KAMEN

This little town was one of Don's mission areas. The two church spires are somewhat famous in the family, as we have seen the pictures many times - one even hangs on our bedroom wall. So, when the spires appeared above the trees as we approached on the autobahn, I felt oddly comfortable, like I was arriving at a familiar place, even though I have ever even been on this continent.


Kamen and the other 'mission tour' cities are north of Koln.

This was our hotel in Kamen - Hotel Stadt Kamen. We were on the European 2nd floor, so our 3rd floor - no elevator - at the back of the building.









Our room, small but comfortable. This is typical of German rooms - separate down comforters, folded on the bed. This bed was smaller than most.









The square across from the hotel.












On the second day in Kamen, they held their first community sing - in in the square across from our hotel. We walked around the town this morning and heard them singing along with their accordions and guitars. The rain drove some of the group to the umbrellaed area in front of the hotel.






Around town.












This is so typical of every city and town we saw. Buildings house both businesses - on the street level - and apartments on the upper floors. And while these flower boxes have mostly green plants, the prevalance of flower boxes and beautiful gardens - no matter how small the space - was wonderful.






Kamen's Catholic Church - one of the 'famous' spires.





























Kamen's ancient Pauluskircke - Paul's Church - the other famous spire.

Auto formatting?

This is SOOOO annoying! I set the post up and then it changes the fonts and sizes when I publish it! Aarrgh.... Can't figure out how to get around it. Sorry.

KOLN'S DOM (COLOGNE'S CATHEDRAL)

Building on this Neo-Gothic Dom began in 1248. The front section (from the organ to the front) was finished in 1322. Building then stopped and didn't resume until 1842 and was finished in 1880. It survived WWII basically structurally intact. All the stained glass – 3 football fields worth - and art treasures were taken to shelters and survived the bombing that destroyed 95% of Koln.

The cathedral was certainly impressive, on a couple of levels. It is huge and magnificent. The exterior is also filthy – it had to have originally been almost white and is now so covered in grime as to appear black. It looks as though they have cleaned sections – that probably just makes it seem worse.

Anyway – there are so many statues carved into the exterior, it is overwhelming. Inside, the cathedral is quite dark and rather dreary. It. Is. Huge. Most of the apses are closed off – that is understandable, given the number of people that traipse through, but it did detract from spirit of the place for me.

We couldn't use a flash in here (or the other churches we visited), so we were experimenting with how to take the pictures and didn't get a lot of great ones, but they hopefully give an idea of the place and I think we get better as we go.

Three football fields worth of stained glass, some dating from Medieval times. Most of it is painted glass, but some windows are actually colored glass.






The ceiling here is 140 feet high!
















The organ and choir loft.










This 'swallow's nest' organ was installed in the last decade as part of a celebration of the cathedral. So as not undermine the integrity of the cathedral, it is not attached to the wall, but 'hangs' on huge cables.









This (blurry) reliquary is said to contain the bones of the magi (the 3 wise men.)

























We paid 2 Euros each to climb 509 steps to the top of one of the spires where we could look out on the city. Great view.










The mighty Rhine River passing through Koln.











Proof that we did indeed make it to the top.













The stairs were almost entirely narrow steps in a narrow spiral staircase – I felt like I was being wound up! Coming down almost made me nauseous. Five hundred and nine steps – I am not a fan of stairs! (And, NO, I didn't count them – it was in the book.) Stairs are a theme through this trip. Thank you, trainer Holli, for all the step-ups we have done :)






This is a 'human art' statue in the plaza outside the cathedral. All the other 'performers' were painted silver/gray, but this one is completely black. (Yes, this is a live person.)

Preview of Our Trip

We have free WiFi in this hotel (to make up for other shortcomings....?), so I put together this overview of our trip - one or two pictures for each day. I plan to fill in more information on what we saw. I also plan to do posts on the food, cultural differences, signs you need to recognize and a few other things. Here we go:

Friday, June 5th Koln Dom (Cologne's Cathedral)















Saturday, June 6th Kamen - The Nostalgia Tour (Don's mission area)















and Wuppertal















Sunday, June 7th The Fischer Family in Muhlheim















and the Tourist part of the trip begins in Bacharach on the Rhine River















Monday, June 8th Burg Eltz in the Mosel River Valley















and Deutches Eck inKoblenz (where the Mosel joins the Rhine)















Tuesday, June 9th Rhine River Cruise















and Rheinfels Castle in St. Goer














and the Heidleberg fiassco















Wednesday, June 10th Rothenburg ob der Tauber















and on to Fussen















Thursday, June 11 A representative picture of lots elaborate opulence in churches and a small castle: Wieskirche, Oberammergau, Linderhof castle & Ettal Monastery.



















Friday, June12th Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau















Saturday, June 13th Dachau















Sunday, June 14th - Happy Birthday, Don! in Salzburg, Austria















Monday, June 15th Hallstatt, Austria















Tuesday, June 16th more Hallstatt















Wednesday, June 17th Munich - yes this is Hofbrauhaus, the famous beer garden, and, no, we didn't have anything to drink here















And finally, Thursday, June 18th in Munich

HDTV: I thank you!

This is really where our journey to Germany begins. Don has never wanted to travel. He would talk about going back to Germany some day, but had no real drive to do so. I decided that just because he didn't want to travel didn't mean that I couldn't and so, with his blessing, I took my first real trip to Washington, DC in 2006, meeting a friend from Washington there. I had a blast and came away with a lot of desire to see more of the country and the world. Then in 2007, we bought an HDTV (in time for Don to watch March Madness :) Because of the surprising beauty of the picture and the additional HD channels, Don started watching some different things - even GOLF one time (he doesn't golf)! Well, he discovered 'Rick Steves' Europe' and became a faithful watcher and, I guess it just gave him the bug. One day in September, out of the blue, Don said, "I think we should go to Germany next fall." We figured how much we would need to save and how long it would take us, and, seeing that we could do it faster, we decided to go in the spring. So you see, I firmly believe that if it weren't for the HDTV, I would still be dreaming about trips I could take and who might be willing to go with me instead of actually getting on the plane in a few days and traveling around the world with my husband. So I say it again: Thank You, HDTV!