Yeah, it's a never ending Project partly due to acidic rain and other pollution induced damages. The stone the cologne cathedral is made of ( i believe it's sandstone or calcium stone (Kalkstein)) is white, but the pollution renders it darker and darker over time. I've lived my whole life in Cologne but I've never seen it without any construction or restoring going on. What is also interesting is that in front of the main entrance there is a "Kreuzblume" (lit. crossflower) model displayed (in original size) which is the topmost part on the two towers on the Cologne Cathedral. It looks very tiny on the towers, but when you stand in front of it you get a much better feel for the sheer size and amount of stone getting hauled up there.
The "burnt" gothic look is due to air pollution - and this is also the reason why these medieval cathedrals in Europe are permanenty "under construction", the masonry being cleaned, repaired, replaced.
last time I was there they had finished and revealed a big chunk around a side portal and I could imagine how the Dom would look all sandy white. maybe we'll see the day. the Dom was finished when the industrial revolution had already happened, yet the first stages were centuries old at that time. meaning: no one has ever seen the Dom "as it's supposed to look", yet. the fine details really pop out when the stone is white, shadows can suddenly play and emphazise with ease what you could only see on brutally sunny days before. the whole thing gains an airyness, dissolves into the sky and looses it's wobbling darkgrey oppressiveness.
funny enough there is a workaround for that. when I was a kid our parliment (huge gothic building in hungary) was also constantly renovated as they needed to clean and repair the bricks. but then they swapped out/treated the bricks and its just white now all the time :)
If you now consider that the two towers of the cathedral were built only a good 150 years ago, then you can see very well how quickly the related trachyte, limestone and sandstone was affected by the weather and acid rain, air pollution and also the remains of birds. The stones are now gradually freed from the adhesions and thus regain their original appearance. The cathedral is permanently in a state of restoration, which is not otherwise possible with its age and the materials used, if you want to preserve its originality. A legend also says that if the cathedral were ever completed, the earth would perish. So we hope that the cathedral will never be finished or restored. Every day I look at the Drachenfels near Bonn and see the quarry from which the stone for the construction of the cathedral was quarried in the Middle Ages. That's what connects me to the cathedral.
German here: I still remember the first time I experienced one of those self-cleaning toilets as a child, probably 23 years ago. I was so shocked because it didn't have a sensor, it just started the self-cleaning process after I had flushed. I thought it was so futuristic and cool. I don't remember much about that hundreds of years old castle, but I do remember the toilets there!
If "Köln" is too difficult, you could also use the Latin name of the city: Colonia Agrippina (short for Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium). It was founded around 20 BC as Oppidum Ubiorum (town of the Ubii, a German tribe allied with the Romans, who originally settled at the other bank of the Rhine). In 15 AD Iulia Agrippina, daughter of Roman General Germanicus and sister of Caligula (who became later Roman Emperor), was born here. After she had married Emperor Claudius, she declared in 50 AD the town a Roman colonia and city, which was renamed after her (and often abbreviated as CCAA). 🙃 For a good and true "Brezel" you have to be in one of the southern states (Bavaria or Baden-Wüttemberg). Nice cat, by the way. I've heard they have to remove the locks regularly because they would otherwise to become too heavy for the grating... Actually they halted the construction of the cathedral around 1528 because they run out of money, and afterwards hard times came for the city (wars, famines, riots, ...), so for nearly three centuries the skyline of the city was portrayed with a wooden crane on top of one of the two tower stumps. At the start of the 19th century the Cologne art collector (and trader) Sulpiz Boiserée began to campaign for finishing the construction; after he discovered original plans from 1370 for the facade, he got a lot of support from all over Germany. Cologne had in 1815 (after the Napoleonic wars) become a Prussian province, and he could win over the Prussian king Frederic Wilhelm IV (who, being a foreign Protestant ruler, aimed to win over the hearts of the Catholic population there) to back the project. Around the same time the citizens of Ulm decided to finish the tower of their (Protestant) Minster, but they waited with the last steps until the towers of Cologne were finished and then topped their height by about 4 meters (10 meters more than the original medieval plans had stipulated), so they got the tallest church in the world, Cologne being only second. And by buying that liquor you helped to fund the restorations and repairs of the cathedral, so you have now taken part in the effort. Mostly due to air pollution over the centuries the rather soft sandstone used for most of the stone carvings has to be replaced continuously, the stonemasons producing replicas of the artwork using material from the same quarries, then cutting out the old ones and replacing them with the replicas.
Hi Heidi! Very funny video! Two comments: it took over 600 years to build the cathedral BUT it stood unfinished for almost 300 years without any work being done! The self-cleaning toilets belong to a chain of restrooms (hence the fee) often found in train stations and highway service areas.
It is so funny to see a person never been to Cologne liking it so much. Me beeing born, raised and living in cologne sometimes forget what we have. Nice that you liked it.
It‘s really, really impressive to walk outside the train central station and you see this massive, huge building. Even for me who was born close to Cologne, it is still so impressive. I also can warmly recommend visiting Aachen. Much smaller and cuter but it also has historic buildings like Aachen Cathedral, Town hall, the so called Elisenbrunnen, Ponttor. Glad you liked it in Cologne. You Americans make us Germans really love our country again. So thanks for that. 🙏🏻
Cathedral gift shops are pretty standard in Europe. These ancient buildings need such a lot of money to maintain that they need to cash in however they can. In my city, Lincoln UK, the cathedral has quite a large gift shop. A lot of the stuff is quite tacky but there are also a fair amount of quality items too.
I have visited Cologne only once, but it made a big impression on me. The food was good quality every place I ate. The Cathedral was jaw droppingly huge. The Art museum sticks in my mind even after 30 years (I was so impressed at their collection). I would love to go back just to take it all in again. Nice video.
As a Cologne resident, I am pleased that you liked my hometown :-) By the way, perfume is named after Cologne = Eau de Cologne or literally translated into English: Water from Cologne
@@anna-ranja4573 Even the beer was not realy from cologne :) where they drink beer in Schnapsglases... But in all parts of Germany we can create good Brezel, and even in the french Lidl I can get good bretzl. @nettcologne9186 When I need dumy numbers for testing purpose, all people are wondering why I"ll take 0815 or 4711... Even, french people know "eau de Cologne".
Haribo was founded only 20km to the south in the town called Bonn (former capital city of Germany). The founder name is Hans Riegel from Bonn. There you have the Name of HaRiBo 😂
I am very happy that you liked Europe and especially my home country Germany so much. Hopefully you will have the opportunity to come here very often, because there is still so much for you to discover. I'm very curious how you liked the Italian food and the delicious wine. 👋 cu soon
Fun fact: the word cathedral comes from the Greek "kathedra", which means "seat" as in the seat of a bishopric - so a bishop is preaching here. In Germany we have two words: "Dom" (without a bishop) and "Kathedrale" (with a bishop) Not every "Dom" is a cathedral, but every cathedral is a "Dom". To add to the confusion, several cathedrals - including the one in cologne - are called "Dom", but are actually cathedrals, as they have a bishop. Also the "632 years" are mostly marketing... there was a LONG gap in building. Essentially it was built over ~250 years and then there was the thirty-year-war as well as the protestant reformation and they just stopped. Hundreds of years later they finally finished it. So while the start date and end date were 632 apart, the actual building was maybe ~300 years - still a lot, but not that unusual. There are several big churches in Germany, that had a build phase of 300-400 years.
Actually, apart from "Dom" and "Kathedrale" we have even a third word "Münster" and a forth one "Basilika". All four are used for churches of more significance. A normal church and generally churches would be called a "Kirche" (here again English and German aren't too far away from each other at second glance).
@@MichaelBurggraf-gm8vl Technically no. A "Münster" is just a church with an attached monastery, so it really doesn't refer to the church building itself. A "Basilika" is just a different style of church (instead of a tower and a long building part, it consists of 3 long building parts with the middle one being bigger than the outer ones. For both of these, the size is not relevant, they can be both big and small, but "Dom" - and therefore "Kathedrale" - refer to big churches specifically.
@@m.h.6470Regarding "Münster" I'm a bit surprised because the rule you've quoted doesn't seem to apply to the Münster of Freiburg and the one of Ulm. As far as Kathedrale/cathedral is concerned that term is used specifically for large churches at the seat of a bishop. However, many of those churches are called Dom in Germany and Austria still being the seats of bishops: Augsburg, Speyer, Mainz, Köln, Wien, Salzburg, Feldkirch.
@@MichaelBurggraf-gm8vl as I wrote in my original post: "Not every Dom is a cathedral, but every cathedral is a Dom." My guess is, that - if it is called a Dom - the name was first and the bishop was moved there later and it was not renamed by the locals. The word Münster literally has the same origin as monastery, even though the modern German word is Kloster. Again, it is likely, that there was a monastery in Freiburg and Ulm, but it was removed or destroyed and the name never changed. Though I haven't checked that. But the definition and origin of the term Münster is clear.
Both cities, Frankfurt and Köln were burnt to the ground after WW2. I found the lack of historical buildings (beside the dome which was spared from the bombs because the pilots needed it for orientation) in Köln remarkable when I visited.
