Koln

Koln was our last (big) trip with Matthew on Friday. Javier ended up working so it was just me and Matt. We took the train up to Koln despite the fact that there was a strike happening. We have the most pictures of Koln, by far. Its main sites are the huge gothic Cathedral and the numerous sites of Roman Ruins. I'll provide the highlights here, you'll need to check out the photo album to see all 79 pictures of this one day excursion.


We must start with the Cathedral (or Dom). Right when you leave the train station it towers over you. It was pretty amazing inside. We were fortunate to get a tour in english so we learned about the history, its survival through the wars, and the changes its going through over the centuries.


We also climbed 509 very narrow steps to the highest point in the cathedral. What a view!






This city has been around since the roman times and a majority of the museums and historical sites revolve around its roman past. In the Roman Germanic museum we got to see a 22x34 foot mosiac that was found while digging for a bomb shelter in the 1940's. The musuem was literally built around this mosaic and houses a large collection of roman ruins.

Perhaps the best find of the day was the underground Roman Praetorium (or governor's mansion). Found during excavations of the area, large portions of the former's governor's mansion can be viewed. It supposedly dates back to 1 to 4 AD.

We spent the rest of the day exploring some of the other 14 churches/catherdrals and more roman ruins. Our last stop of the day was to try a Kolsch, the local beer of the area.

20071012 - Koln