Cologne wrap-up

Kõln, trip 3, week 2

Bell tower of the Dom

Cologne is famous for its 12 Romanesque churches in the city centre. We certainly did not see them all, but we did drop into our "local" church, St. Agnes (close to our AirBnB, we used its steeple as our navigation landmark). We then tried to see the famous reliquary at the Basilica of St. Ursula, made from the bones of her "11,000" virgins, supposedly murdered by the Huns along with the saint. As various sites point out, 11,000 is certainly an exaggeration, although the best alternative theory (that 11 martyrs was mistranslated as 11 M where M = 1000 in Roman numerals) does not account for the number of remains found at the site. Unfortunately, we were unable to see more than a couple square feet as it was closed for restoration.

Disappointed, we went back to the Dom to climb the bell tower, which we didn't get to earlier. Obviously some impressive views at the top! Rubbery-legged, we returned to earth and moved next-door to the Museum Ludwig (no, not named for Beethoven), another 20th century art museum. They hold the 3rd largest collection of Picassos in the world. It is very large, too large for the time we had to spend.

Finally we had a "fancy" dinner to celebrate our last day in Cologne. As usual, in spite of the stereotype of German efficiency the service was slow, and as has happened far too often in Germany, they got the order wrong. What we got was usually fine, just not what we ordered!

P.S. Spain 2 over England 1 in the Euro final.