August 2016
Church. Yes, the Cathedral! And the beer served in those little glasses. The city of Cologne (population: 1 million) is defined by these two things in my mind. This 2,000 year old city was totally destroyed by the Allied bombing during WWII, but the Cathedral was still standing after suffering 14 hits by aerial bombs. And anyone entering the city by trains, buses, boats, or planes will notice the massive structure. It is traditionally believed that the remains of the Three Wise Men are in this church in the Shrine of the Three Kings.
I had thought that German beer was always served in liter sized beer steins as I had seen in Bavaria. I was shocked to discover that in Cologne beer is served only in tiny (app. 6 oz.) glasses. Waiters wander around carrying circular trays with beer glasses, plopping them down on tables as they pass and marking each glass served on a coaster on the table.
First time we were in Cologne was in 2015. We met my brother there, spent a night, and then embarked on a driving tour to Switzerland. We took the train in from Rotterdam, and the first thing we saw as we walked out of the Cologne Central Station was the Cathedral.
We stayed at an apartment hotel a bit southwest, but we did came back out after checking in to check out the cathedral area & have our first Cologne beer at one of the oldest breweries, Früh.
We returned to Cologne in 2016 on a river cruise boat. We docked on the east side of Rhine River, and we were bused into the city hall area to see the original store of another item that Cologne is known for: Eau de Cologne. The word cologne that signifies perfume does come from the name of this city. According to our guide, Cologne’s water was known to be good, and that was why the name of the perfume became the “Water of Cologne” and there are famous thermal bath spas around town.
The public transportation system is supposed to be excellent in Cologne, but we never had to use it because we could walk pretty much every where in the city center.
Small Wide World 