day 2: cologne cathedral
strips the haze from dark gray skies,
shocks the world to day.
Hiking up the 509 steps of the Kölner Dom was the highlight of this day. Up a tiny stone winding staircase, all the way to the top of the spire to reveal a glorious view of the cloud-coated city of Cologne. The architecture, the view, the feeling in my legs after climbing so many steps… all quite intense.
The coolest part was the bell tower, where the glocken ring every 15 minutes. We got to witness the three small rings at 1:45, then waited until two, hoping that the huge bell (there were… 9? total i think) would announce the hour. The largest bell did not ring, but the chimes from the smaller bells were surprising enough.
After taking tons of pictures, we climbed down and drove the four hours to our hotel just south of Paris. After dinner, I did my final research on the Paris flea markets, preparing for Sunday.