July 19th - Koln (Cologne), Germany

July 19th – We have now traveled back to West Germany to the city on Koln (Cologne). It was originally founded by the Romans and is one of the oldest settlements in Germany. It has 12 Romanesque churches and also the Koln Cathedral, the greatest Gothic cathedral in Germany and the 3rd tallest in Germany.










We arrived in the early evening and we stayed in a hotel in walking distance of the large Koln Cathedral. The first picture of the Koln Cathedral is with the setting sun shining on it. The rest of the pictures were taken the next morning.

(The Cathedral was standing very straight but my camera shot makes it look like it is leaning. Sorry)


















The outside detail was magnificent, from the steeples to the entrance.

























The inside was also very ornate with lots to see. There were also lots of tall, stain glass windows, that were beautifully done, and told the story of Christ.















As we drove away, you can see how close it stands by the Rhine River.

July 18th - Berlin, Germany

Berlin, Germany - As you know, Berlin has a very interesting history with the division of East and West Berlin. As we were driving around (lost) trying to get to the Brandenburg Gate, we came upon a unique church so we stopped to take pictures. The doors were open so we went inside. There was an array of posters with old pictures on them with this church in the background. The church sat right on the West Boarder of the wall dividing West and East Germany. These are just a few of the photos that were on display.

The large poster was of the city with the church in the lower left hand corner. Notice where the wall had been just behind the church.



The next two black and white photos were taken as they were taking down the wall.

July 18th - Berlin, Germany

July 18th – We are now in Berlin, Germany. Since it is Sunday, we went to church in a small, quant, LDS chapel which had a very interesting history to it. It was built in 1950 by a wealthy man and then given to the church. It has three floors to it and years later they were told it did not meet the handicap requirement to be a church and that they would need to tear it down. The members did not want that so they earned enough money to put an elevator inside and built a handicap ramp on the outside. The members are very proud of their chapel.

They gave us ear phones to wear so we could understand the speakers. There were about 50 people in attendance and all were very friendly and most could speak very good English. We enjoyed visiting with the members after church.

July 17th

July 17th – After visiting Dresden we drove to Freiburg, Germany, about an hour drive south of Dresden.
This was a very pleasant drive to this small town. We enjoyed the countryside.



Here we visited the Freiburg Temple. The temple session had just finished and people were gathered outside visiting. The temple had a beautiful setting and the grounds were very peaceful.