We zipped on the Thalys high speed train to Cologne last weekend. As an American, it's easier to fit into German culture than French culture. Germans dress down a little, aren't babuzzled by our big American smiles, and don't have the small formalities that the French have in everyday life. Don't get me wrong, we've both fallen head over heels for France. We'll be lifetime francophiles, but it is still fun to bop over to Germany.
Cologne is great for a short trip. We started Saturday morning with a tour of the monstrous cathedral. The cathedral was built in spurts over several hundred years, but they did a decent job of keeping a consistent look. I had trouble picking a picture of it for the blog, I wanted something with people in the foreground, because you need that to grasp the scale of this beast. I was shocked at how grungy the poor thing was, I guess I'm spoiled by the freshly cleaned Notre Dame down the street at home. I'm wondering if they should take a bold new approach and just spray paint it black, it really is that dark.
The inside of the cathedral has some interesting points. I was struck by the difference in the middle aged stained glass, and the pieces added in the late 1800s. Stained glass was like television for peasants. Because they could not read, glass told the story of Christ. The middle aged glass was black and white TV, and the glass from the 1800s was HDTV. Because I've done some stained glass work, the contrast was interesting to me.
They also have a famous crucifix from before 1000 a.d. It's much less gory and bloody than ones from 1200-1600, when people were really getting into feeling the suffering of the whole thing. I highly recommend the tour, it definitely brought out some interesting points.
So if that's the Devotion part, the Temptation part manifests itself in the chocolate museum and in numerous Kolsch beers throughout the weekend. The chocolate museum was fun, but packed. I enjoyed watching the truffle line the best. We also enjoyed really good indian food, probably the best I've ever had. Shrimp masala, Chicken curry, and really spicy Sag Paneer.
The main painting museum had *very* nice pointillism collection, and I also attempted without success to enjoy the modern art museum (check out one of the modern "art" installations on my photo page).
Just a few pics...
http://picasaweb.google.com/suzypics/Cologne
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