Blogs from Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Europe - page 7

Construction on the cathedral began in 1248, and ended in 1473, although the building was not complete. Work began again in the 19th century, and the cathedral was finished in 1880. Renovations still occur because of air pollution damage to the stone, and some repairs for damage incurred during WWII are still necessary. The cathedral is 515 ft. high and 474 ft. long, in which its spires are the second tallest in the world after the Lutheran church in Ulm, but the cathedral does have the world's largest church facade.... read more

I couldn't head back to the Southern Hemisphere without one last visit to some of my favourite things in the world- Christmas Markets!!! After much thought I decided on German Christmas markets this year since that is where they started- and they definitely didn't disappoint! This trip was another weekend trip- and we met up with our friends Sarah and Steven. There are seven Christmas markets all with different themes spread over the city of cologne- with the Cathedral taking center stage to the city. First we headed to Markt der Engel as it was the closet market to our accommodation. I loved these markets, which were angel themed and had fairy lights all in the trees. Next we headed to Weinachtsmarkt am Kolner Dom which are the iconic markets in front of the cathedral- here ... read more

We will be flying from Frankfurt directly to Buenos Aires. It's a 14 hour flight. We will let you know how fun that was when we get there. Love, Sophie + Grim... read more

Acute Uticaria! “Nettles! Nein Bucks!” said Germany’s own rendition of Dougie Howser in ruling out that the very itchy lumps and swells that all but closed my eyes and invaded my body were “Not (Bed) Bucks!” So begins day four of a twelve day river cruise from Cologne to Nuremberg on the Rhine and the Main in Germany and then on to Prague for a few exotic artsy days! It wasn’t to be. By Wurzberg we bagged it. The “hives” sent us home! Two hospitals, meds with no relief, no real diagnosis. Auf Wiedersehn! The brief part of the trip that we got to experience was wonderful. UniWorld’s River Ambassador is a great boat, the food, staff (who helped immensely once the medical part set in), itinerary, scenery, and the company promised great fun! ... read more

“How far north can you get us today?” This was the question I asked the woman in the bus ticket booth in Split. At 8.30am she was clearly not a morning person. She responded directly, asking exactly where I wanted to go. She clearly did not share our random sense of adventure as we took a chance to see where we might end up. After our boat ride to the mainland which had involved a beautiful sun rise over the Adriatic we arrived in Split. After much deliberation we had decided that Croatia was just too sapping of a small budget for our adventures ad we would head to the bus station and just see exactly where we might end up if we headed north, and closer to our final destination; Amsterdam. Eventually the joyful ticket ... read more