Cologne was 95% destroyed from bombing in World War II. The Cathedral survived the bombing. Since the city has been rebuilt, the major attraction here is the massive Gothic Cathedral. The cathedral was built to original 13th century plans. However, the east part was completed in the 13th century but the west part wasn’t built until after German unification in the 1880’s. The cathedral is massive. As can be seen from the photos it is not poissible to get the entire building in a single photo without special lenses. The exterior photos were each taken from a different side of the cathedral.
The Cologne train station is adjacent to the cathedral. Trains crossing the Hohenzollern Bridge coming into the station make it one of the busiest railway bridges in the world with in excess of 30 trains per hour around the clock! The other popular thing about the bridge are the “love locks”. This is the practice of lovers attaching a padlock, frequently with sayings on them about their undying love, then tossing the key into the river.
In our stroll around Cologne we went past the city hall where a wedding had just occurred and several other wedding parties were lined waiting their turn to be married.
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