Cologne (Koln), Germany

The last stop on our trip to Germany was Cologne. This town was almost completely destroyed by the Allies in WWII but miraculously the Gothic Cathedral in the center of the city escaped 14 bombings with little damage. The Cologne Cathedral is THE site to see in the city and it did not disappoint. I have seen a lot of cathedrals now and I must say, this one took my breath away. It is huge-you struggle to fit it into a picture. It was started in 1248 and finished in 1880. That's 600 years it took to build with some interruptions. It is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe. It was built to house the remains of the 3 wise men that brought the gifts to Baby Jesus. Oh yes-they somehow tracked these 3 random guys down and got their remains. Hmmmm....Anyways, the cathedral is awesome!
We also visited the 5 Christmas markets in Cologne and the Schokoladen Museum. I will not tell you what the subject of that museum is. Just sound out the first word and you can figure it out. Or scroll down to see the pics of it! Either way, it was pretty cool.
I must apologize. For some reason, I did not steal the camera away from Justin enough so this post is me and O heavy.



The Kolner Dom. Justin had to get way down on the steps to include the spires.


A Christmas market next to the cathedral.

The sight as you enter the cathedral. The pic does not do justice to how huge this place was!


Ahhhh. THE sarcophagus that houses the remains of the "3 wise men". Or just 3 guys from that time period. You be the judge.

It's a knight buried here! I just thought that was cool. The statue on the top of this vault depicted the man in full knightly gear.

A view of the altar with the 3 kings sarchophagus lit up at the back.

Did you guess what the museum's subject was? CHOCOLATE. The museum showed the production of chocolate from the tree all the way to the sugary goodness we eat. Here the small bars go through the conveyor for sorting and packaging.

Free samples! As you can imagine, O loved this.


Justin in front of an enormous chocolate camel and wise man in honor of Christmas.


We assume "What can brown do for you?"


The "Angel Market" in Cologne. All the markets had a theme. This one was the prettiest we encountered on our trip.

Heading back to the hotel through the lit up shopping district. I could have done some serious damage here but the lock was tight around the wallet and Justin had the key.

Outside a department store. The windows were decorated with scenes. O loved it and just stared and commented on everything she saw. It was really sweet.

Here she is actually posing for the camera. It takes motorized stuffed animals to get this pic.

Random pic. On the way to the airport (we had time to kill) we found this palace and gardens and decided to walk around. It was really pretty but incredibly cold again. The pond to my right had swans swimming.