Monumental but austere and a superb space to hear organ music: Speyer’s imperial cathedral is glorious.  And because we seem to be the luckiest travelers ever to wear matching Rick Steves backpacks, we happened to enter just as a first-rate organist performed on the cathedral’s organ.  It filled the church with sound, turning the entire building into a pulsing instrument.  I reached out to HOB and his arms, like mine were covered with goosebumps.

How we got to Speyer: train from Trier.

Where we slept: Hotel La Grotta.  Price: €74 for a double.  Recommended: yes.

The upper part of the apse is know as a dwarf gallery (is that a politically correct term?)

My cat Janacek was doing some research and would like you to know that construction of cathedral began in 1030.

The westwork façade is from the 19th century.

We didn’t take decent pictures of the Moorish, well-preserved crypt, but it is a highlight of cathedral.

I didn’t like the added on Gothic chapel so I asked HOB to stand in front of it and be a “Gothic Blocker.”

You can get an idea from the outside of the cathedral’s three aisle basilica plan.

Interior view showing the location of one of the square towers.  The cathedral has four square and two octagonal towers.

There are few things I love more than scoping out a groin vault.

The 11th century stepped entrance inside the cathedral: a luminous tunnel of love.

Organ: provider of goosebumps.