July 15, 1988

From buch@n

There are signs in Cologne that tell you how many places there are in the multi-storey carparks. These keep changing and make it very easy to find a park. We parked on level one of a seven storey complex. It was seven stories underground.

If you go to Cologne you must visit the cathedral. It is the largest Gothic style cathedral in the world, it took 600 years to build, the two spires are about 300m high and the cathedral contains the bones of the three wise men. Not bad, heh! Pity the place is so ugly. Even though it is ugly it is very impressive so you can't help but like it. Unfortunately I don't have the literary skills to describe it. Sorry.

Before we toured the church we got our Dutch money changed and found a photo shop. My seven films turned out to be a bit dearer then expected because standard size in Germany is 9mm x 13mm and I wanted 10mm x 15mm. Even so they were still cheaper than in Denmark. To pay for the films you need money and I had to find a bank that would accept VISA. There was only one bank and they said there was a minimum of US$100. I felt bad enough about asking Dad for the money [so] there was no way I'd take out extra. I just said a few very choice words to myself and left.

There was a bus tour at 1.00 pm and we were on it. We saw all the historical buildings of the city including churches, bridges and the remains of a city wall. The guide spoke English in the same rhythm as German. This made him very difficult to understand until you got used to it. There was only one stop during the trip and that was a weapons museum. We didn't stop to see the weapons but to see a model of Cologne from the past. We did get some time to look at them and I could name quite a few people who would have given their back teeth to see them.

We sort of went shopping after our 3 o'clock lunch at McDonalds but we weren't rich so we couldn't afford any of the furs or diamonds that were in many of the shops.

The instant we stepped inside the caravan door it began to rain and I thought we were likely to float down the Rhine.

Photos from July 15, 1988