Cologne, Germany

June 10, 2003

From Marburg Lemmer, Mira, Andy, myself, and about six of our bags, which included three stretched canvases Mira needed for an art class of hers, piled into a two door car about the size of Mini. Squished, hot and happy we headed west to Cologne. About three hours later we arrived downtown, parked, and maneuvered ourselves through the side streets until we reached the towering, beautiful gothic Cologne Cathedral.

We found it quite interesting how the Cathedral came about. The city of Cologne is about 2000 years old. The earliest record to date is from 9 AD as a strategic Roman city on the Rhine River. In the Middle Ages, Cologne was a site on the Christian pilgrimages, so in 1226 the city’s Archbishop decided that the city needed a cathedral to which the pilgrims could come. The initial construction of the cathedral began 22 years later in 1248. However, the final stone wasn’t laid until 632 years later in 1880 by Friedrech Wilhelm IV, the King of Prussia, marking the cathedral’s completion. Today the Cathedral is considered to be one of the most beautiful gothic cathedrals in all of Europe.

The size of the Cathedral was overwhelming from the outside, but what really moved me was how massive the inside seemed. I felt so small within its dark gray walls. It was as if the architectural masterminds wanted God’s omnipresence to resonate from ceiling to pew upon entering, while simultaneously reminding us how miniscule we are in comparison to Him. For me, the gothic architecture is fascinating, but not welcoming. Inside, the dramatic attempt to emphasize God’s omnipotence and incomprehensible magnitude was more overwhelming to me than inviting. I preferred the warmer pastel tones of the baroque or rococo style cathedrals, which we later saw in Dusseldorf and Russia; their smaller sanctuaries also allowed me to feel the personal connection to God and eliminated the daunting echoes that inevitably murmur within the high walls and ceiling of the gothic cathedrals.

From the Cologne Cathedral we had hoped to roam the streets of the old city, but plans changed rapidly when it started raining. We made the executive decision to head to Lemmer’s friend’s house where we were staying for the night. A trade off for not having seen the old city due to the rain was the breathtaking sunset we got to see from the apartment balcony after the rain stopped. We made ourselves at home with a nice home cooked dinner (which thankfully didn’t include cheese this time), some excellent Cologne Kürch beer and a few rounds of “American” card games. You can tell by some of the pictures in our photo gallery that Lemmer had a long losing streak. Regardless of who lost the card games, we all had a nice and relaxing night out on the town after cards. We did some window-shopping for an inviting bar, but in the end settled at a Vietnamese restaurant for a late night snack. Let’s just say that we hope that Vietnamese food is better in Vietnam than it is in Cologne.