peeking back in history

We are in Cologne now, and are very privileged to be staying in this hotel. We had a lovely room--a huge antique bed, and matching furniture. I think it was all from the 1600s, but it was painted a very odd shade of green. I didn't so much like the twin mattresses pushed together--though that is typical for here. The space between them wasn't very comfortable, and I always seemed to have something sutck there!

What is very cool, is that the hotel is owned by a man who stood up for M's dad at their wedding. They went to school together, and from the many pictures we saw, they were quite the characters. We are being truly spoiled, and it is a great delight to meet this charming and generous man.

Cologne is a lovely city. The cathedral marks the centre of the town, and it is an imposing structure. Construction began in 1248, and took more than 600 years to build. 600! It is the second largest Gothic structure in the world. However, it is very dirty, and I found it less appealing than another church, St. Gerion. St. Gerion is more Romanesque, and I liked that far more...simpler lines, lovely curves.

Herr Hummel, our host, is an extremely knowledgeable guide, and while M was at work, he took me through the entire city--red light district and all. At 70something, he is pretty spry, and rides a bike everywhere. We walked a lot, and he took us to the most charming little pub. That was truly a highlight of the trip--it was small, and loads of fun. There was a group of guys next to us that were playing some sort of dice game, where getting combinations of 7 was a good thing, but it was better if there was also a pair of snake eyes. Couldn't understand it in the least, but they were a little bit flirty and a lot of fun.

Interestingly, there seems to be only one beer in Koln, and it is served in the most charming little glasses. Each is .2 litres, they are about two inches round and four inches tall. And, they appear automatically, and keep coming, unless you put your coaster on the top--the coaster is also how they keep track of what you have had, a simple tick mark on the coaster and then they add them all up. We had a traditional German pub meal of sausages and potatoes mixed with saurkraut, which was surprisingly a nice twist to basic smashed potatoes!

Herr Hummel and I also went to the Germanic/Roman museum, and that was great. Koln is a terrific place for archeological finds, and some were truly amazing, all found in the area. One of the most amazing finds was a large mosaic, which was the size of a small room. Apparently, it took ten men a month to do a section--and I estimate there would have been 40 such sections. All those tiny little pieces of stone; can you imagine the skill--and the patience!?

The other thing Herr Hummel insisted upon was observing the 4:00 'coffee and kuchen' hour. He took us to this very busy bakery that had the most amazing looking cakes. You wouldn't believe it! But I'm thinking that could be a nice tradition. I was disappoitned that I couldn't eat cake the second day because of a sore throat...all that rain finally caught up with me.

Two days in Koln--Herr Hummel thought we should have planned a few weeks and he would be our guide. Next time, perhaps. It's a good reason to return!