Saturday, December 17th was COLD! I headed out and walked to Bakery Merzenich am Neumarkt for breakfast. They had lots of yummy looking treats, but I settled on this one.
I set out walking toward the Cathedral. It's just massive. Rick Steves calls it "Germany's most exciting church".
While Köln was bombed heavily in World War 2 (95% of the city was destroyed), the cathedral remain relatively in tact despite being hit by 15 bombs.
140 foot tall ceilings
Gero-Crucifix in the Chapel of the Cross. This is the oldest surviving monumental crucifix north of the Alps. It was carved in the 970s
This is the Shrine of the Magi. Köln acquired the bones of the Three Kings in the 12th century.
Inside this gold box sit the bones of the Magi.
Allegedly 3 skulls with golden crowns.
There is a Christmas Market just outside the Cathedral.
I went to Früh am Dom for lunch. I just beat the lunch crowd, but as I was finishing up, I ended up at a table of Germans in town for the markets. One couple was from Aachen so I complemented their lovely market.
Schweineschnitzel
This is Heinz's Winter Fairytale market. It is huge and spans the Alter Market and the Heumarkt. There are 141 vendors booths.
The level of detail in Köln's markets' decor was just unlike any I have seen anywhere
A wood-carved nativity
Ornaments I wanted to buy
Next, I walked down to the Rhine and hit up the Harbor Market at the Chocolate Museum
I took a small break and went back to the hotel to figure out my plan for the evening.
There is a market out in the Stadtgarten, but it was too far to walk on a cold night, so I took the U-Bahn
It seemed to be attended by more locals, or at least less Americans
It was crowded, but not nearly like the other markets, so I grabbed dinner
I took the U Bahn back to Heumarkt to retrace my steps from earlier in the day and see all the markets lit up after dark.
Back to the Cathedral
By this point I was FROZEN! I went back to the hotel and packed up because I had an early train the next morning.
Comments