Nicholas Stoltzfus Heritage Trip – Day 5

On Sunday morning (September 28), we ate breakfast (continental style again) and packed some broetchen, apples, and sausages, then drove up through the Mosel Valley to Koeln (Cologne) for the day. The drive was beautiful at times though some parts were obscured by fog. It was quite a lovely day overall, the first fully sunny day we had on our trip.

We arrived in Koeln around 1PM, parked downtown, got some coffee, and then walked through the pedestrian zone down to the Koelner Dom (Cologne Cathedral) near the Rhine River. Jesse, Asher, Levi and I climbed the 533 steps to the top of the south tower and took in the views. Dad did 177 steps and then went back down. The views were spectacular, and the cathedral is an architectural and spiritual wonder. Afterwards we went into the cathedral and went on the 3 Kings pilgrimage route. The reliquary of the 3 Kings is quite impressive, all of finely worked gold. There was a priest giving a 15-minute homily on the meaning of the 3 gifts every 30 minutes or so, and I understood most of what he said. There was a hymnal on the route that was open to the German hymn “Fairest Lord Jesus.” It was a blessed experience and of course the cathedral is beautiful in every sense of the word.

There is a crane inside that I assume is used for cleaning and maintenance. The crane looks quite old as well!

Soon it was 4PM and we needed to start heading to Rhein-Energie Stadion for the other pilgrimage (a Bundesliga match). We parked, emptied our bladders in the parking lot like true Germans, and headed to the stadium. I was advised by Klaus to keep my Stuttgart jersey covered for safety, as we were not sitting in the visitors’ section. As it turned out, the tickets I had gotten were in the Koeln crazies section. It was possibly the most fun sporting event I’ve ever attended. The beer guy walks around with a keg on his back. !! It’s the coolest thing ever. I don’t even know what beer it was but Dad bought one round and Jesse bought another round. It tasted good because we were at a Bundesliga match, whatever it was. Stuttgart won 2-1 rather dramatically which silenced the home crowd. We managed to contain our glee so as to avoid being beaten. On the way out we bought the last two bratwurst off the grill and munched on those as we walked back to the car for our long drive south. It was a good day!