to all of you and everything the best for 2012.

Kind regards

Michael

Wow, that's impressive!

Michael und Petra .Vielen dank und auch alles bestens und gezund 2012, und viel spass met die model T.
Gruessen aus Holland

Toon und Ditty

Now, that's what I call a cathedral!

Awe inspiring, Michael, thank you.

If you ever have spare time, and are near Oberdrees, Rheinbach, I wonder if you could peruse the cemetery in search of family Rick? My great grandfater, Johann Josef Rick, was born there in 1834, and emigrated to Lancaster, Wisconsin, with wife and child in 1870.

By 1885, they had homesteaded in extreme western Kansas, and my 13 year old grandfater and his older brother ran away to Oklahoma. They changed their surname to Ricks, so their old man wouldn't find them.

rdr

Thank you and same to you. Have a cup of Gluhwein during the Christmas season. That is something I really miss about Germany. We do make our own sometimes, but it is certainly not available for sale in the city market like it is there.

To whom ever mentioned Gluwein: I have 750 ml a friend gave me. A friend of our makes it nearly every year at our Christmas Part. That stuff will curl your toes if you drink to much of it. Being Diabetic I have to be careful.

To one and All World wide Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. And to Micheal in Germany would like to see Rothenburg ob der Tauber and see what has been done there for the Holidays, or rather any part of Germany. My wife's family is at Karlstadt near Wurtzburg, am Main

Thank you Michael! Merry Christmas to you and yours as well.

We have some beautiful old churches in Detroit but they would all fit inside the cathedral you show!

Michael, Merry Christmas. Seeing that photo makes me realize how much I need to go back and visit friends. One is in Köln, the other near Kerpen. Perhaps I will go back once my wife gets new knees and can walk the distances. I never made it all the way up the Dom; I chickened out at the base of the steel stairway into the steeple. I do have a replica of the #4 Domkloister address plate on my wall to remind me of the climb.

In regards to wine, I still have a bottle from the Ahr. One of these days I will get nostalgic and drink it.

We are starting to get stuff called kölsch here in Michigan. But It doesn't hold a candle to Päffgen's Kölsch. I also have fond memories of Pancho's Steak house in the cellar.

Koln is a wonderful city! So much history from the pre - Roman times until now. My grandfather was from the area.

Merry Christmas to all of you in Germany!

Beautiful!
Thank you and Merry Christmas to you from Washington State!

Thank you and Merry Christmas to you too Michael!
Looking at that makes it pretty hard to not think of the reason for that and Christmas >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlE95K89IFQ

Hey I've been to Cologne! (pronounced "Koln" with an umlat over the O) On our way there, I was very surprised when traveling on A3, to be passed by a very long convoy of Corvettes. Very cool.

Merry Christmas!

Just saw the reference to gluwein...the perfect drink for when you're on top of Zugspitze....ahh...memories...

Actually it is properly spelled Köln and pronounced Cologne. We English speaking people often bastardize the spelling of other countries and their cities to suit our own pronunciation.

Royce, everyone does. "Cologne" is French (and English), "Colonia" is Spanish, "Keulen" is Dutch and "Köln" is German. Each is pronounced according to the rules of that language. ("Köln" ia not pronounced "Cologne," it is pronounced "Köln" (the "ö" doesn't exist in English so is hard to transliterate). To say that "Köln is pronounced Cologne" is not correct.

Merry Christmas Michael.
We are in Thailand, there are many of your countryman here.

To say that it is not spelled KOLN is retarded.

Koln, Cologne, was part of France in the Napoleonic era.

When I visited the Nordrhein-Westfalisches Personenstandsarchiv Rheinland in Bruhl, near Cologne, in 1989, looking for my family, I found the birth, marriage and death records were handwritten in old German up to the late 1790s. Then for several years the records were written in clear, very legible French. After that, the records were in very poorly written German. The legibility gradually improved over the years.

The years in French weren't written as "1798," for example, but the "Fourth Year of the Empire," or whatever it was.

As I was poring over these original large books of records, I commented to the archivist, "We almost don't have anything this old in our country."

Not understanding me, he stiffened, and replied, "You English and Americans; you think you should be able to come and go as you please. But ve are Prussian; ve vill haf records!"

rdr

Dunno, have to disagree Royce. In the four years I lived there, I never heard any German pronounce it "Cologne".

And as a side note, Munich is not pronounced "Munick" either - it's pronounced "Munchen".

Grin....

Royce,

"To say that it is not spelled KOLN is retarded."

No one is talking about how it's spelled in Germany (although you left off the umlaut this time)," it's about what other languages call the city. When you're talking about the famous Peace Palace, do you say that it's in "The Hague," or do you say that it's in "'s-Gravenhage"? When you are talking about the capital of Russia, do you call it "Moscow" or "Moskva"? Most major cities in the world have different names in different languages. To say that a speaker of a particular language using his language's name for a city is "retarded" is absurd.

