Cologne: cathedral and Christmas markets

Revisiting one of our favorite places in Germany

Hello ~ I’m Scott and welcome to your 5-Minute Vacation for Dec. 20th. I share these snippets of our travels in the hope that my photos and stories will allow you to go on a vicarious vacation and “get away from it all,” if only for a moment. I appreciate you inviting me into your inbox today.

In case you missed it, last time we visited some Christmas markets.

The Cologne cathedral from the east bank of the Rhine. The Rhine here was once the border between the Roman Empire and the Germanic tribes.

Wow wow WOW.

That’s what I said to myself as I entered Cologne’s cathedral. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I should begin at the beginning, or at least pick up from last time.

For the last several weeks, we’ve been busy getting ready to move to Texas ~ arranging for movers, selling our car, sorting through our household goods, attending to paperwork ~ y’know, the usual moving excitement. (This is why I’m showing up in your inbox today, late, instead of last Sunday, as would have been the regular schedule).

In addition to preparing for the move, we also wanted to do some last-minute traveling. So, this past weekend we went to one of our favorite places in Germany, Cologne.

We first visited Cologne back in ’02. When we popped out of the metro tunnel and came face-to-face with the cathedral, my first words were, “Wow wow WOW.” Good to see that some things never change.

A tangent: on our way to the cathedral’s front door, we met a miniature schnauzer with a natural (undocked) tail. Lovely. When we are searching for our next set of minis next year, we hope to find some with natural tails (undocked ears are also a must).

Back to Cologne and your 5-Minute Vacation ~

We knew we wanted to visit one more time before leaving, so when we read that the city’s Christmas markets are reputed to be among the best in Germany, we made plans for a December visit.

We took the train up on Saturday morning (yes, another “training mission”) and after lunch, went straight to the cathedral.

Cologne cathedral’s twin towers tower. They’re like a dagger into the sky. At 157.38 m / 516.34 ft, this beautiful behemoth is too large, too grand, to see completely in one glance.

I’ll say it again: as I entered Cologne’s cathedral, I said to myself, “Wow wow WOW,” because: the volume, the gorgeous light (even on a grey day), the majestic scale, the design that makes tons of stone seem light as a feather.

As an example of that last point:

The cathedral’s spacious nave is only possible because the columns on either side, the ones that appear so thin and delicate, carry the weight of the roof.

The base of the columns that support the nave (the middle, main aisle that leads from the door to the altar in the above photo) appear to be thin and delicate but are really so large that when Rosemary stood on one side and I on the other, we could not clasp hands. From that sturdy base, the columns then hold the roof up 43.35 m / 142.2 ft above the floor. Making several assumptions and simplifying the shape of the columns to a simple cylinder, I figured that each column weighs over 800 tons.¹ There are fourteen columns in the nave alone. Wow wow WOW.

We enjoyed the cathedral, both inside and the view of it from across the river, until sunset. Once it was dark, we knew it was time for the Christmas markets.

One of the Christmas markets is conveniently located next to the cathedral.

Underneath the Christmas tree was a bandstand, complete with a rollickin’ good band.

The Christmas markets did not disappoint. On Saturday night, we managed to visit three of them where, in addition to the usual fare of pretzels, brats, glühwein, souvenirs, and a crush of humanity, there were two Ferris wheels, an ice skating rink, and a curling rink. A curling rink!

The weather for our Saturday in Cologne was typical for this time of year: overcast, chilly and windy. But Sunday, the sun came out. I’m sure it was just so that we could enjoy the cathedral’s stained glass windows and then the sunshine on the hills of the east bank of the Rhine as we rolled home. Thank you, Germany, for such a wonderful parting gift.

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Cologne is on the part of the Rhine River that is one of our favorite places in Germany. If you get a chance to visit this part of Germany, I suggest arriving in Frankfurt (the airport is a major international hub) and staying a day or two there. Then, take the train or a river cruise up to Cologne, or farther if you like. The river route from Frankfurt to Cologne passes through the Rheingau, one of Germany’s leading wine-producing regions, and the Rhine Gorge, a part of the Rhine with castles perched on steep hills. Opt for late Spring or mid-Autumn, when the foliage is at its best.

If you want to continue on a wine-themed journey, turn left at Koblenz on the Mosel River. The vineyards between Koblenz and Trier are world-renowned.

Or, this trip could be part of a longer river cruise. You may not stop at Cologne or any of the other smaller towns, but you’d still get to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

By the time you receive this, the movers will be packing up our stuff. By the next time I pop into your inbox on Dec. 31st, we’ll be waiting for our flight to Texas. Until then ~

Tschüss!

PS ~ If you are new to my photography, you can see more at scottgilbertson.com.

1. In addition to treating the column as a simple cylinder, I also guessed at the radius of the base of the column. I wouldn’t be surprised if my guesstimate was on the small side, which would mean the columns weigh even more. Still, I think I’m in the general ballpark. Also, I tried to use ChatGPT to calculate the answer but that was a bust. First, Chat didn’t have all the relevant data (how come it couldn’t find the density of the type of stone used in construction but I could?) and, second, once I fed it the data, its answer was off by two orders of magnitude. If the original architects had been that wrong, the cathedral would be nothing but a pile of dust now.