Waiting for the train. Yes, too dramatic by far for the (mini) cliffhanger, but it was actually a really important part of the trip. Unfortunately we missed one of our members, and had to get on the train without him and hope that he caught up with us once we were in Cologne. There's something called a group ticket to Cologne that allows up to 5 people to piggyback off of it for a much cheaper price than jsut a single ticket each, and all 19 of us piled onto the train that would bring us 20-30 km to Cologne. When we got there, the first thing we saw as we stepped out of the HauptBahnHof was the enourmous church of Cologne. Now, I'm not one to normally get all weak-in-the-knees for the architecture of a church at any time (that's my mother) but when I saw this church, it literally took my breath away. I'll post a picture of what I saw, but honestly, pictures won't do it justice. The large church was the tallest structure in the world up until the Washington monument was built, and is continuously undergoing construction, but the sheer intricate detail apparent from even as far away as I was floored me. It actually took me about 5-10 minutes to stop grinning like an idiot at the scene of the church. In fact, some of my friends were worried about me for a little bit because we're planning on going to Italy at some point. If this was my reaction to one church, what would happen once I got to a place famous for their church architecture?
Soon after we arrived, our missing member found us right in front of the Köln HBF and we started on our first tour. We walked for a few blocks, and passed quite a few good looking buildings. Nothing could compare to the Köln Church, but after that stunning view I'm not sure what else can compare in this town. We even passed a golden car with winds on top of a pillar as a sort of monument. We finally arived at our destination: a museum of the El-De-Haus (L. D. house) that used to be the headquarters of the Gestapos (Nazi secret police) and held thousands of prisoners. Our guide took us to different rooms upstairs. Each room had a theme: propaganda, Slave-workers taken from their homes, the bombings, and freedom from the Nazis because of the US. Then he took us downstairs into the museum/memorial. The room felt somber and depressing as our guide took us though the small celler and showed where the prisoners would be allowed to wash (from a sink, no towels or soap), where they could eat sometimes questionable food, where some of the prisoners were held, where the torture happened. In each room there was usually a scratching on the wall or a memorial to some prisoner of another. The scratches were caused by the prisoners and carried everything and everything that could be though of. Poems, drawings, words of confusion or anger or hope, heartbreaking stories of loss and fear, everything was scratched onto those walls for the next batch of prisoners to see or to keep the writer from slowly going insane. One story was of a mother that gave birth to her daughter only to have it taken away from her after birth. Her scratches show her continuing depression and wish she could have taken her daughter to her home country in France and the hope that her daughter was OK. Eventually they found each other again, but it was a miracle that they both survived past the Nazi regime to find each other again. Only one person was known to have escaped by going through a window that was left unbarred when the Nazi guarding him left to take a phone call, but everyone else was either left in the cells or taken out into the (public) gallows and hung, up to 100 people a day. It was rather depressing to see what these people have gone through and made me even more grateful for what I have in America and happy that Germany, although they accept that this is a dark part of their history, has mostly moved forward in an attempt at making sure this never happened again.
Propaganda room: medal given to mothers with multiple children; bronze = 4, silver = 6, gold = 8
They shoved 25-35 people into these small cells
Who has not been here is sure to come, and who has been here will never forget.
Scratched on the walls of cell 6
These cells were as wide as the 1-person door and about 5X as long
A memorial for all the prisoners
After this rather heavy tour, we went out to eat at a nice restaurant and we had a fairly nice lunch with a lot of non-alcoholic beers that were made within the city. Now, before I continue, there is something you should know. Köln and Dusseldorf are sort of rivals, especially in beer. Dusseldorf's beer is really dark while Köln's is lighter. After lunch, Kristin brought us to a bakery to try a traditional German sweet. I don't remember exactly what it was called, but it was like a jelly doughnut with sugar on top, but much better tasting. Next on our list was to take a tour of Köln, but we had about 45 min to burn before that started, so Kristin turned us loose after telling us where to meet up at 2. Kelsey and I went to a souvenir shop so that I could get a hat pin from Köln (yes mom and dad, I'm starting my own collection. You inspired me!) Unfortunately the only true hat pin they had was two flags, one of Germany, and one of the city flag of Köln on it with nothing about the name or the Köln church that is so iconic of this city. So instead I went for a safety pin like hat pin that had the city flag and the Köln church in a heart on it. Now to just get one of everywhere else I go on this journey (Austria, look out in two weeks!)