If I were speaking German, I'd call the cathedral there the "Kölnischer Dom," in Dutch I'd call it the "Keulse Cathedraal," in English I'd call it the "Cologne Cathedral." No retardation, just using different languages. Relax....

Want funny pronunciations? Come to the heartland. El Dorado is "Elda-RAY-duh". Heard a radio news reader refer to a town in Iowa as "Dez Moinz". A sports announcer kept calling a footbal player named Ybarra "Wye-bera". Most people here call Geenwich Road in Wichita "Greeen-witch Road". The worst is Buena Vista, Colorado, which they call "Byoona Vista". I swear I am not making this up.

Then there's Laguna Niguel in Orange County. Laguna is Spanish for lake, of course. Niguel is a name made up by a realtor or developer some 40 years ago. Miguel (Michael) would make sense, but it must not have had the right ring to it.

rdr

First I'd like to say, Thank you Michael for the beautiful photograph. I spent two and a half years in your beautiful country in Bamberg about 35 years ago. I visited many cities, beautiful cathedrals and castles during my stay. I've always wanted to come back to the country of my ancestors and hopefully I can before I am too old.

Royce, What orifice of your body did you pull your "Retarded" comment out of? Your comments would have a lot more credibility without the added character assassination.

The place is not pronounced Köln. It is properly spelled Köln. As a frequent and seasoned traveler, I respect the spelling used by the country for its cities. We Americans and other English speakers have long been guilty of bastardizing the spelling of cities and countries. It is retarded for us to continue to teach our children these screwed up spellings and pronounciations. It retards our wisdom as a people.

How many non - Americans call New York anything other than New York?

Gee Whiz,
This thread began with a beautiful picture of an amazing piece of man's ingenuity decorated in recognition of the joy and happiness of the season.
Could we pause and reflect and give thanks for the peace that we do have?

Merry Christmas

Amen to Dave Dufault's comment which said it perfectly. Merry Christmas to all. Dave.

Hi guys,

thanks for all the comments to our cathedral. Here the right and german versions:

The city is called cologne = Die Stadt heisst Köln
The cathedral = der Kölner Dom oder der Dom zu Köln

The official name of the Cathedral is: Die hohe Domkirche zu Köln and his street-adress is: Domkloster 4

Its right that the most people call new york - new york, but i think the reason is that all those city in the usa are not so old as our cities and so there are just one name and not the name of 2000 years of culture. In cologne the romasn stayed and called it CCAA (Colonia Claudia Ara Agripinensium) see her http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonia_Claudia_Ara_Agrippinensium

Than other cultures arrived and called the city ....

It doesnt matter how you call it, i think you must have seen my birthtown ---- i love it.

And here a picture with the cathedral and our Model T:







All the best

Michael

Thank you, Michael. Frohe Weinachten.

We saw a documentary recently on the innovative design of the Gothic cathedrals and how they were built, beginning over 800 years ago. That they are still standing is proof of outstanding design and workmanship.

rdr

Feliz Navidad a todos en Inglaterra, Alemania, Suecia, Nueva York, y todo el mundo.

Michael,

From the Von Bohlen's in Maryland Frohe Weinachten und Ein gl�ckliches neues Jahr!

To all our Model T family world wide.

Larry

Steve, you forgot Paises Bajos....

I have walked to the top of one of the towers. Forgot how many steps it was. Over 500 I think.

Then we went to Ulm, which has the tallest steeple in Germany. I had to take that one slow.

God Jul og Gott Nytt Ar

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and Happy Kwanzaa to all

Thanks for the wishes all...

Prettige Kerstdagen en een gelukkig, gezond en voorspoedig Nieuwjaar!

Dave D, You're right. Sorry I flared.

Merry Christmas everybody.

Call it whatever you please gentlemen. I'm still trying to grasp how somebody would visualize a structure like that while they were building it!
Building a square stone hut is one thing, carving all that stone and then making all those stones fit together, is totally beyond my comprehension.

Dennis, during my ten months in Paris in 1968, I lived about a 10-minute walk from the Cathedral of Notre Dame. It was, I think, my favorite building in Paris. I used to think the same thing. Imagine being 12 years old and apprenticing to a stonemason, then working all your life on building a cathedral that wouldn't be finished until years after you were dead. That is beyond my comprehension.

Merry Christmas!

Yes , BUT , they probably viewed it as a Testament to their Faith , and for the Greater Glory of God .

Doug, yes I'm sure they did, but so different from how we think today.

Dick , True , SO true !!