Month: July 2016

Cologne, Germany is noted for several things, one for its landmark Gothic Cathedral which survived WW II when 90% of the city was destroyed,  its Roman heritage from 50 AD when it was the capital of Roman province of Germany to 462 when it was occupied by the Franks, and the sweet smelling cologne we all use.

The Large Cathedral was built because in medieval times an archbishop gave Cologne the bones of the Three Wise Men in 1164 after they were taken from Milan after a battle.  The number of pilgrims coming to Cologne by the cathedral began on the year 1248. It was completed in 1880 but parts keep needing repair so scaffolding is always part of the picture. The gold shrine above  it reported to hold the bones of the wise men. The stain glass windows were the best I’ve seen.  The colors were so brilliant.  Unfortunately I took all pictures of the windows with my iPhone and they are difficult to upload on this site.

After the Cathedral, Peggy and I went to the Ludwig Modern Art Museum.  They have a large collection of Picasso and Andy Warhol. The Museum was well laid out and the light in each gallery was excellent.

One exhibit I enjoyed is the photographs above of the different patterns of timber frame houses in Germany.  The photographer had four large collections of 9 each.  What a wonderful way to travel around Europe and work!

The first picture in the collage was Pop Art depiction of a WWII memorial to the soldiers who planted the flag on Iwo Jima. He called this a movable memorial and commentary as the dates were left blank because it could happen again.  The figures are life size and was about 20 feet long.  The image on the left side is Kate Smith.  They had a recording of her singing “God Bless America” as part of the display.

After lunch and a little shopping, we caught the shuttle back to the ship.  I cannot remember when I have been so “foot weary”.  We have logged over 13,000 steps each of the last three days.  I have gotten only 5-6 hours of sleep because no matter when I go to bed, I am up at 5:30 am.

Tomorrow is our last day of the cruise. Peggy and I will need to be at the Amsterdam airport before sunrise to catch an 8:23 plane to Atlanta.  This may be my last blog.  Thanks for letting me share this with you.

 

Ellen