Flood stage: Cologne

The beautiful Hohenzollern Bridge spans the mighty Rhine at Cologne. Partially destroyed during the war, rebuilt in original form afterward.

The name of the bridge bears the name of the last dynasty that ruled over imperial Germany until 1918. The last three emperors of that imperial house are seen on horseback on both sides of the bridge. It was built to carry the imperial train of the last emperor, or Kaiser, Wilhelm II to the opening of the great Cathedral of Cologne in the late 1880s. The bridge carried the imperial train directly up to the Cathedral when it was consecrated above there above the Rhine after literally hundreds of years of building it. It is the largest twin-spired church in northern Europe, at least.

On this particular visit from which I returned only this afternoon, the flood waters were still quite high - perhaps as can be seen in the pictures. What is not evident, due to the flooding, is how much lower the Rhine usually sits below the stone embankments through the city limits. In other words, the waters are quite high.

As winters are often gray here, there just wasn't always enough color along the river this weekend to bother with color photos, but I find the black & whites to be appropriate of the topic anyway.

The Hohenzollern Bridge at Köln (Cologne)

The Kaiser, Wilhelm II, and the St. Martins Church along the Rhine, Köln.

Rhine flooding, Köln

At least boats float during floods as well. Might not get many visitors willing to climb aboard, though.

Wet seat

Cologne train station

Cologne train station

The magnificent Kölner Dom, or Cologne Cathedral.