of Christ. In the treasury, a wall built by the Romans is left exposed. There are Roman coins and burial finds. The treasury also contains the most interesting religious relics I've ever encountered--a piece of the cross of Christ, the chains of St. Peter, remains of the Three Magi and more.

Alan and Meggie went to the top of one of the towers. Meggie was especially impressed by the room-sized medieval bells, which she has told me I "really might have to go back and see."

View of Cologne and the Rhine River.

Inside one of the spires.

Laurel-loo charges into the cathedral.

In most metropolitan areas, we've found these convenient electronic parking guides that tell you how many spots are open in the part of town you're driving toward. But still, driving in downtown Cologne was a NIGHTMARE. Worse than Tokyo, Alan said.

We will most likely be making another trip to Cologne. There are so many museums and other buildings worth seeing. By the time we got through with our late lunch, there were only 30 minutes of viewing time left at the Roman-Germanic Museum. Meggie was really disappointed about missing out on the Roman-Germanic Museum. But I think we can catch it and the Ludwig Museum and the Chocolate Museum on future trip to Cologne ... by train.