Late Night Bridge Crossing

​Cologne, Germany

The night scene in this image was taken from the roof of our riverboat this past September. We had docked on the Cologne waterfront along the Rhine River. After a day of wandering the streets of Cologne, it started raining just before we re-boarded the boat. I was hoping to get some night shots after dinner and hoped that the rain would stop. I went up to the roof after dinner and this railroad bridge was the first thing I saw.

Known as the Hohenzollernbrücke Bridge, it crosses the Rhine and is the most heavily used railway bridge in Germany. Originally, the bridge was both a railway and street bridge and was heavily used during World War II. In 1945, German military engineers blew up the bridge when Allied troops began their assault on Cologne. Today, it is only accessible to rail and pedestrian traffic.

I really liked the glow of the bridge after the rain and was able to catch a train crossing the bridge during this 11-second exposure.