The Dom and Donuts

We spent just one night in Cologne (also known as Köln for those of you like me that can't find a major city on a map of that city) on our first German road trip. We stayed at the Hilton right in the city center -- their rates were good and they took pets. What they didn't disclose upfront was that they had a pet fee -- not uncommon -- but here it was more than half the price of the room. With that hefty sum, Boo was provided a massive bed that she really didn't like, a bag of treats she was allergic to, and food and water dishes that I think she could have bathed in. Living large!

The dominating focus of Cologne is Cologne Cathedral -- in German, Kölner Dom -- a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The building in it current form is over 700 years old and took 600 of those years to build. This place is massive: it's spires are the second-tallest in the world, its facade is the largest in the world, and the cathedral as a whole is the largest in northern Europe. The most important treasure inside the cathedral is the Shrine of the Three Kings, a golden relic believed to hold the bones of the Three Wiseman -- but our schedules didn't work out so we had to pass on seeing that.

The area around the cathedral is a mid to high-end shopping district, dotted with a few bakeries selling what appeared to be the German version of the jelly donut. I said "donut" in one of the bakeries and was corrected with the word "Berliner", which, by the way, was a subject of humour and urban legend when JFK made his famous speech in Berlin on June 23, 1963 stating, "Ich bin ein Berliner" -- or "I am a Berliner."

The last piece of our Cologne adventure was Kölsch, the local beer. It's a less bitter beer than most of the German pilsners on offer. There are several brew houses serving up this stuff in rapid-fire fashion in small cylindrical glasses. The small glasses aren't just for show -- the beer is best when just from the tap and has had limited exposure to air. Drinking many small glasses of the brew is the best way to maximize your Kölsch enjoyment. Careful though, once you start drinking, the barman will keep replacing your glass until you make him stop!

Prost!

“Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world.” -- Kaiser Wilhelm