Cologne, Germany

Cologne is about 65 miles directly east of Maastricht. First settled by the Romans in 38 BC, it is now the largest city on the Rhine River. Charlemagne appointed an archbishop there in the 9th century ensuring its ecclesiastical importance for centuries. Ninety-nine percent of the city was destroyed in World War II, and in an effort to quickly rebuild, the city became a mixture of a few old buildings and a variety of types of modern ones. The photos below show a small portion of the central part of the city.

Before I get to the Cologne photos, I thought you might be interested in some traveling information. As you may know, Europe has an extraordinary train system. The whole system is integrated with precise routes and timetables. This makes it very easy to travel because you know when trains leave and when they arrive. So, first a few photos about train travel.
In each train station and on each platform are printed train departure and arrival schedules. These schedules give times of departure and/or arrival for each hour of the day, where the trains are going or arriving from, and the platform number for departure and arrival. On the far right side of the right panel in this picture is the schedule between Heerlen and Maastricht.
This is a closer view of the train schedule between Heerlen and Maastricht. The top says that the train runs from Heerlen through Valkenburg to Maastricht. It is difficult to see, but from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., one can travel from Heerlen to Maastricht at 23 and 53 minutes past each hour.
On each train station platform, there is this type of information. There is a clock, a sign with the departure time of a train, where it is going, and which platform it will depart from. In this photograph, I was in Aachen, Germany, the time was 14:56, the train is going to Heerlen, Netherlands, it departs at 15:02, and it departs from platform 1.
I am now in Heerlen. The time is 15:40, the train departs at 15:53 for Maastricht from platform 1. The word adjacent to 15:53 is sneltrein. That means that the train is a train that does not make very many stops - it's the fast train. This train stops in Valkenburg and Meerssen. Non-sneltreins make stops at smaller villages, and are therefore, slower.
This is the train station in Cologne. It is very large and modern and has a rather large underground shopping mall and restaurants associated with it. It was also warm inside which I found pleasant on this rainy, snowy day. The station is also immediately adjacent to the most important historical structure in Cologne - the Cologne Cathedral. I took this photograph from some steps by the cathedral.
This the left end of the station. It was very large, but also very modern.
This is an open area right in front of the station. You can see that immediately in front of the station, is the cathedral.
This is the Cologne Cathedral. I will say much more about it below. Note the train station at the left. Usually I have to walk for 10 or 15 minutes to get to the center of the city I am visiting. Not so here - it was right out the doors of the station.
The Cologne Cathedral is an enormous building. It is an extraordinary Gothic structure dedicated to St. Peter and the Virgin. Look at the exterior detail.
At 515 feet high, the two towers of the cathedral were by far the tallest structures in the world when they were finished.
The cathedral was built to house what were believed to be the relics of the Magi. Today the relics are kept just behind the alter. I didn't take a photograph because it was too dark inside.
The two cathedral towers were so tall that I had a difficult time getting good photographs.
The beginnings of the Cologne Bishopric reach back to the 4th century. The existing building was constructed over several centuries beginning in 1261 AD and ending in 1880.
I hope these photos provide an impression of the immense size of this cathedral.
You can imagine that the cathedral can be seen from all over the city. This is one view from several blocks away.
According to travel literature and a brochure obtained in the cathedral, this Gero Cross, is an oak crucifix dating from 971 AD. It is the "oldest remaining monumental crucifix of the Western World," says the brochure.
It was generally difficult to take photographs inside the cathedral. It contained many very beautiful stained glass windows. Here is one of them.
Here is one more stained glass window.
A significant component of the interior of the cathedral is the Schmuckmadonna - the Miraculous Picture of the Virgin. It was placed here in 1667.
Some distance away from the center of the city is this Romanesque church - St. Christoph.
Near the center of the city is the ubiquitous central square. The street running toward the church in the background, provide western border. The next photo shows it from the other end.
This is the square looking toward the old Medieval portion of the city. That portion contains narrow, winding streets, modern apartment buildings and business buildings. I suspect that in the spring, summer, and fall, that this square is filled with people and food.
Many cities around the world have a tower with observation decks and a rotating restaurant. This is Cologne's.
The photo demonstrates the remarkable contrast between the very old and the very new. In the foreground is a vine-covered remnant of the ancient city wall. In the background is a modern office block, constructed after World War II.
I end this section with a sign found in a drive way in Cologne. It says, "parking forbidden." The very same type of sign can be found in Maastricht. This sign is in Cologne, Germany and others just like it are in Maastricht, Netherlands. It demonstrates the close linkage between German, Dutch, and English.

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