Born and still living in Cologne and the best experience with the Cologne Cathedral was at Christmas time where they turned off all lights inside of the Cathedral and the way you could walk along was lit with small candles left and right along the way and only the artwork was list and there was a choir that was singing. It was really a pinch me moment because except the choir it was so calm and quiet. Whenever I am out of town and drive back and see the Cathedral I think "Hello old girl" and really feel home.
There is always renovation work going on at Cologne Cathedral. They even have their own workshop and people working on it full time. And the maintenance never ends. So you could still spend your whole life working on this building today.
I live near Cologne and every time I look at the cathedral I think about the long line of people who built it. That makes me awestruck and humble, because my little life, my problems, shrink next to it.
Wait, they sell beer in big glasses in cologne? That wasn’t a local restaurant, then. Kölsch, the traditional cologne beer is served in small slender glasses of 0,2l.
Sometimes you get even Kölsch in .3 and .4 glasses when sitting outside, but that is rather rare and no local would order it. At least not my friends or I. Kölsch is also filtered, so this was something else anyway.
If you read (or listen to audiobooks) you should check out "The pillars of the earth" by Ken Follett. It is very long, but worth it. Really good story, and it revolves around building a cathedral. So while a lot of other stuff is going on, it gives a lot of insight into what it takes, and how amazing it is they managed to get it done.
Also: Death and the Devil by Frank Schätzing. It's a crime story playing in the late middle ages and revolves around cologne cathedral and the death of the current 'Dombaumeister' of the time (architect of the cathedral would be the translation I guess?) specifically.
@@HailHeidi The cathedral has its own YT channel. Most of the videos are to serve the christian followers, but there's a short video about the history of the cathedral, which is worth watching: "Die Bauphasen des Kölner Domes und seiner Vorgängerbauten - 2017" (The construction phases of the Cologne Cathedral and its predecessor buildings - 2017) There's a lot more about it but most is in german.
so glad you enjoyed the city. its actually my favorite city in germany. not because of the looks of it ( cause its actually just a ton of ugly houses not fitting together with ugly streets etc) but its the most open minded city in this country with super nice people ♥. and it has a big music scene with many cool venues ! wish I couldve seen more photos or videos with you exploring it but its fine :) cheers! oh and I always drive to cologne to see my hairstylist.
In Paris, France, you have the Pont d'Arts (Bridge of the Arts) where you would put the lock on the bridge and throw the key in the river (Seine), maybe even the original lock bridge. But in any case one of the most famous for this use was damaged because of it. This is from the wiki:"However, in 2014, the bridge gave in to the love it received, and unfortunately collapsed as it was not structurally sound enough to bear the weight of over 700,000 locks. In June 2015, the padlocks were removed and glass panels replaced the grilles on the Pont des Arts"
@@dikkiedik9463 Oh, I remember that year. All over the World, couples started to break up for no apparent reason. Then they showed in the news that they removed all the padlocks from that bridge but it was too late. Crazy, huh? _(it's a joke, by the way)_
The Cologne Cathedral is always under construction/restoration. When one restoration cycle is finished, they have to start with the next one right away. And this is more or less the situation since they started to build the cathedral in August 1248. Howeever, there was a very long break in construction between 1520 and 1823. After this pause it took another 57 years until it eventually was finished.
Just a quick tip concerning bathrooms in germany : usually if you can buy something to eat/drink somewhere and can sit down at the place, you can use the bathroom for free .) Well, unless you go in a mall or train station etc.
Self cleaning toilets are expensive, so if you do want to have them in the us, you will not be able to use them for free. And yes, they are common. Toilets in Germany are either self-cleaning, or they get cleaned. A service I am willing to pay 1€ for, each use (as an adult, children can usually use them for free.).
I visited St. Paul's in London. What was amazing was that a service started while we were appreciating the architecture and history of the building. I think the same thing might have happened at Canterbury. It made me appreciate that these are living, working buildings. ❤
Bathroom fee: You usually get a voucher to redeem in the shops of the mall. Sometimes it is 100 percent, most times it is about 70 percent of the bathroom fee.
Glad you made it to Cologne, I lived there for about 10 years, before moving back to my hometown. Your vid brings up so many nice memories! About the locks on the Hohenzollernbrücke: Their weight actually became a problem for the bridge's statics at some point. I remember there were concerns about that. I also always loved looking at the river Rhine below and the boats slowly passing - it is almost meditative. There are 4 statues in total on the bridge. All of them represent members of the Hohenzollern noble family. The one you took a picture of (at least from "behind", the one with the bird on his helmet 😂) was Germany's last emperor Wilhelm II. The cathedral is amazing indeed. And it's getting renovated all (!) the time. Fun fact: There's a saying in Cologne that when the renovation of the Dom will be finished, the world will be coming to an end (which means that it'll be never finished). Maybe you noticed a part of the columns on the left side of the portal, which is very much lighter in colour. This is due to a quick repair (the so-called "Domplombe"/"Cathedral filling") between severe air raids during WWII. This part was badly damaged by the bombings and there were concerns that the portal could potentially collapse. Apart from the city's historic background (there's so much to be mentioned!), I highly recommend going out in Cologne. There are plenty of concerts all over the place, hundreds of bars and clubs for every taste of style and music. The city vibrates at night on the weekends - you'd surely enjoy the experience and the openness of the people. Anyways, thanks so much for your comments about Cologne. It was very inspirational to me and I think I might visit it again on one of the next weekends.
imho best tour in the Dom is the foundations/excavation tour. they dug out the tower foundations to see how well they were made 600 years ago and came across historical artifacts dating back to pre-roman times, at least 2000 years of history is hidden down there. they say they had to stop digging because they already dug out work to keep several generations of historians busy. standing underneath that massive structure and on grounds that have been holy to people for maybe 3000 years or more is impressive.
oh and you can check their tours on their website and they almost all also come in english and there are some that can or have to be booked in advance, like the roof tour or organ tour iirc. they also play concerts on that giant organ, in case you want to _hear_ the Dom no, I don't work there, never did, don't plan to, it's just a pretty(,) interesting building
To put the 600 years for the construction for the cathedral in perspective: it took that long because they stopped building the church at the end of the medevial ages. Completion only start in the 2nd half of the 19th century.
Hey Heidi! I moved to Cologne suburbs 1,5 years ago, so I loved all of your reactions. That view of the bridge with the Dom is my absolute favourite as well. You see I grew up near the sea, so it's very unusual for me that you get not one but two stunning views from the body of water. You should definitely try to attend the organ concert in the cathedral - they are free and take place in summer usually. I was blown away by the performances, and the Dom is jam packed with listeners, people even bring the sitting cushions and sit on the floor. And regarding Bretzeln - honestly, the frozen ones that you can buy in any supermarket and just pop into the oven for 10 minutes - they are the best! In backeries they are not as hot ant soft. But everything else in a backery is usually of amazing quality. Just don't go to the ones in the train stations, you'll definitely feel the difference. My small Bäckerei in my suburb is the most important shop on my street.
It took from 1248 to 1880 to build the cathedral. And of these 600 years, the construction stalled for 300 years. It very much describes the history of the city. When they started, Cologne was a wealthy member of the Hanseatic League and the by far largest city in modern Germany. But when the Hanseatic League declined, the population had no more money to fund the construction, so the work stopped for 300 years. There was a treadmill crane on one of the tower trunks as a symbol of that time. Only after Cologne became Prussian in the Congress of Vienna, the new llords of the city decided to finish the work, which was quite difficult, as the original plans had to be rediscovered. In this construction, modern building techniques were used, such as a steel roof framework rather than timber, which saved the building from destruction in WWII. Other churches in Cologne like Romanesque Great St. Martin burnt to the ground.
Bretzels originate from the South of Germany, and as a man who has been living in nearly all German regions tere are two rules: Bretzel are getting better the mor south you go, bbeing the best in the Danube Valley (Ulm to Passau) and in train stations you 'll always get crab.
Please come to Germany again and visit Hamburg or Kiel. Schleswig-Holstein is a very federal state with the happiest population in Germany. Very beautiful landscapes and little villages. Glad to hear you liked it.
Glad you liked it. I grew up there and it's my first recommendation for everyone who visits Germany for the first time. You'll find nice, open and welcoming people all over Germany, but I think it's easier to find them in Cologne and the surrounding area. As for the locks, you are right: They had to remove them some time ago but that had little long term effect as you could see. That gummy shop that you found wasn't by any chance the "Bärenland"? I completely forgot about that one. I used to buy a lot of stuff there, including harmless looking but super spicy chili gummy stuff, which was always fun to bring to a party and watch people try them without knowing.
I once was in love with a girl from cologne. Maybe it's because i always got to see her when i went there, but i only have good memories of that city. I am glad you and your hubby had a good time too there. It was really fun listening to you talk about it. Once again, i mentioned this before, to me the beauty of germany is mostly to be found in the smaller cities and i really hope you will come visit again and get to see some of those.
Born and raised in Köln, still living about a mile outside city borders. The Cathedral wasn't under construction consequently. It was started (13th century), mony ran out, abandoned for centuries (about 300 years) and then finished in some sort of patriotic/political stunt in the 19th century. What is more astonishing that is ia still standing after 262 seperate air raids on the city in WW2. The ground around it was flattened... but there it stood.
