Friday, June 3 -- Cologne confusion

As usual, we had assigned coaches for our transport to a walking tour of Cologne and its impressive cathedral.  I was surprised to find my assigned "coach" to be a van holding about 16, and not enough seats for all assigned to it.  Unusual!  Turns out that the buses assigned to us had arrived at the usual docking place -- across the river from where we actually were.  It would take too long for them to come to us, so all other available vehicles were dispatched to resolve the crisis.

Timing is important on this cruise as either an afternoon excursion or an actual cast-off limits how long we have in any one town.  In this case there were afternoon tours AND an early evening cast-off that made it important for many of us to get back to the boat for a quick lunch and new destination. 

Our guide had a wonderfully sly sense of humor, and was remarkably well-educated about the cathedral and Gothic architecture & Medieval times.  This massive cathedral was built in several phases over a couple hundred years, and is engineered to be able to stand forever. 

In addition to the awe-inspiring structure soaring above our heads, the floors were a marvel of tiny mosaic tiles.

these detailed patterns and many more covered hundreds of square yards of floor space; the tiles are no more than 1/2" square and in many cases cut irregularly in order to fit precisely where needed.




These floors surrounded the gold-plated and richly decorated chest that contains relics from the Magi, the three kings who visited Jesus, Mary and Joseph by following the star.  These relics were a big selling point for the creation of the cathedral -- a unique draw for pilgrims from all around.  We'll never know what's REALLY in the chest, but it's a marvel of effectiveness from very early advertising.

Some views of the building ... yes it IS as vast as it appears to be!

In addition to the many pillars and sculptures, of course there were massive and beautiful stained glass windows.  One in particular was quite modern, patterns of squares that, when the sun is high in the sky, throw beautiful light across the chapel.  This modern contribution, while quite different from the depictions of Biblical scenes and saints in the other windows, actually has a very ancient inspiration:  the third of the Ten Commandments ... make no graven images.  Food for thought!





Our final piece of education was about how to "read" the large stained-glass windows.  Each was sponsored by some rich and important man, and looking at the various panes, an interesting story developed.  The sponsor is shown kneeling with a saint (ranking of saint roughly comparable to ranking of rich man), who is physically urging the oh-so-modest rich man into accepting a role of responsibility.  The other panels on that level showed saints and other holy folks who were of appropriate stature to be supportive of the important man, and in many cases accompanied by images of OTHER important men who were allies.  Surrounding all this were the coats-of-arms of allies of secondary importance ... all in all, a clear statement of power to those who knew the code. 

We had a few extra minutes before returning to the bus, and learned that large parts of the downtown area are still built on Roman foundations.  "Downtown" is delimited by the old Roman wall (much as the Chicago Loop is delimited by the El tracks), and where the watchtowers were -- we still have round buildings, due to the round foundations!

Back to the boat for a relaxed afternoon and evening, everyone's beginning to be sure to touch base with new friends and be sure to be able to keep in touch going forward.