Praktikum: Toilet Water

I went to Cologne last Monday. Did you know that the original cologne was toilet water from the town of Cologne? Gross, huh? Also, they call the city Köln. How do we get Cologne from Köln? No idea.

Okay, time for pictures.

Right outside the train station, I see this beautiful cathedral, Kölner Dom, a.k.a. Hohe Domkirche St. Peter und Maria.

Here's a view from the front.

And here's a look at the beautiful statues carved into the walls.

I'm now inside the cathedral. The statues are just amazing.

Pictures can't capture how huge this building is.

The first station of the cross.

A grave stone. Not sure whose...

A shrine to Our Lady.

A view across the transept. (From the left side of the church to the right.)

This is a reliquary containing the bones of the Three Magi. When pilgrims come to this church, this is one of the three things they come to see. The other two are

the Madonna of Milan, and

the Gero-Crucifix.

Downstairs is the Crypt and Sepulchre of the Archbishops of Cologne. Yup, I figured that out all by myself.

Ooh, a labyrinth. I hope I don't get lost.

No, most of it is gated off. I tried different settings on my camera to get good lighting, but

I didn't have much luck. Either everything is too dark, or everything behind the gate is too dark.

This pillar had something written about Pope John Paul II, but it was in German.

And this one said something about Pope Benedict XVI.

Outside the church, there was a fountain.

And a cool-looking Roman arch.

The Original Eau De Cologne.

(This caption brought to you by the Department of Unnecessarily Redundant Superfluousness.)

Check out this sculpture.

From this angle, it looks completely different.

And from this angle, it looks different still.

No, I'm just kidding. The sculpture moves. All three pictures were taken from the exact same spot.

Ooh, the LEGO Store!

It's like a candy store, but with LEGOs!

Here's Woody and me. More accurately, here's part of Woody's face and part of my face.

Somebody poisoned the water hole!

Star Wars and LEGO, the best combination since PB&J.

Lunch time, at the Eigel Cafe.

I'll have the Braumeister-Gulasch, please.

And a glass of Riesling.

(Here's my goulash.)

And for dessert? A strawberry milkshake. Yummy.

What is this?

Oh, that's what it is.

Check out this building. I believe it was partially destroyed in the war, and then rebuilt with a completely different kind of stone.

See?

And check out how short this door is. I'm not exactly the tallest individual, you know.

Ah, it's a church. St. Kolomba. Actually, it's a small chapel, surrounded by a museum.

There's a look inside the chapel.

Ooh, ruins!

Same ruins, different view.

In this spot, JFK spoke to the people of Cologne, exactly 5 months before his assassination.

Here's the city hall.

This is a fountain. (I am just full of information.)

Nice try, BP. You think you can just change your logo, and everyone will forget about that whole Gulf disaster?

Speaking of BP, what is this pipeline, and where does it go?

I shall follow it!

The pipe turns northeast! It's taking the hobbits to Isengard!

Oh, it's actually going...

Into the Rhine. But is it pumping something out of the river, or dumping something in? I'll never know.

Oh, while I'm at the Rhine, check out this bridge. It's the Hohenzollern Bridge, paid for by Kaiser Wilhelm II. It's the busiest railway bridge in the world. Apparently, 30 trains cross it every hour, all day long. My train crossed it too.

And this may or may not be Kaiser Wilhelm II. I should also point out at this time that the legend about how the number of legs a statue's horse has on the ground indicates how the person died--is false. While it's true in many cases, there are countless exceptions. Just check snopes.com for a more complete explanation.

This, Jess tells me, is a statue of a 7-layer cake, which is better than my theory: "I have no idea what this is." (The stone at ground level is the 7th layer, for those of you counting.)