Hi Heidi, that is a fun video again. Because you are so interested in the detail and the craftmanship that went into constructing the cathedral, it is maybe also good to know that that is an ongoing process. Next to the cathedral is the Kölner Dombauhütte where craftsmen and women work everyday on the maintenance of this great monument. There is a fixed crew of stonemasons, sculptors, glassartists, carpenters etc. constantly working in their workshops and on the scaffoldings. I know for sure they like your video and I will send a link to a female stone restorer there who is as enthusiastic as you are.
It's always nice to see a report about Cologne Cathedral. The amazement at the gothic appearance and the darkness of the exterior. Hmm, I guess I should give something away: Cologne Cathedral is just incredibly dirty! The Cologne cathedral master builders then thought about how they could get the cathedral clean. And what effect that would have. As the stones all have a different shade of gray, the cathedral would look like a mottled mess if cleaned. So the idea of cleaning the cathedral was shelved. Completely black is then easier to look at. And the idea that the cathedral is old.... ....next to the cathedral is the Roman-Germanic Museum. Cologne is around 2000 years old and was planned and built as a city by the Romans. Archaeologists are always involved in the construction of the subway. You basically always find Roman remains. The museum was no different. The Nazis wanted a bunker to be built next to the cathedral. Then a floor mosaic was found at this location. The people of Cologne then thought: build a bunker here? No, we'll build a museum here! You can see the floor mosaic in this museum. It dates from around the year 300 AD. Compared to the floor mosaic, the cathedral is a NEW BUILD! Greetings from Germany
oh finally - been waiting for this part! I live in the area and was curious what you got to see. That dish with the Rotkohl & Knödel was one of the finer dishes my mom used to cook deeeelicious! was surprised you got off at deutz/messe (tradefair) but the weather was good so def good choice. for those interesed: the Hbf (central station) is right next to the dom, you dont HAVE to walk over the bridge like they did :)
As a former Dutchman and having lived in The Netherlands for 28 years I can say Germany is one of my favourite European countries. We lived at just a 20 minute drive from the German border and even did our weekly shopping "over the border" and spent our vacations close to the Austrian border or in Austria. I also like France, but that's for the food. Not the French, though.
Yes, I took 600 years to build the Dom, but they had a really long lunch break. :) But its still not all finished - it will never be. If one work spot is finished, there is another one that needs repair.
That was a nice video. I liked it and also your enthusiasm for the city. Thank you. What I like best about Cologne is its history, which dates back to Roman times 2,000 years ago. Back then it was called CCAA (the Romans loved abbreviations). There is even a fortification tower of the Roman city that has survived all these 20 centuries. And I am also fascinated by the story of the Holy Roman Empress Theophanu, a princess of Greek origin from the Byzantine Empire. She was sent to the western Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, as it was later called, 1,000 years ago to marry the crown prince. For this girl, it must have felt like being sent to the moon. I admire how she handled her life there, in another world, especially when her husband died young and she had to keep the entire empire under control. Her grave is in the Church of St. Pantaleon in Cologne.
I never really thought about it, but now that you mention it: all the times I've visited our German neighbours, I've always been served big chunks of meat when ordering a dish. Like the shnitzels were bigger than the plate they were served on, the bratwurst was large enough to fill 3 bread buns, and shweinebraten was usually a hunk of meat the size of a decent coffee mug... I guess the Americans aren't the only ones having huge portion sizes 😄
Schnitzel is kind of famous. If you're in vienna and order a Schitzel, your advised to order nothing else. No starter, no side dishes, no desserts. Because just eating that huge Schnitzel will be all you can do.
Thank you for sharing your great experience in Cologne. Excellent video!!! I am a German teacher and have taken several trips to Cologne and it is truly an amazing place. I hope you also had the chance to see the chocolate museum too.
You can take a tour of the attic at Cologne Cathedral wich also leads to the outside parts of the roof up to the rear bell tower.You can completely walk around the rear roof on a narrow corridor outside
Cologne, Köln, ah. Been there once, during my first trip to Germany. Visited a wonderful woman in southern Germany, however it did't work out well, so I had to hit the road. My flight home was not for many days, and could not be changed, because I was a student and didn't have many Marks left. It was also before credit cards so I was soon totally broke after a short stay at a Jugendherberge hostel in Frankfurt. However I stumbled across a Canadian guy, Todd P., who was about to fly back home. He had a Bundesbahn railroad pass valid for many days, so he gave it to me and I travelled back and forth by train in Germany for a few days ("Ja, ich bin Todd P., guten Tag, herr Eisenbahnschaffner"). One night I took a train from Frankfurt, woke up in to Köln. It is a truly beautiful city, but being a tourist is not the same having a empty stomach for days :) anyway, just sitting an hour in the cathedral and thininking of nothing was so nice. PS. This means I don't have memories of food and beer from this trip, but that was fixed later ;) Nice country to visit.
locks on bridges and monuments are a big issue all around europe , since the weight is damageable for the structure ,that's why the governments remove them on a regular basis
Glad you liked my home town. My favourite aspect of Cologne is that the people are both very open minded, but at the same time they are not afraid to share their opinion. Hence, generally speaking, everybody is welcome (Cologne is also the inofficial gay capital of Germany), but it never feels 'fake'.
hi Heidi. So I've been living in Cologne for 10 years with my great wife for 8 years and we also have a castle hanging there on the Hohenzollernring bridge in the direction of Cologne Cathedral train station. The castle also holds us and our marriage together, for example after an argument or something like that, right up to the present day. You simply throw the key over the bridge into the Rhine.
Hello Heidi, if you are still in Germany (or return some time) you might want to visit the Aachen Cathedral. It was the crowning Cathedral of Charlemagne, which we call Karl the Great, the first and only emperor of France and Germany together in the 9th century. That Cathedral was built in the old Roman style with much of gold and purpur colored carpets. Ever since it was the crowning cathedral of the german emperors. The old roman style is totally different from the much later Gothic style. Interestingly there is no Crucifix but a Holy Mary Statue at the main prayer place. So its really a sight. 😉 Oh, and in Cologne you should really visit the chocolate museum. There's a real chocolate fountain in it, where you can try and eat as much as you'd like 😅
Hey... I live only 50 minutes away from Cologne anf the "Dom" has always been the most fascinating building for me, even as an atheist. I really recommend you get a book about the Dom, its history and all the legends and mysteries. It's just great fun and so rich. The gummy candy thing is not that unusual. The HARIBO brand originates just a couple of kilometers away from Cologne down the Rhine in Bonn. 😁 Looking forward to more stories! And if you need any recommendations according literature on Cologne or the cathedral, I would love to help. Greetings from Aachen, Germany! Andi
If you like Gummies you might want to check out the Haribo store in Bonn one day, if you ever are in that area of Germany again. They had the biggest variety of Haribo gummies I have ever seen. Bonn also is a lovely city that's definitely worth visiting.
I think you might like to google the longest piece of music. It started in 1987 and will end after 639 years. It's a piece of organ music by an american composer, performed in Halberstadt, Germany. Every few months, a new tone is played and people gather to witness that change. Imagine how many people will have listened to it. If you are from that area you can listen to the very same song thst your grandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandparents
Hi, first, I am a German citizen and also a US citizen. I was born between Cologne and Frankfurt. Just a small town between these bigger towns. I saw a lot of your videos and I like it how do you trying to explain it. You also have a nice pronunciation that every one like to listen to you. If you have any question's ...ask me...I give you any help you need if you are interested about my Country. I am going to give you any information you like to have. I have a good memory what's going on in the past. Stay the way you are for all your subscribers.
Always nice to listen to Americans what they notice when traveling to Germany. I hope, you went to the top of the Cologne cathedral? There is also a museum under the ground, you can walk through the roman ruins (because that's how Cologne was founded). It is always a pity, that most Americans do not have sufficient time (vacation days) to travel through Europe. Because Germany alone has a lot to offer, and it simply takes time to both experience things and enjoy the stay. There are tourists on a 10 day tour though Europe, like Barcelona-Paris-London-Rome-Munich-Berlin, and that's too much in such a hurry.
Locks are usually sold in a DIY store and sometimes in a supermarket. The black coloration of the two sandstone cathedral towers is caused by algae and cyanobacteria, as well as air polution especially sulforous smoke from steam locomotives in the 19th century, as the main raildroad station is next to the cathedral and of course house fires in the past.
I made a similar trip to another cathedral: la Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. It is still being built. It might still take another 100 years to finish it. Even now it is awesome, let alone when it is finished. But I will never see that. Nor will you.
Nice video Heidi! - I'm very pleased that you enjoyed your stay with us Germans and that your expectations were not disappointed. I can still remember how shocked I was by the sheer size of the building when I first saw the cathedral, which I had previously only seen in pictures, with my own eyes. Pictures and videos simply cannot convey this impression, which will probably stay with you for the rest of your life. And I have to mention it again: You look simply gorgeous in the outfit you bought in Germany! Best regards from NRW, Germany.
