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