Expat Bloggers Meetup - Great St. Martin Church, Cologne

Last Autumn, Frau A and I attended our first English Bloggers Meet-up in Germany.  The group's 2011 meeting was held in Cologne, where we had a wonderful tour of the Dom (Cathedral).  After the Cathedral tour, we had some further activities and meals in the Altstadt (old city).

First, I noticed a funny sign outside the Cathedral selling a book "Hooray, we're still alive!" about post WWII years:

Then, we walked past the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) just outside the Cathedral...

...and down towards the Rhein river.  Some trees were already starting to turn brilliant colors:

We walked along the Rhein for maybe 5 minutes before arriving at the Great St. Martin Church:

Cologne is arguably the center of Roman Catholicism in Germany, and there are a lot of churches to see.  In fact, St. Martin is one of the twelve Romanesque churches in the city!

St. Martin's foundations go back to about the year 960, with the current buildings being erected as early as 1150. 

St. Martin's history also includes ties to a Benedictine Abbey, fires and reconstructions, and WWII and rebuilding.

It's obviously much smaller, less dramatic, and less "fancy" than the big Dom, but also almost no tourists!  The simplicity and quite made for a great contrast with the overrun Cathedral.

This lady stopped for a prayer and was right at the light's edge, from light to dark.  Beautiful.

After a while for photographs, looking around, and quite comtemplation, we left and headed out for a late lunch.  The hot topic of discussion at the bloggers' table:  photographic equipment of course!

One of the bloggers had a funky lens that had a 45-degree mirror at the end of the barrel... to see around corners.  (below: the lens is pointed right, but the mirror is facing my camera and captured me)

Lunch was at a Turkish place, and we loaded up on hummus, tzatziki, etc.  This is quite typical, since there are so many Turks and a strong Turkish influence in almost all major German cities. 

Frau A and I like the Moroccan-style lamps:

After a hotel pause (read:nap) we met for a late dinner at a Cologne establishment, serving Kölsch beer, naturally.  Here was a waiter filling up a tray from a true traditional wooden keg:

Kölsch is more like smooth Bavarian helles than the hoppy pilsners served in most of northern Germany.  Also, rather than a huge 1L stein, Köksch is served in small, thiner glasses.  That makes sure there isn't a lot in a huge mug that gets warm over time.

The waiters just mark your coaster to keep track of all the smaller glasses you order.  Like the waiter above, they carry around lots of fresh glasses in a special tray and just keep replacing empty glasses at every table.

We ordered the gulash soup (Hungarian in origin, of course, but adopted everywhere in Germany) and local wurst served in a pan, with bread and mustard.  The perfect dinner.

Before we left at the end of the weekend, there was one more church to see -- this one has the bones of 10,000 virgin martyrs!  Stay tuned...