However, the Cologne Cathedral was not built continuously for 600 years. It was built in phases. The first was from 1248 to 1528. After that, from 1528 to 1823, there was a break in construction. Construction work then resumed in 1824, so that the cathedral was completed in 1880. Since then, restoration work has been carried out on a regular basis. It is therefore a permanent construction site for eternity.
If you really like Cathedrals - Visit Vienna. The Cathedral is made from limestone, which is very sensitive and erodes quite easily, as such all these buildings need "construction" regularly. Also the "burnt" look stems from air pollution. Limestone is very porous, so it absorbs dirt easily.
Bretzel have a long tradition in the south of Germany and, generally speaking, the quality is better in Bavaria or Baden-Wuerttemberg . In the last one or two decades more and more northern German bakeries starting to offer them but in my experience these bretzels cannot compete with the local original version
You hit the nail on the head! Absolutely true and exact! Along the North Sea coast I would go for a "Fischbrötchen" (mit viel Zwiebeln) or "Labskaus" (a warm meal) ... anyway I wouldn't die hungry in Northern Germany ...
One of the aspects I like about the Dom as a german: Cologne main station is a very important traffic hub, many trains stop there and the Dom is just next to the station. Every time I travel through germany I just love to stop by. We're all so damn lucky it wasn't just bombed to bits and pieces.
Fun fact: the Allies needed a visual reference when flying over Köln in WW2. Hence they didn't bomb the cathedral as it was a visual landmark and they needed it.
@@TheKobiDrorThey bombed the cathedral. She took several hits. Some photos from World War II show a major emergency repair at the bottom of the left tower.
As a subscriber who live near and work in Cologne i am happy to hear that you like and enjoyed your Cologne trip😃 I watch your videos for 1 year now and really enjoy them. Keep up the great work. Greetings from Cologne 👋
My Wife and me we have our lock on that bridge.We left it there some 10 years ago.We have a few in other Cities too.Glad you enjoyed your German trip,this Country has a lot to offer and i hope you'll make it again sometimes in the future.Greetings from Westerwald,Germany.
Around the year 57 BC, however, the Roman Empire extended to the banks of the Rhine. The Germanic tribe of the Ubians, who were friendly to the Romans, now settled west of the Rhine. An urban settlement, the Oppidum Ubiorum, was probably founded in 38 BC. Oppidum is the Latin word for “small town”. In 50 AD, this settlement was then declared a colonia (Latin for a city built outside Rome, usually as the result of a conquest) by the Roman Emperor Claudius and at the instigation of his wife, the Roman Empress Agrippina. It was given the Latin name Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, “Colony of Claudius, Altar of the Agrippinians”), or CCAA for short. In everyday use, the name Colonia became established from the 5th century and developed into Köln (Cologne). The name Köln therefore comes from the word “colony”. Incidentally, echoes of the Latin origin can still be clearly seen in other languages. Köln is still called Colonia in Italian and Spanish, and Cologne in French and English.
The locks are called "Liebesschlösser" (love locks). I don't know when the first ones were put on the bridge but throughout the years they started to remove some locks and aruged that they jeopardized the static of the bridge. EDIT: They have since stopped removing the locks and more were/still are added.
Köln is almost 2000 years old. It was a roman city since 50AD. Did you climb the tower of the cathedral? It is fantastic. After ww2 köln was 90% burned and destroyed but the cathedral had only minor damage. An other church in Köln is Sankt Ursula. It has decorations made of real bones and skulls inside. its art...
There's some epic toilet nerd who did a youtube tutorial on the entire toilet ecosystem, he also made comparisons.. I don't remember who it was but it's friggin' epic.
The Bremen Roland knight statue also looks in the direction of Bremen's St Peter's Cathedral. It symbolises the resistance against the church, which had some influence. But in Bremen this influence was broken and the town hall decided independently about the city.
@@HailHeidi What I can recommend is this 10 minute video about Bremen. It doesn't show everything, but it gives a good overview of what there is to marvel at. Travel Bremen: What to do and where to go! | Germany | TravelGretl Bremen is not only the smallest federal state, it also has a harbour that lies outside the state border. Namely here on the North Sea coast, in Bremerhaven. Around 7 million people came here in the 19th century to emigrate to America. There is a museum here that tells the story of the emigrants. And this video too: Discover the Medieval City of Bremen With @Alemanizando
So if you are interested in learning more about, what it means, building a cathedral read Ken Follets "The Pillars of the World" , "World without End" and so on
@Hailheidi With regard to the gummy bears, there is a city south of Cologne called Bonn, our capital during the cold war, where the HARIBO gummy bears originate from. By the way, HARIBO stands for Hans (HA) Riegel (RI) Bonn (BO).
The cathedral is also its own legal entity. It has the Dombauhütte as the permantly assigned workshop to maintain it. The foreman is one of the very important persons of the city.
Most Catholic Cathedrals and many Catholic Churches have side chapels. The purpose of these were twofold - often the Side Chapel would be dedicated and funded by various Solidalities (organisations of ordinary Catholics). The Altar would be dedicated to the patron Saint or "Mystery" the Solidality promoted/ were devoted to. The second purpose is slightly more liturgical. Often these larger Churches would have large numbers of Priests attached. Each Priest was obligated to say Mass, daily. However, the Cathedral would only have a few Public Masses daily. So, the Side Chapels were used for individual Priests to say their own Private Mass (which, naturally, anyone who happened to be in the Church could join).
Hello from Switzerland, regarding the renovation I can only tell you that the maintenance of such buildings is very time-consuming and cost-intensive, even more so with such complex decorations/figures. In plain language, these are practically permanent construction sites. Dom liqueur, aha... I always wondered how angels share (the evaporated alcohol) remained, now I know 🤣. Priests/monks etc. were not averse to wine/beer (and probably other things) before, and the fact that it is an original recipe actually underlines it. Unfortunately for you, it wasn't made 1,000 or 600 years ago, otherwise it would be worth more than its weight in gold. Of course you have to try it, it would be a shame to just look at the bottle, but if the bottle runs out at some point, keep it, the bottle, the label (if it's a little aged), just looks great. Regarding the food, well, if you want nice weather, you travel in the summer, if the dishes you want to try are winter dishes, then what the heck, that's the way it is. Don't worry about it, we see that here too in the summer, you can recognize tourists by the fact that they eat fondue in the summer and drink cola or beer with it 🤣. I don't remember ever paying for the toilet in a mall. But the thing about cleaning the ring is great, I've never seen it like that before. There were once some with a plastic coating that was somehow tightened, but that hasn't caught on yet.
![Oasis - Oasis Live '25 [Official Trailer]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/gol_JnuEtKM/mqdefault.jpg)
I was born in Cologne and there is a saying: When the cathedral is finished, the world will end. Therefore it remains as a construction site.
Yeah, it's a never ending Project partly due to acidic rain and other pollution induced damages. The stone the cologne cathedral is made of ( i believe it's sandstone or calcium stone (Kalkstein)) is white, but the pollution renders it darker and darker over time. I've lived my whole life in Cologne but I've never seen it without any construction or restoring going on.
What is also interesting is that in front of the main entrance there is a "Kreuzblume" (lit. crossflower) model displayed (in original size) which is the topmost part on the two towers on the Cologne Cathedral. It looks very tiny on the towers, but when you stand in front of it you get a much better feel for the sheer size and amount of stone getting hauled up there.
The "burnt" gothic look is due to air pollution - and this is also the reason why these medieval cathedrals in Europe are permanenty "under construction", the masonry being cleaned, repaired, replaced.
WWII wasn't really kind to this specific cathedral either though...
last time I was there they had finished and revealed a big chunk around a side portal and I could imagine how the Dom would look all sandy white.
maybe we'll see the day. the Dom was finished when the industrial revolution had already happened, yet the first stages were centuries old at that time. meaning: no one has ever seen the Dom "as it's supposed to look", yet.
the fine details really pop out when the stone is white, shadows can suddenly play and emphazise with ease what you could only see on brutally sunny days before. the whole thing gains an airyness, dissolves into the sky and looses it's wobbling darkgrey oppressiveness.
funny enough there is a workaround for that. when I was a kid our parliment (huge gothic building in hungary) was also constantly renovated as they needed to clean and repair the bricks. but then they swapped out/treated the bricks and its just white now all the time :)
@@Arnyh0ld Pretty sure German law wouldn't allow bricks to be used on historical buildings that were not used when it was built,
If you now consider that the two towers of the cathedral were built only a good 150 years ago, then you can see very well how quickly the related trachyte, limestone and sandstone was affected by the weather and acid rain, air pollution and also the remains of birds. The stones are now gradually freed from the adhesions and thus regain their original appearance. The cathedral is permanently in a state of restoration, which is not otherwise possible with its age and the materials used, if you want to preserve its originality. A legend also says that if the cathedral were ever completed, the earth would perish. So we hope that the cathedral will never be finished or restored. Every day I look at the Drachenfels near Bonn and see the quarry from which the stone for the construction of the cathedral was quarried in the Middle Ages. That's what connects me to the cathedral.
