Our Little Corner of the World...Expanded to Koln, Germany!!!

When we arrived in Cologne, the first thing we saw was

this magnificent cathedral...

Construction of the cathedral began in1248...
work was stopped in 1473.
The work was restarted....but not until the 1800's!

It was completed in 1880, and was finished according to the original design.

During WWII, the church was off limits for all bombing by the allied forces.
In part because allied forces policy was to preserve as much of these cathedrals as possible...
but more importantly, this cathedral is very tall and served as a beacon.
Pilots used the cathedral to pinpoint where they were...
and where they were going.  

Do you see the very white corner base?

That was the only area damaged during the WWII Bombings...

The entire area surrounding it was decimated.

The corner of the church was rebuilt, exactly as before...

right down to the same stone...same color...

Yep...the whole church used to be this white sandstone color.

Years and years of dirt, grime, bombing debris, diesel fuel, etc, etc...

definitely adds up to a dark stain!!!

An interesting twist to the cathedral's stained glass windows!!!

Look's kind of like pixels on a tv screen!!!

At the back of the cathedral is this corner...
with remnants of damage from bomb shrapnel...

Across the square...
a pub...
with those beautiful geraniums you see in windows all over Europe!!!

We walked a bit...looking for the cologne museum...
Not Cologne the city...but a museum about how cologne (the perfume) was developed...
 Along the way we saw a wedding...

and...no it's not a doll museum...it's a doll hospital!!!

We found the cologne museum...and of course bought a fair amount of
the original cologne!!!
(But didn't get any pics of the exterior... :( )

Back on the square by the cathedral...
some local talent!!!

And if you think we've got the corner market on political discourse and protest...

Honestly...
I don't have a clue what this tower was!!!
I just liked the pastel buildings in juxtaposition with
the old and beautiful tower!!!

That evening...what could be better than a Brauhaus Tour???

(In case your German's a bit rusty...that would be a Brew House Tour!!!)

We walked from brauhaus to brauhaus...

and I played a bit, taking pics of the lights in the streets...

I like that this is almost abstract!

Now that's a lot of brew to taste!!!

Cheers!!!



For more little corners of the world...click on the image below!!!