Colorful (This week's Photo Hunt theme)

After getting back to the office grind this past week, I am so glad that another weekend has arrived for me to remind myself why I love being in Hong Kong. And/but to think that not so long ago -- this time last week, in fact -- I was still on vacation in Germany...

For those who missed it: I've already shared some photos and thoughts from my recent holiday here, here and here. Thus far, my Germany entries have been roughly in order of when I visited the nine different towns and cities that I did while there. But I'm going to jump a couple of towns to Cologne for this Photo Hunt as it was in its UNESCO World Heritage Listed Gothic cathedral that I saw a collection of colorful stained glass windows like the ones in the first photo above.

A giant cathedral whose construction began in 1248 but was only completed in 1880, Cologne Cathedral (aka Koelner Dom) is an awe-inspiring sight both inside and outside. And as luck would have it, I ended up visiting it twice in two days -- once in the late afternoon, when the sun rays striking some stained glass windows created further colorful sights on a cathedral pillar (see the second photo above); the second time, at an earlier part of the day the next day, when the cathedral's Treasury Museum was open and the area from which one could view its chancel (where the Shrine of the Three Magi) and nine surrounding chapels with their own treasures also was made accessible to visitors.

Almost needless to say, the visits to Cologne Cathedral were among the highlights of my recent German vacation. But truly though, there really were so many of them -- and I most definitely am happy that I did go ahead and take my first vacation outside of Asia since returning to Asia in July 2003 in that European country. :)