Germany provides shock and awe

Monday we headed to Cologne (Koln) and walked into the Cologne Cathedral. Wow. Wow. Wow. Last year I was in New York City and we walked into Saint Patrick's Cathedral, which was impressive. But the gothic design, pure size, and number of relics inside the Cologne Cathedral just knocked me over. We also toured the treasury below the cathedral and I can say I never have seen so much gold and raw church history in one place in my life. The rest of the day was spent walking around the city and driving for the first time on the Autobahn (no new land speed records for me). I also got to experience the thick pea soup weather of western Germany.

Tuesday we headed to Trier and experienced the Trier Cathedral and Trier Basilica. They were both very impressive. We also walked around and under the oldest building in Europe (2000 years old). Now living in the United States, the oldest standing structure is probably the adobe houses out west and they are nowhere near 2000 years old. We are talking about a structure built around the time Jesus walked the Earth. How cool is that? We also visited an amphitheatre and a stadium where animals chased around people for entertainment purposes. I doubt that would have been much fun, but the stadium was interesting. I have taken more than 150 pictures since arriving here Saturday.

Oh, and another first, my first trip to Luxembourg (country number six). We needed to refuel the rocket, I mean the car, so we headed over to Luxembourg where diesel fuel is 20-30 cents cheaper per liter. I also purchased a Coke for good measure.

In case you are curious, Doug set his own personal land speed record driving 200 kph (on a long turn no less). Heck, I am almost getting use to the driving over here. {g}

Tuesday evening we stopped in to visit a couple of Jeff's relatives who are going to put on a nativity scene show. We are talking about hundreds of nativity scenes from around the world on display in a tent which use to be a indoor tennis court. All the profits from this five week show will go to a children's cancer hospital. They have been working on this since July and use their six weeks of vacation to put this all together. Amazing.

Today we are going to take some pictures of the town we have stayed in for the last few days, then head out for some quick souvenir shopping. Once we say our good-byes to our generous hosts we head back to Frankfurt to get ready for German DevCon 2005. What a week this has been.