Cologne, Germany                                                                                     Located on both sides of the Rhine River, Cologne is Germany’s fourth largest city, with over 1 million inhabitants.  Cologne benefits economically by being sandwiched between Dusseldorf and Bonn, two important political centers; the city became and still is home to a number of federal agencies and organizations.  The Cologne Cathedral is one of the City’s and Germany most popular tourist sites. As many tourists do, we climbed the 509 stone steps of the spiral staircase to a viewing platform about 322 feet above the ground for a surprisingly unimpressive view of the City and the Rhine River, due mostly to the need to have chicken wire covering all of the openings at the top of the spire.