Oh, THE Cologne

Ever since the Romans founded the city of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, Cologne's strategic location on the Rhine has made it one of the most important cities in what we now call Germany.

However, in 1942, in response to Nazi Germany's aggression including the bombing of London and other civilian targets, Great Britain launched Operation Millenium, with over 1000 heavy bombers dropping their considerable payload on Cologne the first day.

By the end of the war, Allied bombing raids had reduced most of the city to rubble, and the population dropped by 95%.  Over 20,000 civilians were killed.

Such "collateral damage" by the U.S. and its allies against ISIS today would be deemed totally unacceptable by Western Civilization, but Allied leaders believed that such bombings were necessary to stop the spread of Nazi evil.  The problem was that in the first four years of his twelve year reign, Hitler was perceived as something of a savior by the average German whose lives had been in shambles before his rise to power.

A few days ago, an octogenarian friend who lived in Germany as a boy hesitantly told me that Hitler did many good things in the beginning. Imagine how Germans felt at that time, before knowing how Hitler's world domination plans would unfold.

Norbert spoke of how Hitler turned the German economy around, pulling his boyhood country out of their economic hell that had dragged on for over a decade by the time the Great Depression engulfed the rest of the world.

I retorted that Nazi largesse was funded by confiscating properties from Jews and then taking wealth from conquered countries.

While I was right about Hitler's last eight years, when I checked, it turned out that the first four year segment of Hitler-led German economic growth, which brought unemployment down to zero as he promised in campaigns that led to his being named Chancellor, was based on heavy government borrowing to spend on public works projects, a Keynesian approach that worked quite well by putting the well-educated, hard-working Germans back to work again while rebuilding badly-needed infrastructure.

It didn't hurt that the onerous reparations for World War I, which had crushed the German economy in the 1920s, were suspended in 1932, a year before Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.  (By the way, Germany quietly paid off those WWI reparation debts in 2010.)

Hitler also instituted wage and price controls, which included crack downs on unions.  It should be noted that his initial programs did not punish Jews economically, and many prospered during that period.

Consumer confidence grew, and as Germans compared their resurgent lifestyes to the rest of the world, including Democratic America, most inevitably believed that Hitler was leading them very well indeed.

That national confidence and love for their leader conditioned the vast majority to follow the Führer into his world domination vision.

As such, it is easier to understand why British Prime Minister Winston Churchill deemed it necessary to level Cologne and other German cities. 

Interestingly, contrary to a frequently voiced objection that American bombing in the Middle East has caused problems by creating enemies of conquered peoples, Germany welcomes Americans and other former enemies as allies, trading partners and tourists. 

It seems it is unconcluded wars rather than clearcut resolution that results in lingering resentment.

One of the few structures to remain standing in Cologne in World War II was Der Kölner Dom, the Cologne Cathedral. Fourteen bombs hit it directly, but none destroyed it. 

Most consider that a miracle, but some attribute it to Allies using the Cathedral's easily identifiable twin steeples as navigational landmarks when proceeding on bombing raids deeper into Germany in a world before GPS.

As you probably surmised, our guided walking tour brought us to this impressive Cathedral.

The first cathedral on this site was completed in 818 A.D. during the Carolingian Reign.

In 1164, the Archbishop of Cologne brought the relics of the Three Wise Men to the site.

As to how anyone knew these were the bones of the Magi eludes me, but the relics are still there today.

The relics brought pilgrimages (and essentially tourist dollars) to Cologne, justifying a new Cathedral worthy of housing these Medieval "must-see" religious artifacts. 

They began to rebuild the Cathedral in 1248 section by section, but when demolishing the eastern choir section by fire, workers accidentally burned down the whole structure.

Temporary quarters kept the church in business, and the building program progressed. 

In 1322, a new Gothic choir was consecrated.  Bringing to mind the long-running building project of the Temple of Apollo in Didyma, Turkey, however, it would take until 1880...well over 500 years...until the Cathedral was finished. 

Donations funded the project until around 1530, which was the era when the New World in the Americas beckoned adventurers, possibly vying for the "tourist dollars" that would have been spent visiting the bones of the Magi, and construction ground to a halt. 

It also was the time of the Reformation, when Martin Luther led many people to become Protestants.  While Cologne remained Catholic, there was a social revolution nonetheless, and the church was taxed to pay for government protection against "anticlerical unrest."

In 1794, French Revolutionary troops seized and occupied Cologne, causing the Archbishop and his acolytes to flee, presumably carrying with them the Magi relics and other treasures like the unsavory Prior Philemon in Ken Follett's excellent World Without End, which I happened to read this summer and strongly recommend for anyone taking this cruise, even though it doesn't tie directly to this region.  For the next seven years, the Cathedral was used as a warehouse and for other non-religious purposes.

In 1801, the Cathedral was re-consecrated, and in 1842, new civic pride and prosperity brought about efforts to finish the Cathedral according to the medieval architecural design but utilizing modern building methods.  As mentioned previously, in 1880 the Cathedral was completed.

If I haven't made this clear previously, all of the included Uniworld excursions on our cruise were excellent, with knowledgeable, friendly guides and diverse approaches in each port that kept the experiences fresh. As we walked through Cologne, enjoying the sites on our way to the Cathedral, we heard our guide tell many stories about the city over our Quietvox headsets, and of course our minds wandered off into our own re-interpretations of what we saw and learned based on our personal experiences and prior knowledge.

The Cathedral was beautiful, but scaffolds for refurbishing the exterior, though less obtrusive than those on the still unfinished La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, somewhat obscured the effect.

Next door to the Cathedral is the Römisch-Germanisches Museum (Roman-Germanic Museum), which focuses on Roman history along the Rhine.

Our museum guide brought us through the highlights, providing insights into what we were seeing with illuminating commentary.  Mosaic tile floors from the Roman period included designs with what appear to be Nazi swasticas (there's a photo of Roman-period tables sitting on that mosaic above), but they were simply a creative pattern from the early days of Cologne.

Another museum item I found quite interesting was a funerary monument for a Roman soldier who had served his country well and presumably been granted large land holdings in the conquered Rhineland that led to impressive wealth that afforded such an enormous memorial. 

We had free time at the end to remain at the museum, but Julie and I chose to soon exit and walk through the streets of Cologne, though the current map layout would not exactly match the Roman plan our guide (who could have been our friend Shorti's German cousin) showed us in the museum.

Primarily, Cologne seems like a shopping city, reminiscent of Santa Monica's 3rd Street Promenade, but with more streets.

On almost every corner, talented street musicians played everything from folk to jazz to classical music, and aromas from cafes tempted passersby. As usual, however, we made our way back to the ship for a delicious lunch onboard.

In the afternoon, we began cruising to Amsterdam, our last stop.  There was a lecture about the history of the region which most of us attended in the afternoon, when the weather was a bit too gloomy to make the outside deck that appealing.

We enjoyed a relaxing evening inside the warm, welcoming confines of our floating resort.

Before leaving the topic of Cologne, however, I suppose I should at least mention the city's most famous product, Eau de Cologne, which was invented by Johann Maria Farina, in 1709.

When I was a teenager, I would routinely slap on Brut before heading out with my friends or on a date, and I've always enjoyed the scent of vanilla and other sweet perfumes, but Julie has an allergic reaction to most fragrances, so for us, it was simply No de Cologne as a souvenir.  However, when you visit Cologne, you may wish to visit the Fragrance Museum on the site of Farina's original factory.