July 8-9, 2010 - Köln, Aachen

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Toilet water, Rhine water, holy water. Köln is a diverse city, and old city, a city of contrasts. Media capital of Germany, yet still dominated by the huge cathedral and graced with Romanesque churches. Köln is the media capital of Germany, and hosts numerous international trade shows annually, all of which came about as a result of the reconstruction after World War II. The city was subject to intense bombing, and by the end of the war the population was reduced by about 95%, and the central city was largely in rubble. The Cathedral was not totally spared, as is falsely claimed by the Lonely Planet guidebook, but did suffer relatively little damage. Good luck? Divine intervention? Deliberately spared to be used as a landmark for future bombing missions? The truth is unknown. Following the war the city was rebuilt and today is a bustling, prosperous Rhine trade center again. Although much has been rebuilt, there is enough that is old and enough that is restored to appear old that you feel you are in an old city with modern additions. It is the home of the largest conservatory in Europe, and has been the birthplace of several luminaries, including Jacques Offenbach (whom I had always assumed was French), Konrad Adenauer, artist Max Ernst, Composer Max Bruch, and Nobel prize winning author Heinrich Böll.

Upon arrival, we walked down to the Heumarkt area for dinner. Most of the restaurants were filled with fans watching the World Cup game which Germany lost., and finding a place to eat was a bit of a challenge. We finally found a place where there was outside dining with no TV, and had a great dinner. Rather than waddle back to the hotel, we took a taxi for the fairly short distance.

The next day we headed down to the object of our visit - the Cathedral. The Cologne Cathedral dominates the skyline almost reminiscent of the cathedral at Chartres. Even the most charitable among us would have to say that the Cathedral was built at a leisurely pace. Started in 1248 to house the remains of the Three Magi, it was finally finished in 1880, 632 years later. It would seem that the European enthusiasm for starting cathedral exceeds its enthusiasm and means for finishing them. (I offer as evidence: Cologne 632 years, Milan 419 years, Saint Eulalia in Barcelona about 200 years, Sevilla 100-200 years, depending on how you count, Notre Dame 185 years, Florence Duomo 175 years, Sagrada Familia 128 years and counting… I think you get the point). Of course, the National Cathedral in Washington took 83 years, so maybe it is not only Europeans who have this problem.

The Cathedral is massive both inside and out, and has the largest façade of any church in the world, and the second highest church spires. For four years, it was the tallest building in the world, until the completion of the Washington Monument in 1884. Like other Gothic structures, it has the fairly labyrinth of flying buttresses and gargoyles in fantastic shapes. In the rear of the altar is the large gold reliquary housing the remains of the Magi. Oh, you scoffers - I know that we don’t know who the Magi are, where they came from, where they went, or even how many there were. I know that Marco Polo was reliably shown the tombs of the Magi in the 1270’s south of Tehran, some 900 years after St. Helena had removed them from the Holy Land on her pilgrimage in 326-328. It does not matter. These are the true remains, else why would anyone have bothered to steal them from Milan?

A double-decker bus tour took us through the heart of old Cologne, and less interestingly through the new trade center and industrial area. To our delight, either by chance of more likely be design, we happened to be outside the Glockengasse 4711 at noon, and watched the spectacle of the rotating series of French revolutionary figures as they made their racetrack course out of and back into the building while the Marseillaise played. Glockengasse 4711 is the home of the famous 4711 cologne. The original Eau de Cologne was invented in the early 18th century, and is still sold. Glockengasse 4711 is the home of a rival, still sold as 4711 Cologne. During WW II, Germany distributed it to submariners (who had little opportunity to bathe). The original cologne was invented by an Italian, and 4711 was devised by a German, and both come from a German city, so the origin of the Marseillaise music at noon still eludes me.

The city still has vestiges of the medieval city walls and gates, and these are seen at scattered locations, where they share space with modern glass façade buildings.

The local beer is called kölsch, and is a little less hoppy than most German pilsners. By law, it can only be brewed in and around Cologne, and there is a formerly bitter (no pun intended) competition with Altbier made in Düsseldorf. It is traditionally served in a small 0.2L glass called a Stange (pole), derisively also referred to as a Fingerhut (thimble) or Reagenzglas (test tube). The local tradition is that the waiter continues to automatically take away empty glasses and replace them with full ones until you leave the glass half full or place the cardboard coaster on top. Wonderful tradition, that. We were first introduced to kölsch at lunch (yet more schnitzel and wurst), and continued to enjoy it the rest of the day. We ended our afternoon with a river cruise on the Rhine.

The next day, we made our way to Aachen, our last stop before Düsseldorf and heading back home. On the way, we drive a little further south to go through the Eifel National Park and the area of the Schnee Eifel, the main locus for the launch of the German WW II offensive that became known in America as the Battle of the Bulge. Wending our way back north to Aachen, we actually went through Malmedy again (previously visited two years ago in more detail).

Aachen is another old city, with its roots as a real city going back to about 760, when Charlemagne made it the political center of his empire. It has thermal baths and these became the focus of a booming tourist trade in the mid-17th century. Actually, contemporary documents show that the real main focus of the tourist trade was high-level prostitution, making it even more ironic that the principal reason for taking the curative waters in those days was syphilis. Aachen was later a thriving trade town, and in the 1800’s became an important center for production of iron and steel goods. As he westernmost city in Germany, situated on the border with Belgium and the Netherlands, it was the focus of intense military activity in WW II and suffered severe damage. The famous Palatine Chapel constructed by Charlemagne (and now holding his remains) suffered relatively little damage, and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In addition to containing the putative remains of Charlemagne, it was the site of coronation of 500 years of German kings, and has a gold reliquary containing Mary’s robe and Jesus’ nappy (or swaddling cloth). (Feel free to insert disclaimers as needed.)

After seeing the Chapel/cathedral and eating lunch, we headed on to Dusseldorf, where we checked into our hotel and remained there assembling our packing and eating dinner and awaiting our morning departure back to the USA.

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