Soon enough this channel will be the go-to encyclopedic source for toilet knowledge around the world 😂
LOL
🚽
Heidi Michelin star toilets channel 🤣🤣
German here: I still remember the first time I experienced one of those self-cleaning toilets as a child, probably 23 years ago. I was so shocked because it didn't have a sensor, it just started the self-cleaning process after I had flushed. I thought it was so futuristic and cool. I don't remember much about that hundreds of years old castle, but I do remember the toilets there!
Thanks for the kind words about my home town. I really like to here the impressions from other countries.
If "Köln" is too difficult, you could also use the Latin name of the city: Colonia Agrippina (short for Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium). It was founded around 20 BC as Oppidum Ubiorum (town of the Ubii, a German tribe allied with the Romans, who originally settled at the other bank of the Rhine). In 15 AD Iulia Agrippina, daughter of Roman General Germanicus and sister of Caligula (who became later Roman Emperor), was born here. After she had married Emperor Claudius, she declared in 50 AD the town a Roman colonia and city, which was renamed after her (and often abbreviated as CCAA). 🙃
For a good and true "Brezel" you have to be in one of the southern states (Bavaria or Baden-Wüttemberg). Nice cat, by the way.
I've heard they have to remove the locks regularly because they would otherwise to become too heavy for the grating...
Actually they halted the construction of the cathedral around 1528 because they run out of money, and afterwards hard times came for the city (wars, famines, riots, ...), so for nearly three centuries the skyline of the city was portrayed with a wooden crane on top of one of the two tower stumps. At the start of the 19th century the Cologne art collector (and trader) Sulpiz Boiserée began to campaign for finishing the construction; after he discovered original plans from 1370 for the facade, he got a lot of support from all over Germany. Cologne had in 1815 (after the Napoleonic wars) become a Prussian province, and he could win over the Prussian king Frederic Wilhelm IV (who, being a foreign Protestant ruler, aimed to win over the hearts of the Catholic population there) to back the project. Around the same time the citizens of Ulm decided to finish the tower of their (Protestant) Minster, but they waited with the last steps until the towers of Cologne were finished and then topped their height by about 4 meters (10 meters more than the original medieval plans had stipulated), so they got the tallest church in the world, Cologne being only second.
And by buying that liquor you helped to fund the restorations and repairs of the cathedral, so you have now taken part in the effort. Mostly due to air pollution over the centuries the rather soft sandstone used for most of the stone carvings has to be replaced continuously, the stonemasons producing replicas of the artwork using material from the same quarries, then cutting out the old ones and replacing them with the replicas.
Well, the correct name is very simple. Call it "Kölle" 🙂
If Köln is too difficult, you can go to Düsseldorf which is one thousand times less crowded with tourists like you.
The bones of the three Wise Men, Three Kings, or the Three Magi how you call them in english are in this Cathedral in the Shrine of the Three Kings.
Or so the church would have us believe. Personally, I have “grave” doubts.
Hi Heidi! Very funny video! Two comments: it took over 600 years to build the cathedral BUT it stood unfinished for almost 300 years without any work being done!
The self-cleaning toilets belong to a chain of restrooms (hence the fee) often found in train stations and highway service areas.
@binkobinev2248 Then you're about to learn a valueable lesson ... or just go to McD.
@binkobinev2248 Germany is not inhuman, there is certainly someone who will let him go to the toilet or give him the euro.
@binkobinev2248no fee, no pee... 😅
It is so funny to see a person never been to Cologne liking it so much. Me beeing born, raised and living in cologne sometimes forget what we have. Nice that you liked it.
Glad you liked my hometown so much!
It‘s really, really impressive to walk outside the train central station and you see this massive, huge building. Even for me who was born close to Cologne, it is still so impressive.
I also can warmly recommend visiting Aachen. Much smaller and cuter but it also has historic buildings like Aachen Cathedral, Town hall, the so called Elisenbrunnen, Ponttor.
Glad you liked it in Cologne. You Americans make us Germans really love our country again. So thanks for that. 🙏🏻
Cathedral gift shops are pretty standard in Europe. These ancient buildings need such a lot of money to maintain that they need to cash in however they can. In my city, Lincoln UK, the cathedral has quite a large gift shop. A lot of the stuff is quite tacky but there are also a fair amount of quality items too.
I have visited Cologne only once, but it made a big impression on me. The food was good quality every place I ate. The Cathedral was jaw droppingly huge. The Art museum sticks in my mind even after 30 years (I was so impressed at their collection). I would love to go back just to take it all in again.
Nice video.
Cologne Cathedral is the place where the bones of the three kings are laid out
As a Cologne resident, I am pleased that you liked my hometown :-)
By the way, perfume is named after Cologne = Eau de Cologne or literally translated into English: Water from Cologne
Yes, welcome in the West of Germany. Bytheway I good german Brezel you only get in the South of Germany.
Liebe Grüße aus Düren. Don't you know, we europeans need no Parfüm....we have body odor 😅
4711 is without a doubt the best known eau de Cologne, but Farina claims to be the oldest. (No doubt 4711 will also 🙂)
@@anna-ranja4573
Even the beer was not realy from cologne :) where they drink beer in Schnapsglases... But in all parts of Germany we can create good Brezel, and even in the french Lidl I can get good bretzl.
@nettcologne9186
When I need dumy numbers for testing purpose, all people are wondering why I"ll take 0815 or 4711... Even, french people know "eau de Cologne".
Haribo was founded only 20km to the south in the town called Bonn (former capital city of Germany). The founder name is Hans Riegel from Bonn. There you have the Name of HaRiBo 😂
I am very happy that you liked Europe and especially my home country Germany so much.
Hopefully you will have the opportunity to come here very often, because there is still so much for you to discover.
I'm very curious how you liked the Italian food and the delicious wine.
👋 cu soon
Fun fact: the word cathedral comes from the Greek "kathedra", which means "seat" as in the seat of a bishopric - so a bishop is preaching here.
In Germany we have two words: "Dom" (without a bishop) and "Kathedrale" (with a bishop)
Not every "Dom" is a cathedral, but every cathedral is a "Dom".
To add to the confusion, several cathedrals - including the one in cologne - are called "Dom", but are actually cathedrals, as they have a bishop.
Also the "632 years" are mostly marketing... there was a LONG gap in building. Essentially it was built over ~250 years and then there was the thirty-year-war as well as the protestant reformation and they just stopped. Hundreds of years later they finally finished it. So while the start date and end date were 632 apart, the actual building was maybe ~300 years - still a lot, but not that unusual. There are several big churches in Germany, that had a build phase of 300-400 years.
Actually, apart from "Dom" and "Kathedrale" we have even a third word "Münster" and a forth one "Basilika". All four are used for churches of more significance. A normal church and generally churches would be called a "Kirche" (here again English and German aren't too far away from each other at second glance).
@@MichaelBurggraf-gm8vl Technically no. A "Münster" is just a church with an attached monastery, so it really doesn't refer to the church building itself. A "Basilika" is just a different style of church (instead of a tower and a long building part, it consists of 3 long building parts with the middle one being bigger than the outer ones. For both of these, the size is not relevant, they can be both big and small, but "Dom" - and therefore "Kathedrale" - refer to big churches specifically.
@@m.h.6470Regarding "Münster" I'm a bit surprised because the rule you've quoted doesn't seem to apply to the Münster of Freiburg and the one of Ulm.
As far as Kathedrale/cathedral is concerned that term is used specifically for large churches at the seat of a bishop. However, many of those churches are called Dom in Germany and Austria still being the seats of bishops: Augsburg, Speyer, Mainz, Köln, Wien, Salzburg, Feldkirch.
@@MichaelBurggraf-gm8vl as I wrote in my original post: "Not every Dom is a cathedral, but every cathedral is a Dom."
My guess is, that - if it is called a Dom - the name was first and the bishop was moved there later and it was not renamed by the locals.
The word Münster literally has the same origin as monastery, even though the modern German word is Kloster. Again, it is likely, that there was a monastery in Freiburg and Ulm, but it was removed or destroyed and the name never changed. Though I haven't checked that. But the definition and origin of the term Münster is clear.
Both cities, Frankfurt and Köln were burnt to the ground after WW2.
I found the lack of historical buildings (beside the dome which was spared from the bombs because the pilots needed it for orientation) in Köln remarkable when I visited.
The command told them to try not to hit, because it was "a very important historical church" as one pilot told in a documentary
Born and still living in Cologne and the best experience with the Cologne Cathedral was at Christmas time where they turned off all lights inside of the Cathedral and the way you could walk along was lit with small candles left and right along the way and only the artwork was list and there was a choir that was singing. It was really a pinch me moment because except the choir it was so calm and quiet.
Whenever I am out of town and drive back and see the Cathedral I think "Hello old girl" and really feel home.
There is always renovation work going on at Cologne Cathedral. They even have their own workshop and people working on it full time. And the maintenance never ends. So you could still spend your whole life working on this building today.
Finishing a public project in 600 years seems to be the standard Germany is striving for again :)
Oh no! LOL
🤣 We where on a good way with the BER ...
Built autobahn A49 here is a project over 60 years. But it is not ready today. 😂
I live near Cologne and every time I look at the cathedral I think about the long line of people who built it. That makes me awestruck and humble, because my little life, my problems, shrink next to it.
