(Drivebycuriosity) - My wife and I are still traveling in Europe. A miracle had happened. The missing suitcase (reported in my post from Aachen) reappeared. Air France found it apparently on Sunday and send it to Düsseldorf to a company, which does distribution jobs for them. Unfortunately they had as contact address the hotel we had stayed in Aachen. But on Tuesday we moved to Köln, which caused some confusion. It needed several telephone calls by my wife & hotel staff in Köln with Air France & the Düsseldorf distributor to get them to deliver the suitcase to our new address. Fortunately - when we arrived on Thursday evening in our hotel room - the suitcase was there - just in time because on Friday at noon we moved to Berlin.
Köln is a nice and somewhat cozy place - compared to New York City. The city scape is shaped by so many churches though that the city almost looks like Rome. The Kölner Dom (Köln Cathedral) is the center of the city and Germany`s most visited landmark. Construction of the monumental building began in 1248 but was halted in the years around 1560, unfinished (wikipedia ). Attempts to complete the construction began around 1814 but the project didn't gain full steam until the 1840s. The edifice was completed to its original Medieval plan in 1880.
The city has also some pieces of modern architecture. Above you can see some constructions on the River Rhine, a stream with flows from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea at Rotterdam. The center and most parts of Köln are on the left (western) side of the Rhine.
We stayed in the right side of the river. Many bridges connect both sides. The Hohenzollern Bridges (named after the House of Hohenzollern, the rulers of Prussia and German Emperors. At construction time, Cologne formed part of the Prussian Rhine Province.) close to our hotel is used by pedestrians and important train connection between west & east (more than 1,200 trains daily). Many romantic minded visitors stuck locks on the bridge.
Köln is also an important traffic hub and the central station is right near the Dom.
Köln has also culinary qualities. Again I enjoyed the selection of Brötchen (ball shaped breads) in the hotel. We also discovered an Italian restaurant - the Ristorante Alfredo - which serves amazing chef created cuisine. Beer lovers go the many brewery pubs which serve the local beer speciality Kölsch. The Früh Kölsch brewery pub belongs to the biggest and most popular beer temples of Köln.
To be continued.
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