Cologne

Capital of the Rhineland, Cologne is one of the oldest and most distinguished cities in western Germany. It lies at the centre of a pious but never austere religious 32 tradition, where good Catholics take a secular, even pagan delight in the joys of the flesh. The great symbol of the Church's abiding authority is Cologne's gigantic, twin-spired cathedral. Yet the town is the scene every year of Germany's most riotous, lusty, frolicking Carnival, when wives put away their wedding rings and the husbands are not at home to complain. Phoenix-like, Cologne arose after World War II from a rubble strewn desert to become the proud, businesslike city of today. For now, as in centuries past, Rhinelanders settle down to their romantic dreams only after a hard day's work.