These are a few of my favorite things (from today, anyway)

The "original" Eau de Cologne

These bottles of perfume were taken in the Farinahaus which belonged to John Maria Farina who created a fragrance to remind hin of his home in France, which he called Eau de Cologne which means "water of Koln."

Isn't that the sweetest thing?

This is the "lock bridge" over the Rhine River. Couples go on the bridge and place a lock on the metal fence along the bridge and lock it. When they lock it, they throw the key into the river to symbolize that they have each others hearts and no one can take away the key. Awww....

I ain't sayin' she's a gold digger...

So, tradition goes that there was a beautiful apple farmer's daughter who was seeling her apples in the market place and a lowly foot soldier asked her to marry her. She said no because he was poor and would always be a poor soldier. Saddened, he went away. Then he went away for the the 30-years-war (aka the crusades) and came back a decorated hero with lots of money. When he returned, he saw her in the market, still selling her apples. Upon approach, he asked "what do you think of me now?" to which she replied "if I had only known." Needless to say, he didn't marry her. The statue shows her selling her apples and he is standing on top.

On top of the world!

See that giant spire on top? Yeah, there are 514 steps to the top of that bad boy. And I climbed every single one of them to get to the top to see the view of Cologne and the Rhine River. Then, I climbed all the way back down. It was treacherous to my little asthmatic lungs but it was totally worth it!!! Just look...

It was so breathtaking! (And I'm not only referring to the climb to the top!)