The Cologne Cathedral

Since David had a 3 day weekend over my birthday we decided to go on a road trip.  The weather is finally clearing up somewhat and we were both kind of going a little bit stir crazy just going back and forth between home and the base essentially. So we decided to go to a town called Cologne. The reason we picked that town? It has a Hard Rock Cafe! I know, lame.  But David has this thing where anytime we're near a Hard Rock we have to go.  I had no objections so we went.  Before we left we did some looking on what else we could do in Cologne other than drive 2 1/2 hours four lunch.  They have this amazing cathedral that is right next to the Rhine so we decided to check it out.  Plus it was only about 4 blocks away from the restaurant so it tied in nicely. :)

My camera really kind of sucks so you can't really see the scale of this thing but it was immense.  I was sitting on the ground taking this picture of David.

We parked at an underground facility right next to the cathedral and when we walked up from down below  this is what we saw.  And this is the side of the cathedral, not the front part which is the tallest.

This picture kind of gives you a better idea of the enormity of this place.  Those people walking by don't even come up halfway to any of the arched doorways or entrances.  Apparently after it was finished in 1880 this cathedral was the tallest building in the world. 

This is the front entrance and a look up.  I was bent over backwards to get this shot.  I might as well have just laid down on the sidewalk and done it that way instead.

I just liked the way this hotel looked.  It was right next to the cathedral and is right above the underground parking.  Around the corner they have a few high end shops that I didn't even dare go in.  It's just so odd to think of a Louis Vuitton right next to a huge Catholic cathedral.

I tried to take some inside pictures but my camera is horrible.  It was bright enough to see inside the cathedral but it wasn't enough light for my piddly little thing of a camera.  None of the pictures I took of any of the statues or pipe organs turned out well because of the lack of light.  I did use my video camera, though, and that worked better on the inside. As soon as I can find the cable to do it I'm going to try and download them and post them here. 

We walked around here for a few hours and then we went to the chocolate museum. Thanks to the Travel Channel website it gave us something else to do and it was only a quick walk down the river from the cathedral.  Both of these places were so great I decided to give them each their own special blog. So stay tuned for that one, I'll probably have it up later today.