Once again it's 8.45am on Monday 29th April and we are about 5kms from the Famous Lorelei Rock in the Rhone Gorge and it's a beautiful sunny morning with the temperature predicted to rise to 27C today. I will have to interrupt writing this post to take some photos and I could be some time since there is a string of castles for the next 2 to 3 hours! I have seen them all before so might dig those photos out for reference later.
It's now 17.45 and I have just returned from Rudesheim our stop for the day. The sun ha shone today, and that horrible chill wind has subsided, so it has been a pleasant day.
I thought I would just say a few words about Koln Cathedral with its famous two towers. Not the best photo since it's taken from the rear rather than the impressive front façade with the two towers. The Cathedral is also very dirty, the resultant of industrial activity over the last two centuries.
The Wikipedia link is as follows: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cologne
You can also click on any of the underlined and coloured links for more information.
Briefly the city's medieval Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) was the world's tallest building 1880–1890 and is today the third-tallest church and tallest cathedral in the world. It was constructed to house the Shrine of the Three Kings and is a globally recognized landmark and one of the most visited sights and pilgrimage destinations in Europe attracting an average of 6 million people a year.[6] At 157 m (515 ft), the cathedral is the tallest twin-spired church in the world, the second tallest church in Europe after Ulm Minster, and the third tallest church of any kind in the world.[7]
Construction of Cologne Cathedral began in 1248 but was halted in the years around 1560,[8] unfinished. Attempts to complete the construction began around 1814 but the project was not properly funded until the 1840s. The edifice was completed to its original medieval plan in 1880.[9] The towers for its two huge spires give the cathedral the largest façade of any church in the world.
Cologne's medieval builders had planned a grand structure to house the reliquary of the Three Kings and fit for its role as a place of worship for the Holy Roman Emperor. Despite having been left incomplete during the medieval period, Cologne Cathedral eventually became unified as "a masterpiece of exceptional intrinsic value" and "a powerful testimony to the strength and persistence of Christian belief in medieval and modern Europe".[5] In Cologne, only the telecommunications tower is higher than the cathedral.[4]
I'm cheating a bit by drawing so extensively on Wikipedia. One telling comment from our Cruise Director is "You have to imagine that there was nothing else around at the time the Cathedral was built", i.e. it's impressive now but it was even more impressive in the 12th and 13th Centuries!
PS We have just entered the Main Danube Canal so lots of locks and very low bridges coming up tomorrow! Mind your heads!! In fact we are just entering the first lock and we have an audience of honking Geese pretesting at our progress!
