Whatagain in the suburbs of Koeln

[whatagain]

I have a meeting tomorrow that is best kept on neutram ground. So we chose Koeln - Cologne bith in french is in english.

Cologne is a beautiful city that was of i remember cotrectly home to Carolus Magnus.
Magnificient Dom (cathedral), i highly recommend the germano-roman museum nexg to it, some nice buildings, a nice atmosphere.

Koel also had the dubious priviledge to be in the Ruhrgebiet, an heavily populated and highly industrialised area.
Riughly delimited by Monchengladbach, Dusseldorf, Essen, Bonn.
Dubious because as such itvattracted a lot if B17's, B24's, Stirlings, Halifaxes and other Lancasters. So that a lit if old buildings were razed to the ground, bombed into oblivion, burnt to ashes.
And rebuilt in the 50's, and rebuilt in every style ever since.

I was in a very dark mood, not liking my hotel and tired after driving more than 5 hours and working nearly a normal day.

So i decided not to go to the center and to show you some glimpse of a very normal german city. Some would say dull, yet a lot of people were having dinner outside or just a beer.

[whatagain]

The church Mauritius, from my hotel room. 
There are screams and yells from some drunkards or drug addicts in the neighbourhood. And lots of cigarettes stubs, vomit and, well i didn't make a full seatch. 


Some old ruins, ruined by some modern additions. 

From the other side, a nice effect if the sun. 
Who put windows in such an old building... 
S
Some buildings look like they survived the war, after all. 

Some don't and a new coat of paint don't maje them less plain. 

I guess there was some concrete left from unachieved bunkers to build this one. 

[whatagain]

On my way back, an old building the kind i like... 

A newer one, but nit bad imo. 

An ugly ine. I'd say from the 50's when they were in a hurry to rebuild. 

Built later, but still tasteless... 

I think even younger but no improvement on taste. 

A kind of a bar close to the hotel, or maybe a bar if a kind.
It says men only and i'd bet kinky means ki d of hirny - coquin - in french ? 

[bixaorellana]

Whatagain, I guess sometimes all the traveling you have to do for your job can be both tiring and tiresome. But I admire so much how you get out there and really take a look at every place you go. Undoubtedly most of us would never see this slice of Cologne you show here, for instance.

Like many people of my generation (b. post-WWII), Dresden is the first German city that comes to mind re: Allied bombing. (thank you, Kurt Vonnegut). I did know that Cologne was badly hammered, too, but didn't know any details. Thank you for that background about the Ruhrgebiet. (I looked up more, if anyone is interested.)

At any rate, it's fascinating to see the city rebuilt through all the different decades since that war.

That ruin that you say was ruined by modern additions -- it's surely one of the old city gates, right? Yes, that mint green building is plain, but it seems a different color would have made it less noticeable. I have to disagree with you about the "bunker" building, as I quite like it. You & Mossie need to start an Architecture Appreciation Club.

I'm glad to see that you were shy, or at least discreet, and not kinky.

[tod2]

Can I say I have been to Cologne if I saw part of the cathedral from my train window? LOL

[whatagain]

No you can't Tod !

Buxa, i was hoping some people like these concrete buildings...
I realize i am quite Conservative when it comes to architecture. If it is old it is usually nice, if it is modern it is usually ugly is how i see it... quite stupid of course, but taste has nothing to do with intelligence. Or so i hope.

[kerouac2]

At least one of the buildings has a sort of Bauhaus charm.

Actually, I have noticed that Germany has made as much of an effort as France to faithfully reconstruct some of the buildings destroyed by the wars. Of course in a lot of cases, it wasn't worth it (or they didn't have the money), and they built the steel and concrete boxes instead. They are a testimony of their time also, and if any of them are still standing after 100 years, people might begin to appreciate them.