Cologne, Germany

High Speed train is a wonderful thing. Today we ventured from Brussels to Cologne, Germany. The cities are around 120 miles apart, but the train service cover this in less than 2 hours. At the end the the war Cologne was a pile of rumble. The city has been beautifully rebuilt.

Cologne’s history began as a Roman outpost in 5 AD. It was considered the border between the Roman empire and the hostile Germanic tribes. It was heavily fortified and the remains of these fortifications are still visible around the city today.

Cologne was a natural trading city. Its location on the Rhine made it a natural place for the transfer of goods. Many ships bringing goods downstream would offload goods for export and return bringing imports up steam where the larger ocean going ships could not go.The merchants of Cologne could choose the highest quality of goods to export and Cologne had a reputation for the highest quality imports.

One of the goods that became famous was the perfume. Obviously, so much we still use the word cologne to describe the perfume.

During Medieval time, robber barons would use castles on the Rhine to force these ships to pay tolls for passage along the river. Large Chains would be used to halt the process of a boat and passage was not granted until the demands were met.

The Cologne Cathedral was begun in 1248. The location had previously been a Roman temple. The first Christian church on the location was built in 320 AD. It was built to hold 40,000 people and also to hold the Shrine of the Three Kings. A container holding the bones of the three magi decorated with gold and jewels.

We walked the sidewalks along the Rhine and took a tour boat to see the city from the water.
We enjoyed lunch at a sidewalk cafe.

Went to a beer garden to sample the local beer called “Koelsch”. The waiters continually fill their trays and walk around replacing empty glasses. They keep track of your bill by making tally marks on your napkin everytime you get a new drink. At the end, add up your tally marks and get your total. We drank beer in a wonderful shaded outdoor beer garden.

We found a great place for ice cream.