Category: Travels in Europe

Cologne: A cathedral of dripped wax

This post is part of a series about my trip to Europe in the summer of 2014. See the full itinerary. Cologne is one of several west German cities that dot the Rhine. The city’s name is a corruption of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, the name of the original colony the Romans established in the first century. Roman ruins still remain under… Read more →

Amsterdam: City in the water

This is the first post in a series about my trip to Europe in the summer of 2014. See the full itinerary. In a flat section of northern Europe, the Amstel flows slowly northward toward the sea.  Settlers in the 1170s dammed the river, thus creating the Aemstelredamme (Amstel dam) and the city of Amsterdam was born.  Over centuries the modest… Read more →