we went there on a saturday afternoon. it was our first day outside St Agustine. when you step out of the Koln HBF (train station) the grand cathedral greets you in all its majesty! being centuries old, locals said that a part of it is always under repair.
around it is the plaza which serves as rendezvous of people from all walks of life, doing all sorts of things -- meeting friends, drin king beers (oh yes, it's everywhere!), rallying your cause, performing streets acts to earn, people-watching, doing various fun traditional gimmicks for soon-to-be-wed couples which is a real treat to tourists like me, and so much more. i am amazed at the volume of people that we saw that weekend! it's like a festival of some sort!
and yes, having read it in the internet, we aimed to go up the Ascent of Tower to see the awesome view of the whole of Koln. but we were just not forewarned that there was no elevator!!! so we climbed up and up that narrow (maybe even a little claustrophobic, see photo) stairs of the cathedral tower! whew! it was like a neverending trail up, wherein we were ambivalent of continuing our climb up (we do not know how far it is still) or just quit and going down. well, we just kept going and going! haha! up there, unfortunately, the whole viewing place was covered with steel wires which somehow barred the nice view, thouhg i am sure it was done on a purpose. and everywhere, there were colorful vandalisms (yeah, even in this cathedral).
but then if you let the lense go thru the wire mesh, you will have these awesome photos of the whole of koln! the river rhine, the houses, the bridges...
and looking down, mano and i realized how far we have gone up!!! we were both shocked and at the same time laughing at this escapade! on our way down, we've seen people climbing up with the same expression of laughter, tiredness, anticipation and impatience all in the same measure!! i was tempted to tell them how far it is still--- but then, why be a party pooper! let them experience the same adventure anyways! and when we finally landed on the ground floor, i looked back at the "ticket booth" and it says, "509 steps, no lift"!!!! hmmm, not reading eh!
No comments:
Post a Comment