The Frauenkirche’s15th-century copper onion-domed towers loom over Munich’s skyline. When the church was built, the 99-meter towers were the tallest in the city; today, no new building is allowed to obstruct the view. The towers were meant to be topped with spires, but lack of funds resulted in Plan B: the domes, which were inspired […]
Tag Archives | Dom
Duomo di Milano
In Milan, most main streets lead straight to the enormous cathedral and the ones that don’t, encircle it. Such a layout is a tip-off to the important role the Duomo has always held. This is Europe’s third largest cathedral (St. Peter’s and the cathedral in Seville are bigger). Work began in the 14th century but […]
Mainzer Dom
As in all traditional European cities, Mainz’s cathedral dominates the main square. In this case, St. Martin’s Cathedral, a (mostly) Romanesque sandstone structure with six towers, rises into Mainz’s skyline. Construction began in the 10th century and, in a stroke of unspeakably bad luck, the original structure burned down one day before its consecration in […]
Freiburg im Breisgau
We chose to make Freiburg home-base for exploring the Black Forest because it’s the largest town in the region and accessible to many of the areas we wanted to explore. Though the Black Forest is a well-known Christmas destination, this time of year is very quiet so we wanted to make sure to stay somewhere […]
Kolner Weihnachtsmarkt, or Cologne’s Christmas Markets
If you visit only one Christmas market in this part of Europe, make it Cologne’s. When I saw how crowded Cologne’s Christmas markets were, I wasn’t surprised that its four main markets attract over two million visitors a year. Cologne has the best Christmas markets I’ve seen thus far in Europe. The wares were diverse […]
Cologne Dom
This massive Gothic cathedral can be seen from all points in Cologne. The first time I saw it was out a plane’s window, from which it looks truly unbelievable. For about five minutes, the 157-meter spires made this the tallest structure in the world. Then, the Eiffel Tower surpassed it. The Dom has an interesting […]
