April 25, 2012
When I go on vacation I hope to NOT see people I know. On this trip I have not met anyone that I know but I have to say it is a small world. The hotel we are staying at is operated like a home. The wife coordinates everything, is the hostess, our waitress, etc. The restaurant here serves home cooking, prepared by her husband and I must say, it is great food! The restaurant is very easy going and usually the guests all interact with each other during the meal. We have spoken with people from Victoria Island, Canada, a guy from Seattle and a couple from San Diego. Last night we were sitting at dinner and there were only Americans left in the dining room. The couple to our left currently lives in Austin, Texas and the female of that couple is from Ft. Worth! Then there was a single guy sitting to our right. He heard the female say she was from Ft. Worth and he said he was stationed at Carswell AFB in Ft. Worth. That peeked my interest because I too, was stationed for 4 years at Carswell AFB between 1985 and 1989. This guy was there from 1986 to 1989 and said he was in the career field 81150. I was the only one who knew what that meant because I was in 81152. You see, 81150 and 81152 were both part of the 7th Security Police Squadron, Strategic Air Command. 81150 were Security Specialist and 81152 were Law Enforcement Specialist. We all reported for work each day to the same place but the security guys worked on the flight line and the law enforcement guys worked on the main part of the base and sometimes we worked together when we conducted “exercises“ to simulate what the base would do if we were at war. I didn’t know this guy or the couple from Texas, but what a small world to be in a small town in Germany sitting with people who share a common Texas interest.
Our adventure today started again on the Autobahn. Eighty Five mph in the slow lane and in the rain! We started the day with doors on our car but somewhere along the A61 between Bacharach and Cologne a Volvo and a BMW blew them off going well in excess of 100! J
We made it though and parked underground in a parking garage. When we emerged at the top of the stairs we were standing in a huge square in Cologne Center with the Cologne Cathedral in front of us. I started taking pictures of this magnificent structure in front of us and a guy asked me to take his picture too. I did and he explained that he was currently from Atlanta. He asked if we were going to tour the Cathedral and we said yes. He asked if he could tag along and again, we said sure. He tagged along for a little bit before trying to join in on an English speaking tour and explained that his sons were part of the musical group Naturally 7. They were in Cologne as the opening act for Michael Buble….Anyway, that was just kind of interesting.
We spent a good deal of the afternoon touring the Cologne Cathedral. It is quite the impressive place and, as many places in Europe go, it has been around for almost ever! As we walked around with our pamphlet as our tour guide we learned that there are stained glass windows from the 1500’s, an altar from 1350/60, the oldest remaining monumental crucifix in the Western World and a statute of Milan Madonna dating back to 1290 that was considered to be one of the three most important relics of the Cathedral because it was considered to work miracles. We then wanted to see what we could from the belfry of the church. In order to do that we needed to be 332 feet above where we were and would have to climb 533 steps up a circular staircase about wide enough for 1 ½ people. It was one way up and one way down and all stairs! The view was well worth it and wasn’t scary, but at one point was quite startling. We were standing in the bell tower taking a few pictures of the five or so huge bells. At 15, 30, 45 and at the top of each hour at least one bell tolls. We were “fortunate” enough to unexpectedly be there at 15 minutes after the hour, standing about 15 feet from a bell that tolled right while Nika was about to pose for a picture! Priceless!!
From there we walked around the City Center of Cologne, drank coffee and had a small sandwich (while watching some street entertainment) before getting back on the high speed road to our hotel. A good meal of boar in a nearby restaurant and tomorrow we will be on our way to Switzerland!
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