Orange and Lemon non-alcoholic beers
When 2 finally rolled around, we met up with the rest of our group and the tour guide. We all immediately fell in love with her quirky attitude and followed her eagerly as she sped around the side of the church to a museum. We couldn't go in, but we could see the mosaic of the original Roman city through the large windows. On our tour we discovered Roman Gates, walls, and aquifers. At this point our guide stopped and told us that they like to keep part of the Roman sewer above ground for the people from Dussledorf. She thought they would appreciate the thought as "most of the water that goes into making their beer flowed through these sewer systems, carrying all the dirt and stuff with it. That's why their beer is so dark of course!" Our guide showed us into an underground sewer system before bringing us to a perfume store. Actually, cologne (the perfume) was originally made in Cologne, which is why it's called what it's called. We all got a sample, and it smelled wonderful. I think I might go back and get some later as cologne made here is for both men and women, and that stuff was amazing! We passed an excavation site that was digging up old Roman artifacts and a Karnival party that was going on before ending back up at the Köln church for our next tour.
Roman mosaic (original)
Just too petty to not put this up
An accurate scale model of Köln
See the face? he sticks his tongue out once for each hour
Our tour guide in the Cologne shop
Within the Roman sewer system
This next tour was a walk on the church, but we could only have 10 people at a time, forcing us to split up into two groups. Luckily, I went with the first one. Our guide took us up to the top of the main church (about 120 feet up) and walked us inside the church to see how the modern church came to be. It wasn't always so magnificent (back in the 1000's), it only became that way in an attempt at National Pride in the...late 19th century? Somewhere around there. Then we went outside and walked along the edge of the roof. We had someone afraid of heights in our group and she clung to the roof as we walked across the catwalk on the outside of the church. Unfortunately, it was not only cold, but windy as well and we could all see her hands turning red on the lead (yes, lead) roof from the cold. We looked out at the flying buttresses and the intricate columns that sported magnificent examples of master stonework and I was amazed. Most of this was made without the benefit of modern machines to help. Today, a lot of the stonework is really delicate and needs to be replaced, but the stone-workers still use the same stone and methods originally used in the building to keep the Gothic look about the church. We went up to one of the spires (the smallest of the three) and there was a magnificent view of the city and the Rhein as well as the sun setting between the two tallest spires. We took a lot of pictures, but none of those on my camera as it was starting to yell at me about the battery as I forgot to charge it before today. After we walked around the entire church, we went back outside to the lift and were brought to the second floor where we went inside and saw all the stained glass windows inside the church. Oh, it was absolutely beautiful, and most of the pictures can be found in my next post...I still got in a lot before my camera shut off.
Then the tour was over and we were given 2 of the tickets so we could go home whenever we wanted. Instead, the 10 of us went inside the church to take some more pictures before the dwindling sunlight completely disappeared and left the inside of the church dark. Some of the architecture there was just...amazing. I know I sound like a broken record, but I honestly can't think of the words to describe the church that I saw today and I know I or anyone else will look at these pictures and think 'meh, ok...what's so special?' but being in front of this humongous structure and feel the infinite amount of experience and time that this church has gone through and see the stunning examples of architecture and artistry everywhere I look...it was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
After the sun finally set, we split up into two groups and looked for something to eat before finally heading abck to Bonn. On the way back, we were asked by the attendant to show our passes, something that hasn't happened before. Luckily I had one of the passes and she let us go on our way, but it was still a new experience.
Tomorrow we only have one class...weird. But most of the time spent outside of class won't be on fun or something else that would be deemed as trivial, but on studying for the test I have on friday and doing my homework that's due in a few days. It will probably be boring, but you never know. Although I did post some pictures, a majority of the pictures I post will be on my next post, so look out for that.
Tchuss!
Erin Z
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