Wait, they sell beer in big glasses in cologne? That wasn’t a local restaurant, then. Kölsch, the traditional cologne beer is served in small slender glasses of 0,2l.
It must have been more of a Bavarian restaurant, because otherwise she certainly wouldn't have liked the beer.
Sometimes you get even Kölsch in .3 and .4 glasses when sitting outside, but that is rather rare and no local would order it. At least not my friends or I. Kölsch is also filtered, so this was something else anyway.
That was wheat beer. Perhaps that is sold in those glases.
hm, die Farbe der Biere war etwas zu hell für ein Kölsch, oder??
Kölsch is not a beer 🤣
😂 " i will not call it an obsession" 2 minutes later "I think about it all the time " 😂 that cracked me up
If you read (or listen to audiobooks) you should check out "The pillars of the earth" by Ken Follett.
It is very long, but worth it. Really good story, and it revolves around building a cathedral. So while a lot of other stuff is going on, it gives a lot of insight into what it takes, and how amazing it is they managed to get it done.
That sounds fascinating! Thank you for the recommendation!
Can recommend! I read it as a teen and was so fascinated. I'm currently listening to the audiobook again.
Also: Death and the Devil by Frank Schätzing. It's a crime story playing in the late middle ages and revolves around cologne cathedral and the death of the current 'Dombaumeister' of the time (architect of the cathedral would be the translation I guess?) specifically.
@@HailHeidi Regarding cologne cathedral, there's a pretty impressive video about it on the
DW History and Culture channel.
@@HailHeidi The cathedral has its own YT channel. Most of the videos are to serve the christian followers, but there's a short video about the history of the cathedral, which is worth watching: "Die Bauphasen des Kölner Domes und seiner Vorgängerbauten - 2017" (The construction phases of the Cologne Cathedral and its predecessor buildings - 2017)
There's a lot more about it but most is in german.
You make it possible for everyone whats going on. You didn't need to say "thank you" You are one of the good ones in Life
so glad you enjoyed the city. its actually my favorite city in germany. not because of the looks of it ( cause its actually just a ton of ugly houses not fitting together with ugly streets etc) but its the most open minded city in this country with super nice people ♥. and it has a big music scene with many cool venues ! wish I couldve seen more photos or videos with you exploring it but its fine :) cheers! oh and I always drive to cologne to see my hairstylist.
Nothing to add :) Ugly but VERY livable. I consider Köln as my second hometown.
I LOVE that. :)
In Paris, France, you have the Pont d'Arts (Bridge of the Arts) where you would put the lock on the bridge and throw the key in the river (Seine), maybe even the original lock bridge. But in any case one of the most famous for this use was damaged because of it. This is from the wiki:"However, in 2014, the bridge gave in to the love it received, and unfortunately collapsed as it was not structurally sound enough to bear the weight of over 700,000 locks. In June 2015, the padlocks were removed and glass panels replaced the grilles on the Pont des Arts"
Really? For me, it's Berlin
@@dikkiedik9463 Oh, I remember that year. All over the World, couples started to break up for no apparent reason. Then they showed in the news that they removed all the padlocks from that bridge but it was too late. Crazy, huh?
_(it's a joke, by the way)_
The Cologne Cathedral is always under construction/restoration. When one restoration cycle is finished, they have to start with the next one right away. And this is more or less the situation since they started to build the cathedral in August 1248. Howeever, there was a very long break in construction between 1520 and 1823. After this pause it took another 57 years until it eventually was finished.
as far as I know, it is because it is build of sandstone, so it need maintenance forever...
Just a quick tip concerning bathrooms in germany : usually if you can buy something to eat/drink somewhere and can sit down at the place, you can use the bathroom for free .)
Well, unless you go in a mall or train station etc.
Self cleaning toilets are expensive, so if you do want to have them in the us, you will not be able to use them for free.
And yes, they are common. Toilets in Germany are either self-cleaning, or they get cleaned. A service I am willing to pay 1€ for, each use (as an adult, children can usually use them for free.).
I visited St. Paul's in London.
What was amazing was that a service started while we were appreciating the architecture and history of the building.
I think the same thing might have happened at Canterbury.
It made me appreciate that these are living, working buildings.
❤
Bathroom fee: You usually get a voucher to redeem in the shops of the mall. Sometimes it is 100 percent, most times it is about 70 percent of the bathroom fee.
Glad you made it to Cologne, I lived there for about 10 years, before moving back to my hometown. Your vid brings up so many nice memories! About the locks on the Hohenzollernbrücke: Their weight actually became a problem for the bridge's statics at some point. I remember there were concerns about that. I also always loved looking at the river Rhine below and the boats slowly passing - it is almost meditative. There are 4 statues in total on the bridge. All of them represent members of the Hohenzollern noble family. The one you took a picture of (at least from "behind", the one with the bird on his helmet 😂) was Germany's last emperor Wilhelm II.
The cathedral is amazing indeed. And it's getting renovated all (!) the time. Fun fact: There's a saying in Cologne that when the renovation of the Dom will be finished, the world will be coming to an end (which means that it'll be never finished). Maybe you noticed a part of the columns on the left side of the portal, which is very much lighter in colour. This is due to a quick repair (the so-called "Domplombe"/"Cathedral filling") between severe air raids during WWII. This part was badly damaged by the bombings and there were concerns that the portal could potentially collapse.
Apart from the city's historic background (there's so much to be mentioned!), I highly recommend going out in Cologne. There are plenty of concerts all over the place, hundreds of bars and clubs for every taste of style and music. The city vibrates at night on the weekends - you'd surely enjoy the experience and the openness of the people. Anyways, thanks so much for your comments about Cologne. It was very inspirational to me and I think I might visit it again on one of the next weekends.
imho best tour in the Dom is the foundations/excavation tour. they dug out the tower foundations to see how well they were made 600 years ago and came across historical artifacts dating back to pre-roman times, at least 2000 years of history is hidden down there. they say they had to stop digging because they already dug out work to keep several generations of historians busy.
standing underneath that massive structure and on grounds that have been holy to people for maybe 3000 years or more is impressive.
oh and you can check their tours on their website and they almost all also come in english and there are some that can or have to be booked in advance, like the roof tour or organ tour iirc.
they also play concerts on that giant organ, in case you want to _hear_ the Dom
no, I don't work there, never did, don't plan to, it's just a pretty(,) interesting building
I absolutely adore these videos you made, describing your experience with Europe and all the cultures (shocks?) in the different countries.
To put the 600 years for the construction for the cathedral in perspective: it took that long because they stopped building the church at the end of the medevial ages. Completion only start in the 2nd half of the 19th century.
Hey Heidi! I moved to Cologne suburbs 1,5 years ago, so I loved all of your reactions. That view of the bridge with the Dom is my absolute favourite as well. You see I grew up near the sea, so it's very unusual for me that you get not one but two stunning views from the body of water.
You should definitely try to attend the organ concert in the cathedral - they are free and take place in summer usually. I was blown away by the performances, and the Dom is jam packed with listeners, people even bring the sitting cushions and sit on the floor.
And regarding Bretzeln - honestly, the frozen ones that you can buy in any supermarket and just pop into the oven for 10 minutes - they are the best! In backeries they are not as hot ant soft. But everything else in a backery is usually of amazing quality. Just don't go to the ones in the train stations, you'll definitely feel the difference. My small Bäckerei in my suburb is the most important shop on my street.
It took from 1248 to 1880 to build the cathedral. And of these 600 years, the construction stalled for 300 years. It very much describes the history of the city. When they started, Cologne was a wealthy member of the Hanseatic League and the by far largest city in modern Germany. But when the Hanseatic League declined, the population had no more money to fund the construction, so the work stopped for 300 years. There was a treadmill crane on one of the tower trunks as a symbol of that time. Only after Cologne became Prussian in the Congress of Vienna, the new llords of the city decided to finish the work, which was quite difficult, as the original plans had to be rediscovered. In this construction, modern building techniques were used, such as a steel roof framework rather than timber, which saved the building from destruction in WWII. Other churches in Cologne like Romanesque Great St. Martin burnt to the ground.
Bretzels originate from the South of Germany, and as a man who has been living in nearly all German regions tere are two rules: Bretzel are getting better the mor south you go, bbeing the best in the Danube Valley (Ulm to Passau) and in train stations you 'll always get crab.
Please come to Germany again and visit Hamburg or Kiel. Schleswig-Holstein is a very federal state with the happiest population in Germany. Very beautiful landscapes and little villages. Glad to hear you liked it.
Glad you liked it! You're welcome to come back and visit my home country ever again!
Glad you liked it. I grew up there and it's my first recommendation for everyone who visits Germany for the first time.
You'll find nice, open and welcoming people all over Germany, but I think it's easier to find them in Cologne and the surrounding area.
As for the locks, you are right: They had to remove them some time ago but that had little long term effect as you could see.
That gummy shop that you found wasn't by any chance the "Bärenland"? I completely forgot about that one. I used to buy a lot of stuff there, including harmless looking but super spicy chili gummy stuff, which was always fun to bring to a party and watch people try them without knowing.
