Had a walking tour in Cologne, where we saw the Old Town and St. Martin's Cathedral, among other things. It took over 600 years to complete the church, and although great efforts were made to protect it during WW 11, it was hit 18 times rather severely. Most of the stained glass windows survived, as they were removed and hidden in monestaries, but parts of the church had to be repaired. The outside is quite black from environmental damage, but it's too costly and time-consuming to clean it. The structure is extremely tall and quite impressive inside.
Also on the tour we saw a shop selling German pretzels, which were hanging on a rack by the street. This is one of their staples, along with Kolsh beer. We also saw an excavation site, where they have recently found Roman ruins, as well as remains of the Jewish Quarter. They plan to erect a museum on this site when the excavation is complete.
In the afternoon we took a 45 minute bus trip to the Bruhl Palaces, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The first palace was started by a 25 year old archbishop and was to be his summer home, but he never saw the completion of it. Although large and very grand (in the German Rococo style), apparently his winter home, which had over 400 rooms, was even more so. Today the latter structure is partly used for the university.
This evening we listened to a pleasant ensemble of cello, clarinet and piano, playing some classical music by composers of the region, as well as lighter music. The food continues to be amazing, and we're meeting more people each day, as well as spending some time with those that we met yesterday. Several couples are from California, and although we tease them about coming here to find water, it's sad to hear their tales of forced water restrictions.
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