#falkenlust

Schloss Falkenlust, Brühl, Germany

The Cologne Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was begun in 1248 and completed in 1880--photo by Roy Williams

Grand European Tour, Budapest to Amsterdam – Day 13

August 22, Cologne (Köln), Germany

We arrived in Cologne just as breakfast was ending and headed out on a walking tour of the city by 9:15.  I have to admit, the cobblestones were getting to me.  So I took a really leisurely tour that was mostly walking around and sitting someplace to hear the guide tell us stories about different places in the city.  The Cathedral was the primary focus, though we didn’t go in with her.  Other passengers said they went in with their guide and took photos of an enormously high ceiling inside. What our guide did tell us was that in a refurbishment of the cathedral, lots of Roman ruins were found, which prompted the city to open a Roman museum right next to the cathedral. Several centuries-old sarcophagi were lined up outside the museum that had been found beneath the cathedral. The thought of someone having died about 1000 years before I was born put the idea of a “lifetime” into a new perspective for me.  

The name of the city – Cologne – of course referred to scents, and there were two particular shops that sold them.  The perfume had a citrus scent, not heavy like French perfume.  More of an orange-lemon crispness.  I liked it and regretted that I did not buy any for a gift or for myself.  

The main thing I learned about the cathedral was that those in charge anticipated that a war would ruin the stained glass windows and some of the valuable things they had in the building.  During both World Wars they took out the stained glass windows and put them in a safe place.  Even now, most of the windows are not stained glass.  During WWI, Cologne was a fortified city, and during WW II it was a key military area, and as a result, most of the city was bombed.  The 11,000 Jews who had lived there had been either killed or deported and synagogues destroyed.

The other important fact was that the relics of the three Magi are in this cathedral.  It is basically in honor of them, so it is a big deal at Christmas time.  The Magi were astrologers from the east, and are honored here for having acknowledged Jesus’ importance and presenting him with gifts after his birth.

We returned to the ship for lunch and then there were optional excursions – one to UNESCO palaces in Brühl, and the other to to the roof of the cathedral with a guide.  I chose the palace tour, and honestly expected to be bored – more palaces with frescoes and gardens and not being much different from the others.  I was pleasantly surprised, especially since our guide gave great historical background to the places we visited.

The first place we visited, Falkenlust, was built by a prince bishop who was the second or third son of a king. His older brother was, of course, in line for the throne, so the king gave this brother the title of prince bishop when he was 16.  He did not like the idea of having to spend his life in celibacy, and his father said, “Don’t worry.  Do what you want, just keep everything secret and be discrete.”   So he created this “hunting lodge” that did not look like a hunting lodge, rather it was decorated in a way that was more appealing to the ladies. Blue and white diamond tiles (based on the Bavarian flag) with blue and white decorative tiles added in made up the foyer and stairway.  Although he did bring friends in to hunt in the back woods, and there was a rooftop platform from which the ladies could watch the hunt (like a widow’s walk in New England). And the part of the name Falkenlust refers to the falcons that they used for hunting.  a display on the grounds shows some of the falcon hoods and gloves.  But the building was designed, in reality, as a Love Shack.  The lower level had a garderobe—a changing room with a toilet, that opened into a lounge area for the lady, with a fireplace over which hung a portrait of the prince bishop in sleepwear (a la Hugh Hefner) drinking hot chocolate.  That room opened into the lady’s bedroom, and across the salon part of the foyer was a dining room. The prince bishop had the same layout upstairs.  There was no kitchen in the house.  Ladies were very discretely taken there in the dark from the summer palace area one mile away.

The summer palace, Schloss Augustusburg, was a small palace (the real palace is now the University of Bonn) and this one was for summer vacations (tiles kept the dining areas cooler in the summer, and they were lower in the household), or it was a stopping point when traveling long distances to and from the palace.

The summer palace did look like a miniature Versailles and it had a large garden to the side of the palace.

Above: The University of Bonn, formerly  The Electoral Palace (German: Kurfürstliches Schloss), the former residential palace of the Prince-Electors of Cologne.

We returned to the ship in time for a special briefing on what to do when disembarking in Amsterdam two days from today.  It was a buzzkill.  I, personally, did not want to leave the comfort of the ship after two weeks, and others had been on for three weeks (from Bucharest).  So it is a jolt back to reality.

AUGUSTUSBURG AND FALKENLUST PALACE, BRÜHL, GERMANY, INTERIOR,