Germany

The Dom and Hohenzollern Bridge from the other side of the Rhine

So I have been a bit busy and haven't had much internet over the past 3 days so I haven't been able to update this much.  Since the last time I updated the blog I spent 5 days in Cologne, Germany a day in Amsterdam and have just finished my second day in London.

Cologne is the fourth largest city in Germany after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich.  It is situated on the Rhine (with parts on both sides) and it was originally settled by the Romans.

The main site in Cologne is the Cathedral, or Dom, pictured above.  Apparently it is the most visited landmark in Germany (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Germany#Landmarks). dIt is another great gothic cathedral.  In what would seem to be atypical for the Germans, it was started in 1248...and finished in 1880.  It actually was the tallest structure in the world for 4 years until the Washington monument was built in 1884.

Interior of the Dom

Wind turbines, I think Europe is a bit greener

For part of my time there we went to my friend's parents house which is more on the countryside, near the border with the Netherlands (which we actually went to shortly to get gas).  It was definitely very nice there.

One of the cool things about the first two places I went, Budapest and Cologne is that they both were settled by the Romans and were basically on the frontier of the Empire.  There was a Roman archaeological museum in a city near his parents' house that we went to, so it was interesting to go see a partially rebuilt Roman city and a little bit of original stuff.

Roman bathhouse

Roman amphitheatre

Temple

On top of one of the city gates

View from the top of the gate

The Middle Ages also had a big influence on the city of Cologne and it is shown in the architecture, as shown by the Dom already, but also in many of the churches which are in the city.  But there also are three city gates from the medieval city of Cologne.

St. Aposteln Church

The medieval city gate of Hahnentorburg

So I was fortunate enough to be able to go to one of the women's FIFA World Cup Group Stage matches in a nearby city of Leverkusen.  It was awesome to experience a soccer (or football) match in Europe for the first time.  The stadium was small, but very nice and we had pretty good seats.  Unfortunately the parking was terribly far away and the bus took forever to actually get to the stadium, so we wound up getting into the stadium about 15 minutes into the match after two goals had already been scored.  Japan finished the game 4-0 over Mexico, but it was nice to go to the game.

Jägerschnitzel, with the traditional German side of french fries

Another view of the Dom

The autobahn

Gladiator helmet at the museum

Not sure what it was, but it looked cool and medieval

I will try and post stuff from Amsterdam and my first few days in London soon, but I can't make any guarantees.  And of course Happy 4th of July.  For some reason I didn't really see or hear any fireworks in London.