During the 8 years that Geoff was in the army we always hoped and prayed that some how, some way we would be stationed in Germany. Now we know that if that had happened we probably would not have taken advantage of all that Europe had to offer. The next place we visited was Koln Germany. It was about two and a half hours from the town we lived in.
Once again we started out on a nasty, rainy day with no clue as to where exactly we were going. Here in the states we have a TomTom, and it works quite well I have to say. If you want to go to a certain city you program it in and it will take you to the heart of the city. Our GPS in Europe worked okay. It was very hard to follow. We couldn’t figure out how to switch the language from Dutch to English and once you programmed your destination it would take you to the edge of the city. So Geoff and I figured out that every town/city had a cathedral, so we would look for it and would end up in the heart of the city.
One of the main reasons we wanted to go to Koln was because Geoff’s grandfather traveled there after World War 1. In fact he traveled all over Europe as well, but we have pictures of the Cathedral from Koln. With interruptions this Cathedral took over 600 years to complete, and to this day is still a site to see.
Most of city was destroyed in air raids in World War II. In fact there were 262 air raids there. I found it interesting that the bombers flying the planes would never completely bomb the Cathedral. The reason being is because, pilots would use the two highest pillars to navigate where they were while flying.
I really wanted to go in and see how beautiful this piece of history was. Not to mention that the three wise men are buried there. But sadly dogs were not allowed, and Geoff and I kind of came up with a rule that if Angus couldn’t go, we wouldn’t pay to see it.
I did wish that the weather had been a bit nicer. I am sure Angus did too, as seeing that he ended up being carried in a plastic bag, in my arms to keep dry. This was one site that I am really glad I got to see.
Lacey, I want copies of the church – I love the arcitecture.