I spent much more time walking today than I did on the trains on the U-bahn. It was good for sight-seeing, but I feel it in my legs and feet tonight.
Here is a map of the Cologne altstadt (old city). Pictures clockwise from top left: St. Gereon’s Basilica is a Roman Catholic church. Rebuilt and added onto, its origins date back all the way to 612 A.D. | Gereons wall with gate: part of the medieval old city wall of Cologne | Cologne cathedral today. It is very large inside with beautiful stained class windows. | St. Aposteln is another one of 12 major Romanesque churches in the city of Cologne.Here is the Cologne Tower, a 44-storey office skyscraper in the Neustadt-Nord district. It opened in 2002. The image of Cologne Cathedral on the window panes is not a reflection, but artwork. On the left, in the distance, is the old Colonius telecommunications tower. It opened in 1981, but the restaurant and viewing area were closed in 1992, with no prospect of reopening. (Aw).This is one of the city’s many Merzenich bakeries (it’s a franchise), near Ebertsplatz. Check out the giant ‘plunderbrezels’ (‘plunder’ pretzels) in the window. They go for €10.95 ($13.14) each – but hey, enough to feed a family!It’s Germany, and so one sees BMWs everywhere, of course. This is under a bridge by the hauptbahnhof (main train station) with the old steel beams lit up in bluegreen.Here’s a ‘Find the Willem’ picture, a reflection in the window on Christophstreet. ‘Room Free’, says the sign. The Cologne cathedral is a picture inside, and the square windowed apartments is the reflection.
