I recently went over to Germany, primarily for a conference in Bonn but it didn't stop me taking a short break in Cologne first with Lizzie. Cologne is a fantastic city and there was lots to do - and we did lots. I think the most striking feature of the whole time in Cologne is their wonderful Cathedral:
I could have, and probably did, spend hours looking at this. They have recently had a stunning new stained glass window installed. Critics might say its a bit abstract but when you stand there staring at it you really understand what the artist meant (it is so beautiful), the photo does not do it justice:
We did many things in Cologne including going around a few museums. The EL-DE (about the Nazi's in Cologne) which is a former SS prison house, quite scary to be honest. We went to the Roman museum which has some interesting finds from when Cologne was Roman including a rather odd mosaic floor (not sure if this is really from the period or not...):
We also went around a couple of smaller museums but the most interesting of all the museums has to be the Schokoladen Museum (i.e. the chocolate museum!):
.. lots of fun, not enough free chocolate (but I think Lizzie was more bothered than me :-p). It was quite interesting and in terms of interesting content beats Cadbury World here in Brum...
The conference I went to was hosted in Bonn.. a short journey away from Cologne and that is where Lizzie left me. I have to say I was a bit nervous I have never used public transport in a foreign country on my own before. It was, as I honest expected, simple... and on time!
Bonn isn't quite the city Cologne is but it is still rather nice:
oh and its nice to see that they have problems with graffiti too..
Oh and here is a pointless photo:
As part of my conference we went to the wonder 100m Effelsberg radio telescope:
All in all, I had a great time! For more of my photos (I took lots, like always) see: [here]
