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We ended up stopping at a rather beautiful square where the Great St. Martin's church façade and some colourful old houses could be seen, once the church could not be visited. Its foundations date back to 960 AD having later been transformed into a Benedictine Monastery.
From there we walked along the river till we veered into the town centre, so as to have a look at the well known Heinzelmännchen brunnen, which depicts the old tale (first written down in 1826) in which little house gnomes were siad to do all the work the Cologne citizens were supposed to during the night until the day the tailor's wife curious and intrigued by what went on stayed up during the nignt and eventually managed to see them. They are then said to have been infuriated, disappearing never to be seen again. The up till then rather lazy citizens had to sart doing everything the house gnomes used to.
The fountain is rather big depicting gnomes accomplishing the various chores and it is topped by the figure of the peering tailor's wife.
The close proximity to Cologne Cathedral led us to finally visiting it. Believed to have the second tallest twin spire in Europ the Cathedral was clearing imposing, though the repairing scaffolding diminished the beauty of its exterior image.
Once we were in a few mixed styles caught our attention, despite being harmoniously blended. We could see old stained glass windows next to a modern one by Gehrard Righter. The oldest known large Crucifix by Bishop Gero dating back to the 10th century, the medieval statue of St. Christopher and the reliquary traditionally believed to contain the bones of the three wise men fairly close to some modern paintings on a ceiling.
I must confess I have been to Cathedrals that have had a stronger impact on me, though I must recognise it is grandiose.
(To be continued)
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