Cologne, Germany - Day 4 – September 23, 2024

Our ship traveled all night and by morning we had reached Dusseldorf. The Rhein River was very wide at this point with sand bars on both sides. There was still quite a lot of freighter traffic. We also saw a group of men rowing down the river.

We came across a couple of camper villages on the side of the river.

By 1pm we had reached Cologne, Germany. This was our first stop in Deutschland. We exited the ship and were broke in to small groups, each assigned a guide for the afternoon.

We learned the Cologne, or Kolner as the Germans call it, is the third largest city in Germany. We came to the Hohenzollern Bridge which is a busy railway bridge. There is a tradition in the town to put a lock on the bridge to signify your love and then throw the key in the river. A few years back they tried counting the locks and estimated at that time there were over 550,000 locks weighing more than 10 tons.

Found Nan and Steve examining the locks

One of the most recent locks, dated August 26 of this year

One of the oldest locks I saw

Cologne was heavily bombed during WWII and close to 70% of the city was destroyed. Most of the architecture is made up of new buildings. But there are still quaint looking older streets.

We walked to the center of the city and visited the Fisch Markt and the Schmitz Column. It took seven years to build the Column. The town was interested in commemorating its completion in 1969 so they contacted NASA to ask if they dedicate the column to the astronauts that had just landed on the moon. They calculated that from the Schmitz Column to the footstep that Neil Armstrong made on the moon it was 38,999km and 100 meters!

We passed by three fountains, each with their own unique story.

This fountain was in the Fisch Markt

This fountain told the story of the "little people" that were helping the villagers by doing all their work at night. Most every one was glad for the help and didn't question it. However, this one lady just had to find out who was doing all the work. She used a lantern to sneak down at night and stumbled upon the "little people" hard at work. They were so upset that they left so the villagers had to do their own work from then on.

There are many Roman artifacts still being discovered in Cologne. We walked across stones that used to be a road, viewed a brick wall and cistern all dating from the Roman era.

Finally we arrived at the Cathedral - The Gothic Dom. The structure was started in 1264, but took over 600 years to build. The Dom is known for holding the remains of the Three Magi, in the Shrine of the Magi. There is also a large Crucifix and an altar for the Madonna of Milan. The stained glass windows and mosaic floors are breathtaking.

Shrine of Magi

Beautiful mosaics

Our group stopped at the Zion Kolsch Brauhaus for a taste of traditional Cologne Beer. Along with another stop at a bakery for another traditional flavor, Berliner. It was a sugared donut with fruit filling.

A trip to Cologne would not be complete without a purchase of its signature 4711 Cologne. And a quick trip to the Schokoladenmuseum for a purchase of Lindt Chocolate.