We wandered in to a small dark Church in Munich. It was very dark, small and not real impressive. We went through the small Church museum and the place was also small and relatively unimpressive. Then we went upstairs and discovered another another hall of worship and wow, it was flooded with light, stain glass windows and one of the most beautiful ceilings I have ever seen.
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Magnificent Ceiling
The Charles Bridge is an historic bridge that crosses the Vltava river in Prague. Construction began in 1357 and for a long time it was the only way to cross the river in Prague. The bridge was the most important connection between Prague Castle and the city’s Old Town. The bridge is lined with sculptures and always filled with vendors, street musicians and tourists from all over the world.
The bridge was closed to vehicular traffic in the 1970’s and had to undergo significant repairs. It was decided to make it only pedestrian traffic and has become a famous tourist location. You stroll on the bridge, but it is not a good place for excercize although you see some attempting to jog.
The balustrade of the bridge is lined with 30 baroque sculptures created between 1683 and 1714.The Holy Crucifix and Calvary is one of the most famous and as you can see difficult to photograph on a crowded bridge. I do believe the young lady’s face adds more to the composition than would the top of the cross. Although at the very top are the Hebrew words “Kadosh Kadosh Kadosh” which is part of an ancient and important Jewish prayer.
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The Holy Crucifix and Calvary on the Charles Bridge
We toured Köln with Claudia, a truly awful guide. Most of the guides we had on our Viking River Tour were exceptional but not Claudia. She was so awful we eventually turned off our headsets and strolled behind her. We got tired of hearing her psycho babble about World War 2 and how awful the Americans were. Köln was the most bombed city in Germany and the destruction was truly awful but we wanted to learn about the culture of the city, not a faux history lesson on the war. Once she pointed to a picture of Eisenhower and refereed to him as General MacArthur, her knowledge was not only prejudicial but inaccurate.
However she did point out one thing we might not have noticed on our own. This is the beautiful terrace garden and sculpture along the back of the Cologne Cathedral. Pretty on a gray rainy day but probably wonderful in the Spring and Summer.
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Cathedral Garden Köln
Köln (Cologne) is located in the largest city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The river is very wide here compared to further downstream and flows at a steady current. Köln survived the largest bombardment of any city in Europe by the Royal Air Force In World War Two. It was nearly destroyed in the process but has been thoughtfully reconstructed. Köln was not far from Maastricht in Belgium and considered by the Allied forces to be the gateway to Germany strategically.
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I was excited to visit Köln (Cologne). I had heard it was one of the best cities in Germany but I was more impressed withe Heidelberg, München and the smaller towns we visited. Maybe it was the guide that we had. She was the worst guide of our excursion. Maybe it was because the city was bombed to almost oblivion so it didn’t have the architectural diversity of other cities. Maybe it was the cold and dreary day that we were there.
The cathedral,Kölner Dom was magnificent however and was not bombed during the war. It goes back to the year 1270 and is one of the oldest cathedrals in the world and the most visited historic building in all of Germany. The walkway along the Rhine River is also quite a lovely place for a walk or bike ride. This picture was taken from the river walk.
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Köln Cathedral
We toured West Point this week and it was very impressive and informative. This is the interior of the Cadet Chapel. The building was beautiful and well cared for and you can just imagine a service with “The Long Grey Line” in attendance. You have no doubt from seeing the organization of the prayer books that this is a military chapel.
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Imagery Photography 