I once was in love with a girl from cologne. Maybe it's because i always got to see her when i went there, but i only have good memories of that city. I am glad you and your hubby had a good time too there. It was really fun listening to you talk about it. Once again, i mentioned this before, to me the beauty of germany is mostly to be found in the smaller cities and i really hope you will come visit again and get to see some of those.
Born and raised in Köln, still living about a mile outside city borders. The Cathedral wasn't under construction consequently. It was started (13th century), mony ran out, abandoned for centuries (about 300 years) and then finished in some sort of patriotic/political stunt in the 19th century. What is more astonishing that is ia still standing after 262 seperate air raids on the city in WW2. The ground around it was flattened... but there it stood.
„Cathedral was close to the train station" .😂😂
It's literaly right next to it.
Germany's largest train station chapel ;-)
Hi Heidi, that is a fun video again. Because you are so interested in the detail and the craftmanship that went into constructing the cathedral, it is maybe also good to know that that is an ongoing process. Next to the cathedral is the Kölner Dombauhütte where craftsmen and women work everyday on the maintenance of this great monument. There is a fixed crew of stonemasons, sculptors, glassartists, carpenters etc. constantly working in their workshops and on the scaffoldings. I know for sure they like your video and I will send a link to a female stone restorer there who is as enthusiastic as you are.
Great video! Glad you had a good time. I love Germany too. All the best from Scotland.
It's always nice to see a report about Cologne Cathedral. The amazement at the gothic appearance and the darkness of the exterior.
Hmm, I guess I should give something away: Cologne Cathedral is just incredibly dirty! The Cologne cathedral master builders then thought about how they could get the cathedral clean. And what effect that would have. As the stones all have a different shade of gray, the cathedral would look like a mottled mess if cleaned. So the idea of cleaning the cathedral was shelved. Completely black is then easier to look at.
And the idea that the cathedral is old....
....next to the cathedral is the Roman-Germanic Museum. Cologne is around 2000 years old and was planned and built as a city by the Romans. Archaeologists are always involved in the construction of the subway. You basically always find Roman remains. The museum was no different. The Nazis wanted a bunker to be built next to the cathedral. Then a floor mosaic was found at this location. The people of Cologne then thought: build a bunker here? No, we'll build a museum here! You can see the floor mosaic in this museum. It dates from around the year 300 AD.
Compared to the floor mosaic, the cathedral is a NEW BUILD!
Greetings from Germany
oh finally - been waiting for this part! I live in the area and was curious what you got to see. That dish with the Rotkohl & Knödel was one of the finer dishes my mom used to cook deeeelicious! was surprised you got off at deutz/messe (tradefair) but the weather was good so def good choice. for those interesed: the Hbf (central station) is right next to the dom, you dont HAVE to walk over the bridge like they did :)
As a former Dutchman and having lived in The Netherlands for 28 years I can say Germany is one of my favourite European countries. We lived at just a 20 minute drive from the German border and even did our weekly shopping "over the border" and spent our vacations close to the Austrian border or in Austria. I also like France, but that's for the food. Not the French, though.
Yes, I took 600 years to build the Dom, but they had a really long lunch break. :)
But its still not all finished - it will never be. If one work spot is finished, there is another one that needs repair.
That was a nice video. I liked it and also your enthusiasm for the city. Thank you.
What I like best about Cologne is its history, which dates back to Roman times 2,000 years ago. Back then it was called CCAA (the Romans loved abbreviations). There is even a fortification tower of the Roman city that has survived all these 20 centuries.
And I am also fascinated by the story of the Holy Roman Empress Theophanu, a princess of Greek origin from the Byzantine Empire. She was sent to the western Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, as it was later called, 1,000 years ago to marry the crown prince. For this girl, it must have felt like being sent to the moon. I admire how she handled her life there, in another world, especially when her husband died young and she had to keep the entire empire under control.
Her grave is in the Church of St. Pantaleon in Cologne.
If you had ever been there in Cologne on New Year's Eve in 2015, it was really beautiful🤦♂️ and Germany is getting more beautiful every day.
I never really thought about it, but now that you mention it: all the times I've visited our German neighbours, I've always been served big chunks of meat when ordering a dish. Like the shnitzels were bigger than the plate they were served on, the bratwurst was large enough to fill 3 bread buns, and shweinebraten was usually a hunk of meat the size of a decent coffee mug... I guess the Americans aren't the only ones having huge portion sizes 😄
Schnitzel is kind of famous. If you're in vienna and order a Schitzel, your advised to order nothing else. No starter, no side dishes, no desserts. Because just eating that huge Schnitzel will be all you can do.
@@rasmuswi you always get Erdäpfelsalat with it in Vienna
I moved 15 years ago from the east of germany to Cologne Mülheim...i love this City ...
Its just cool and the people are rly nice
Thank you for sharing your great experience in Cologne. Excellent video!!! I am a German teacher and have taken several trips to Cologne and it is truly an amazing place. I hope you also had the chance to see the chocolate museum too.
You can take a tour of the attic at Cologne Cathedral wich also leads to the outside parts of the roof up to the rear bell tower.You can completely walk around the rear roof on a narrow corridor outside
I also think it's amazing in the year that construction started!!
Cologne, Köln, ah. Been there once, during my first trip to Germany. Visited a wonderful woman in southern Germany, however it did't work out well, so I had to hit the road. My flight home was not for many days, and could not be changed, because I was a student and didn't have many Marks left. It was also before credit cards so I was soon totally broke after a short stay at a Jugendherberge hostel in Frankfurt. However I stumbled across a Canadian guy, Todd P., who was about to fly back home. He had a Bundesbahn railroad pass valid for many days, so he gave it to me and I travelled back and forth by train in Germany for a few days ("Ja, ich bin Todd P., guten Tag, herr Eisenbahnschaffner"). One night I took a train from Frankfurt, woke up in to Köln. It is a truly beautiful city, but being a tourist is not the same having a empty stomach for days :) anyway, just sitting an hour in the cathedral and thininking of nothing was so nice.
PS. This means I don't have memories of food and beer from this trip, but that was fixed later ;) Nice country to visit.
locks on bridges and monuments are a big issue all around europe , since the weight is damageable for the structure ,that's why the governments remove them on a regular basis
"Okay who's single now? Remove your locks from the bridge!"
Glad you liked my home town. My favourite aspect of Cologne is that the people are both very open minded, but at the same time they are not afraid to share their opinion. Hence, generally speaking, everybody is welcome (Cologne is also the inofficial gay capital of Germany), but it never feels 'fake'.
Your style of storytelling is very good. You bound me completely till the end. ❤👍👍
hi Heidi. So I've been living in Cologne for 10 years with my great wife for 8 years and we also have a castle hanging there on the Hohenzollernring bridge in the direction of Cologne Cathedral train station. The castle also holds us and our marriage together, for example after an argument or something like that, right up to the present day. You simply throw the key over the bridge into the Rhine.
Hello Heidi, if you are still in Germany (or return some time) you might want to visit the Aachen Cathedral. It was the crowning Cathedral of Charlemagne, which we call Karl the Great, the first and only emperor of France and Germany together in the 9th century. That Cathedral was built in the old Roman style with much of gold and purpur colored carpets. Ever since it was the crowning cathedral of the german emperors. The old roman style is totally different from the much later Gothic style. Interestingly there is no Crucifix but a Holy Mary Statue at the main prayer place. So its really a sight. 😉 Oh, and in Cologne you should really visit the chocolate museum. There's a real chocolate fountain in it, where you can try and eat as much as you'd like 😅
Hey...
I live only 50 minutes away from Cologne anf the "Dom" has always been the most fascinating building for me, even as an atheist. I really recommend you get a book about the Dom, its history and all the legends and mysteries. It's just great fun and so rich.
The gummy candy thing is not that unusual. The HARIBO brand originates just a couple of kilometers away from Cologne down the Rhine in Bonn. 😁
Looking forward to more stories!
And if you need any recommendations according literature on Cologne or the cathedral, I would love to help.
Greetings from Aachen, Germany!
Andi
If you like Gummies you might want to check out the Haribo store in Bonn one day, if you ever are in that area of Germany again. They had the biggest variety of Haribo gummies I have ever seen.
Bonn also is a lovely city that's definitely worth visiting.
Cologne Cathedral, probably the most decorated horse stables ever.
I am german and I have never seen that self-cleaning toilet thing. I am amazed.
Thnak you for visiting, loving it and talking about it! God bless!
I think you might like to google the longest piece of music. It started in 1987 and will end after 639 years. It's a piece of organ music by an american composer, performed in Halberstadt, Germany. Every few months, a new tone is played and people gather to witness that change.
Imagine how many people will have listened to it. If you are from that area you can listen to the very same song thst your grandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandgrandparents
Hi, first, I am a German citizen and also a US citizen. I was born between Cologne and Frankfurt. Just a small town between these bigger towns. I saw a lot of your videos and I like it how do you trying to explain it. You also have a nice pronunciation that every one like to listen to you. If you have any question's ...ask me...I give you any help you need if you are interested about my Country. I am going to give you any information you like to have. I have a good memory what's going on in the past. Stay the way you are for all your subscribers.
