Germany 2013

KÜln Earn 3 credits in 10 days in Germany’s fourth largest city. Explore public health infrastructure. Brush up on basic German.

2013

Kรถln sights Rhine River Cathedral Ancient ruins Museums

Rhine

The

River

winds through Köln. After our first seminar, we enjoyed

the

(only)

warm

day and hopped on a boat to

see

banks.

what

lined

Later,

the

another

group ventured south to Koblenz and got a look at the river downstream.

The largest bridge crisscrossing the Rhine in Köln is full of ‘heart locks,’ or declarations of love (the river

swallows

all

those

keys).

As part of our academic program, we also got to see how waste water is pumped from the river, treated, cleaner.

and

returned

Köln’s

cathedral

is a popular destination

for those looking to connect to Catholic history or to enjoy a beautiful sight. An adventure up the 500+ stairs to the top yields incredible views—but the artistic work in the base is awesome, too. Pictured clockwise: 

St. Joseph, the patron saint of travelers



One set of stained glass windows that were

saved from World War II attacks 

The front of the Cathedral



Inside the top of one turret



Opposite: one of the oldest depictions of

Jesus From many vantage points through the city, the two turrets stand out against the skyline, so the

Cathedral is compared to

Paris’ Eiffel Tower.

One night, my roommate and I discovered great Roman ruins (right). Turns out, sidewalks with the ‘golden map’ (opposite) outline where you are along the boundary wall that marked the original colony of Köln. Many structural remains have Medieval additions, are being restored or preserved underground—I just enjoyed finding more!

Three museum visits

filled some “free time” downtown. Of

course, we stopped at the popular Chocolate Museum by Lindt. One rainy day, we hit up the Rautenstrauch-Joest, which compares cultural treasures from every corner of the world. After several tries, we enjoyed the world-famous house of modern art, the Ludwig.

Can you tell …

A. Which religion large seated statue (opposite) represents?

B. Which mask I’m behind above?

C. Which museum would include a tropical plant greenhouse and a factory?

A: Buddhism (that’s Buddha!)

B: The second one, with a golden beak C: Chocolate’s main ingredient, cacao, is grown in tropical regions and processed on site at the museum

lived in DC! sister sculptures that once Niki de Saint Phalle has This modern art piece by

Academic excursions

El De Haus BAST Water treatment Waste treatment Worksite health promotion City council Children’s musculoskeletal rehabilitation center Abandoned coal mine Federal Health Promotion Zollkriminalamt Max Planck Institute for Aging

The rise of the Nazi party is a turning point, since WWII destroyed 90% of Köln. At many sites, we heard what survived the war—buried underground, placed in mines or hidden—and what has been rebuilt.

El-De Haus

was home to the Gestapo, the secret police, during

Hitler’s rule. It now serves as a memorial to the many prisoners who were kept and killed here, and chronicles the rise and impact of the Nazi political movement in Koln and beyond.

At

BAST,

ment

of

the Depart-

Transportation,

we learned how drug use and old age impact safe driving

behaviors,

saw

some ‘dummies’ undergoing calibration, and tried out the driving simulator.

Here I am, practicing texting and driving, to show how awful it is!

At the

water treatment plant,

we walked through the whole process.

Cleaning river water starts with biological treatments and sludge removal, and moves to a lab to tests that daily output are clean enough. While the plant is ready for regular floods reached

(the

record

to

here),

they could do better to contain the scent of their work!

The solid

waste

man-

agement plant

takes

on everything that can’t be recycled—including the sludge

from

the

treatment Equipped

water plant.

with

hardhats,

we walked the whole process, here too. We saw train cars hefted into the plant to the general dumps,

and

trash

‘mixing’

(left).

We

peered into the furnaces and walked past the gas treatment which the

section

ensures air

that

leaving

the

plant is cleaner than the stuff outside. We even

checked

the

control

(left).

in

on

room

A council representative offered a tour of Kรถln

town hall.

inform

good

Some key symbols

legislation.

For

instance,

above the (Roman) front, a warrior fights a lion, representing the fight between religious and political rule. Nine Worthies

show

chivalry:

Hec-

tor, Alexander the Great & Julius Cae-

sar

(pagans);

Josh-

ua,

David

Judas

Maccabeus

&

(Jews);

K i n g

A r -

thur, Charlemagne & Godfrey

of

Bouillon

(Christians). Amazing gifts of art decorate each section.

The

University

of

KĂśln

found an abandoned

mine in the back of a closet

sometime

in

1980s.

While

beyond

functioning,

the

completely it’s

still open to look at—just be sure you pop another hard hat on.

At

the

Zollkriminalamt,

officers

showed

schemes

to

ground

goods

get

us

customs

smugglers’

lucrative

(Viagra,

under-

cigarettes)

into Germany and Europe. We tried to tell knock-offs from ‘the real thing’ and learned how drug smugglers travel with hundreds of capsules of material (left). We also looked through an impressive array of confiscated goods— like a zebra skin.

Brussels What’s a lady to do with a weekend free in Köln ? Drive to Belgium, of course. With two other women, I rented a car and hit the autobahn to see about Germany’s French-speaking neighbors.

After learning that our GPS system only worked in German borders, we managed to get to Belgium in about two hours.

Atomium

and

weather

and

Our

first

Mini Europe. a

sculpture

huge made

right at home.

We also enjoyed waffles,

a

festival,

jazz great

parks, an outdoor antique a

market,

comics

um,

a

musevintage

record store and of

course

the

chocolate shops!

stop:

the

Warm

“Welcome� us

feel