Kickin’ it in Köln

Köln is the proper, German way to spell/say “Cologne.” And, it’s quicker to type, if you know the shortcut key for an umlauted O. I don’t. So Cologne it is.

Anywho, the main tourist draw to Cologne is the cathedral, so that’s where we headed first. The history of the church is rather amusing, in that it took them hundreds of years to complete, mostly because they took a three-hundred-year break in the middle. So it was only just finished a few hundred years ago, tho parts of it are much, much older.

The tour we wanted to take was in the afternoon, so we wandered the Old Town first. Or should I say, “Old Town.” The city was 95% flattened (nice work, RAF!) during WWII, so the Old Town is a rebuilt fake. Modern Europe seems to be just the Disney-version of old Europe… Or should I say, “Olde Europetowne”.

Still, it’s a cute place, with lots of beer. Can’t argue with that.

After wandering Olde Towne, we took a guided tour of the Cathedral, learning – several times over – that the Gothic style is about “conjunction”, as opposed to “addition.” It was a good tour tho, despite my cynical mocking, and the guy doing it had some genuine enthusiasm. That, paired with his very German accent, made for good times.

Having seen the two tourist draws we were aware of, we went for dinner, and headed back to the hotel...