Always nice to listen to Americans what they notice when traveling to Germany.
I hope, you went to the top of the Cologne cathedral? There is also a museum under the ground, you can walk through the roman ruins (because that's how Cologne was founded).
It is always a pity, that most Americans do not have sufficient time (vacation days) to travel through Europe. Because Germany alone has a lot to offer, and it simply takes time to both experience things and enjoy the stay. There are tourists on a 10 day tour though Europe, like Barcelona-Paris-London-Rome-Munich-Berlin, and that's too much in such a hurry.
Locks are usually sold in a DIY store and sometimes in a supermarket.
The black coloration of the two sandstone cathedral towers is caused by algae and cyanobacteria, as well as air polution especially sulforous smoke from steam locomotives in the 19th century, as the main raildroad station is next to the cathedral and of course house fires in the past.
Yes. Lock in your love and THROW THE KEY INTO THE RHINE! 🙂
I made a similar trip to another cathedral: la Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. It is still being built. It might still take another 100 years to finish it. Even now it is awesome, let alone when it is finished. But I will never see that. Nor will you.
Nice video Heidi! - I'm very pleased that you enjoyed your stay with us Germans and that your expectations were not disappointed. I can still remember how shocked I was by the sheer size of the building when I first saw the cathedral, which I had previously only seen in pictures, with my own eyes. Pictures and videos simply cannot convey this impression, which will probably stay with you for the rest of your life. And I have to mention it again: You look simply gorgeous in the outfit you bought in Germany! Best regards from NRW, Germany.
It really is a different experience in person! Thank you! :)
@@HailHeidi Did you notice the finial that stands in front of the cathedral? It is the same size as those on the top of the towers.
However, the Cologne Cathedral was not built continuously for 600 years. It was built in phases. The first was from 1248 to 1528. After that, from 1528 to 1823, there was a break in construction. Construction work then resumed in 1824, so that the cathedral was completed in 1880. Since then, restoration work has been carried out on a regular basis. It is therefore a permanent construction site for eternity.
If you really like Cathedrals - Visit Vienna.
The Cathedral is made from limestone, which is very sensitive and erodes quite easily, as such all these buildings need "construction" regularly.
Also the "burnt" look stems from air pollution. Limestone is very porous, so it absorbs dirt easily.
Bretzel have a long tradition in the south of Germany and, generally speaking, the quality is better in Bavaria or Baden-Wuerttemberg .
In the last one or two decades more and more northern German bakeries starting to offer them but in my experience these bretzels cannot compete with the local original version
You hit the nail on the head! Absolutely true and exact! Along the North Sea coast I would go for a "Fischbrötchen" (mit viel Zwiebeln) or "Labskaus" (a warm meal) ... anyway I wouldn't die hungry in Northern Germany ...
One of the aspects I like about the Dom as a german: Cologne main station is a very important traffic hub, many trains stop there and the Dom is just next to the station.
Every time I travel through germany I just love to stop by. We're all so damn lucky it wasn't just bombed to bits and pieces.
Fun fact: the Allies needed a visual reference when flying over Köln in WW2. Hence they didn't bomb the cathedral as it was a visual landmark and they needed it.
@@TheKobiDrorThey bombed the cathedral. She took several hits. Some photos from World War II show a major emergency repair at the bottom of the left tower.
As a subscriber who live near and work in Cologne i am happy to hear that you like and enjoyed your Cologne trip😃
I watch your videos for 1 year now and really enjoy them. Keep up the great work.
Greetings from Cologne 👋
Oh wow, thank you so much!
My Wife and me we have our lock on that bridge.We left it there some 10 years ago.We have a few in other Cities too.Glad you enjoyed your German trip,this Country has a lot to offer and i hope you'll make it again sometimes in the future.Greetings from Westerwald,Germany.
Around the year 57 BC, however, the Roman Empire extended to the banks of the Rhine. The Germanic tribe of the Ubians, who were friendly to the Romans, now settled west of the Rhine.
An urban settlement, the Oppidum Ubiorum, was probably founded in 38 BC. Oppidum is the Latin word for “small town”.
In 50 AD, this settlement was then declared a colonia (Latin for a city built outside Rome, usually as the result of a conquest) by the Roman Emperor Claudius and at the instigation of his wife, the Roman Empress Agrippina.
It was given the Latin name Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, “Colony of Claudius, Altar of the Agrippinians”), or CCAA for short.
In everyday use, the name Colonia became established from the 5th century and developed into Köln (Cologne).
The name Köln therefore comes from the word “colony”.
Incidentally, echoes of the Latin origin can still be clearly seen in other languages. Köln is still called Colonia in Italian and Spanish, and Cologne in French and English.
The locks are called "Liebesschlösser" (love locks). I don't know when the first ones were put on the bridge but throughout the years they started to remove some locks and aruged that they jeopardized the static of the bridge.
EDIT: They have since stopped removing the locks and more were/still are added.
Köln is almost 2000 years old. It was a roman city since 50AD.
Did you climb the tower of the cathedral? It is fantastic.
After ww2 köln was 90% burned and destroyed but the cathedral had only minor damage.
An other church in Köln is Sankt Ursula. It has decorations made of real bones and skulls inside. its art...
It's also cool. But the Goldene Kammer isn't always open, only a few times a day.
There's some epic toilet nerd who did a youtube tutorial on the entire toilet ecosystem, he also made comparisons.. I don't remember who it was but it's friggin' epic.
The Bremen Roland knight statue also looks in the direction of Bremen's St Peter's Cathedral. It symbolises the resistance against the church, which had some influence. But in Bremen this influence was broken and the town hall decided independently about the city.
Thank you for the info. 😊
It was due to the success of the Hanse cooperation which makes a lot of many by trading. So they were able to be independent from the Catholic Church.
Interesting! Thank you!
@@HailHeidi What I can recommend is this 10 minute video about Bremen.
It doesn't show everything, but it gives a good overview of what there is to marvel at.
Travel Bremen: What to do and where to go! | Germany | TravelGretl
Bremen is not only the smallest federal state, it also has a harbour that lies outside the state border. Namely here on the North Sea coast, in Bremerhaven. Around 7 million people came here in the 19th century to emigrate to America. There is a museum here that tells the story of the emigrants.
And this video too:
Discover the Medieval City of Bremen With @Alemanizando
So if you are interested in learning more about, what it means, building a cathedral read Ken Follets "The Pillars of the World" , "World without End" and so on
The cologne cathedral is always under construction somewhere. There is a legend that if the cathedral is ever finished the world will go down.
Haribo is located in Bonn, just one town over from Cologne.
@Hailheidi With regard to the gummy bears, there is a city south of Cologne called Bonn, our capital during the cold war, where the HARIBO gummy bears originate from. By the way, HARIBO stands for Hans (HA) Riegel (RI) Bonn (BO).
Thanks for the video it looks like you two had lots of fun, and I've learned a few things as well, take care and keep safe.
If you watch this epic "This Is Germany" video again and activate the subtitles, you'll conveniently find out where these places are located at!
I hope u enjoy germany!! Köln is magic at night
The cathedral is also its own legal entity. It has the Dombauhütte as the permantly assigned workshop to maintain it. The foreman is one of the very important persons of the city.
Happy you love my hometown so much ❤
Most Catholic Cathedrals and many Catholic Churches have side chapels. The purpose of these were twofold - often the Side Chapel would be dedicated and funded by various Solidalities (organisations of ordinary Catholics). The Altar would be dedicated to the patron Saint or "Mystery" the Solidality promoted/ were devoted to.
The second purpose is slightly more liturgical. Often these larger Churches would have large numbers of Priests attached. Each Priest was obligated to say Mass, daily. However, the Cathedral would only have a few Public Masses daily. So, the Side Chapels were used for individual Priests to say their own Private Mass (which, naturally, anyone who happened to be in the Church could join).
Thank you for these video's!
I'm glad you liked it in my hometown...
Hello from Switzerland, regarding the renovation I can only tell you that the maintenance of such buildings is very time-consuming and cost-intensive, even more so with such complex decorations/figures. In plain language, these are practically permanent construction sites.
Dom liqueur, aha... I always wondered how angels share (the evaporated alcohol) remained, now I know 🤣. Priests/monks etc. were not averse to wine/beer (and probably other things) before, and the fact that it is an original recipe actually underlines it. Unfortunately for you, it wasn't made 1,000 or 600 years ago, otherwise it would be worth more than its weight in gold. Of course you have to try it, it would be a shame to just look at the bottle, but if the bottle runs out at some point, keep it, the bottle, the label (if it's a little aged), just looks great.
Regarding the food, well, if you want nice weather, you travel in the summer, if the dishes you want to try are winter dishes, then what the heck, that's the way it is. Don't worry about it, we see that here too in the summer, you can recognize tourists by the fact that they eat fondue in the summer and drink cola or beer with it 🤣.
I don't remember ever paying for the toilet in a mall. But the thing about cleaning the ring is great, I've never seen it like that before. There were once some with a plastic coating that was somehow tightened, but that hasn't caught on yet.