By the time it was finished – under Kaiser Wilhelm I – it also gave you a sense of mighty Prussia. Inside and outside, everything draws your eyes upwards, in the most Gothic of ways. Some say the cathedral was built to give people a sense of heaven. Well, back to Kölner Dom before this becomes a rant. Not just because they add an extra two tonnes of weight (how long can this be sustainable?), but because I think love and lock are incompatible terms. It is laden with love locks, a staggering 40,000 of them – and I suppose there must be 40,000 tiny metal keys in the river beneath.
You can’t miss this bridge, even if you want to. But the best view is from across the Rhine River, so I suggest you cross Hohenzollernbrücke. Walking around Cologne, you’ll spot it again and again. All the more interesting, as it took me by surprise. In my face! Dark, foreboding, massive, intriguing. Just as I exited the railway station, there it was. I had taken the train from Brussels, just a quick day trip to explore an unknown city. I rather like that juxtaposition of Gothic and contemporary. Some think the proximity of the railway station makes the cathedral – and indeed the city of Cologne – ugly. More than 600 years in the making, this structure was built to inspire awe. Kölner Dom – Cologne Cathedral in English – is imposing.
