Cologne/Dusseldorf, Germany

This swing through Germany was highlighted by an amazing cathedral and some travel hiccups. No trip to the area would be complete without at least a quick peak at the Dom Cathedral. Towering over the Rheine river and town of Cologne this massive church somehow survived serous bombings in WW2. Walking out of the train station, you are immediately in awe, only to be topped by going inside. The Dom is enormous. We’ve been in many churches over the past couple months, so far this one really sets itself apart. Attached are a few pictures throughout the Cathedral. As luck has it, the German train system – Deutsch Bahn, decided to strike the day after my arrival. Day 1 provided no problems, but Day 2 the day of departure was chaos. It was the equivalent of Hartsfield or Ohare airports, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (now add weather delays). I had 2 trains “disappear” from the schedule in thin air. It made for some crowded rides, high stress environments and constant second guessing. The Germans seem to pride themselves on a couple things – technology/innovation and being known for running on schedule. On this day in Cologne, neither seemed to work for them. Friday morning I checked out of my hotel in Cologne and stashed my bag at the local train station. In most European Train stations you have one of two options – luggage check (at the bigger stations) or a locker system for 24 hours. Cologne is a bit different. Instead you have an “automated system” where you place your bag in an open door attached to a conveyer belt. After inserting money, you get a claim ticket which will bring your luggage back within 40 seconds. So they claim. After a full day in Dusseldorf, I stopped back through Cologne to pickup my luggage and catch a train to the airport. Running tight to make the flight because of the train strike, I needed a smooth pickup at Cologne to guarantee on time departure at the airport. Upon inserting my claim ticket, I kept getting an error message. Figuring I was doing something wrong, I looked around – native speakers had the same difficulty. The “40 second retrieval”, turned into 50 minutes of waiting for myself and about 20 other passengers in the same predicament to get their luggage. People were trying to catch trains and flights all throughout Europe and when a baggage representative was asked to help, he countered with 1) “Just wait 5-10 mins and the system will fix itself (this was mentioned at least 3 times. 2) “just catch the next train or next plane – you’ll be fine”. No baggage could be claimed by a human, which made for some solid peanut gallery commentary from about 6 different languages. We had found the Fort Knox of Baggage Check. For some additional pics of the Dom, click here.