We arrived here in Köln (Cologne), Germany yesterday afternoon after taking a train from Amsterdam in the morning. It was one of those high speed trains so we were going over 200 km/hr at some points. We couldn’t get much faster than that because there were a number of stops along the way.
The first thing you see when you walk out of the train station in Köln is the stinking huge French Gothic Cathedral. Today we explored around it and in it, climbed the tower and stuff like that. There is lots of really neat stuff inside it including amazing stained glass windows, mosaic floors in the area with the chapels (east end), carving around the entry portals (once I get my photos loaded, hopefully tomorrow in Kassel, there will be a quiz…!), and, the best ever (because I studied it in Art History) is the Three Magi Reliquary shrine made by Nicholas of Verdun (that mention is for you, Katie!).
We did do some other stuff here in Köln, but that has mostly consisted of walking around and vegging in the hostel. Tomorrow it is off to Kassel for the night to stay with Natalie’s host family from when she was here before, then it is off to Berlin! Still having fun and enjoying seeing everything. I’m off to read about how everyone else is before I run out of net time here. 🙂