2011 European Adventure- Köln recap

The first leg of our trip this Fall was in Germany. I hadn't been there since 1993 when my family lived in Stuttgart and I had never been to Cologne (or Köln) before so it was fun to go somewhere totally new. And I learned that Cologne is the home of Kölsch beer! The city is on the Rhine river and our hotel had a great location right across the river from the downtown area and the famous Dom (cathedral). On the bridge there were thousands of locks with couples' names on them. Apparently it's a tradition that couples get locks with their names and the year on it and attach it to the bridge. Our friends surprised us on our second day there with locks for each of us! We put them on the bridge together. I love the idea of going back to see our lock in 20 years (or more!).  The weather was kind of cool and a little drizzly throughout which was kind of great for walking around all of old cobblestone streets. Here are some highlights: