Planning to Attend Christmas Eve Service -Attire

The cathedral website has a FAQ on appropriate dress: "Clothing should be appropriate for the house of God. Sleeveless or cropped tops are considered inappropriate as are short shorts or skirts. Men may cover their heads for health or religious reasons. Religiously offensive or racist symbols will not be tolerated"

However, keep in mind the weather, and the fact that the cathedral will be quite cool. Since you likely won't want to even remove your coats or jackets, I wouldn't worry about a suit and tie, or even dress shoes.

Check to see if the Cathedral is heated. I have been in churches in the winter in which my feet froze! You may need layers.
Have a wonderful trip!

Thank you both. I assumed the crop tops and offensive slang were out. LoL the fact that even has to be said is mind boggling! I hadn't thought about it being cold in the sanctuary. That is so true and I appreciate your pointing this out. I was thinking of wearing black corduroy pants, a turtleneck sweater and some dressy flats. I was going to carry them in my backpack and slip them on before walking in if the weather is rough so I don't look like a drowned rat. Now that I look at our flight,we may not be able to do Christmas Eve service there. Ours is always at midnight here and I know trains are on limited schedule on the holidays. Our flight is the next morning (Christmas day) out of Frankfurt at 10 something a.m. so no way I am chancing missing my flight. Hubs will need to go to this church earlier on in the trip.
Again, I appreciate you both and your helpful replies!

There is a midnight Christmas Eve mass in the Cologne Dom. If you are OK with just a few hours sleep before flying home, it is doable.

As an alternative, book a hotel adjcent to the Frankfurt airport (e.g. Sheraton) for Christmas Eve. Attend a service in Frankfurt and taxi to the airport at the end of the service. Since you skip the hour+ trip from Cologne to FRA, you mighjt find this less stressful on your travel home day. See the Dom and drink some Kolsch earlier in the week.

The Cathedral website shows that Midnight Mass is at 2255, preceded by Christmas Music at 2230.

There are masses earlier in the day at 0615, 0700 and 0800 and also Vespers at 1530. So Vespers may be a good service to attend.

The 0700 seems to be the principal daytime mass that day.

Regardless of where you may be able to attend an evening service, I would like to add that big stone cathedrals in any Northern European city are rarely heated much. We’ve always just worn our layers and coats even on Christmas Eve.

@JKH-- I can go without sleep, since we will just be sitting on the plane for the next 11 hours on t he ride home, but DH who is the Catholic (I am not) will not make it without sleep! LOL! I will run it past him and see if he thinks it is something he will want to do. The trains and the schedules are giving me anxiety with the booking ahead. Prices appear to go up every few days in price on these trains! I was also concerned with the train schedules Christmas Eve/Christmas day being reduced.

@isn31c -- Thank you for letting me know these times. I will need to ask my husband if he is willing to go without sleep that night for Cologne. I hadn't realized the distance from Cologne to Frankfurt on the trains and was worried about reduced trains because of the holiday schedules.

@Mona --- I appreciate your letting me know about the "chill", I knew in my head that old stone buildings are always cold, but why I never thought about them being seriously cold in Europe is a mystery to me. I should have thought of that and I didn't so I appreciate everyone letting me know that I need to dress for Friday night Football in November in North Texas. Layers LAYERS Layers!

Do wear some good warm layers…long underwear if you have it!
I went to a concert in Notre Dame in Paris….before the fire….one early February evening and nearly froze.
I did have warm layers on, but sitting still without moving made it much colder.
There is nothing like hearing music in an old European stone church.

You have received good advice about clothing. If your flight is in the morning on Christmas you should be spending the night in Frankfurt. The German trains have become unreliable, and I have discovered this first hand because I’ve just spent 3 weeks in Germany. The suggestion to stay at an airport hotel is a good one, or at the very least stay at a hotel near the train station in Frankfurt. I’ve stayed at Hotel Hamburgerhof twice, as recently as last December. It is clean and safe. The taxi stand is just outside so it’s easy to take a taxi to the airport. You can also take the train to the airport if you prefer.

https://hamburgerhof.com/?lang=en

Not sure if your heart is set on Cologne, but there are services in the Frankfurt Kaiserdom too. Plus, at 16:30 on Christmas Eve, there is the Pealing of the Bells. This is super popular with the Frankfurters, as it is 50 bells from 10 churches ringing for 30 min.
Stay overnight in the city center around the Hauptwache area, and take your train to the airport. Every 15 min. and it only takes 15 min. to get there.

You can wear anything you like to services that is comfortable.

I appreciate all of the suggestions!
1. Wear layers-dress warm for mass- Check!
2. Wear comfortable clothes and not necessary to be "dressed up"-just covered for mass-Check!
3. Consider skipping Mass in Cologne and hit Frankfurt instead for simplicity-Check!

We did decide to skip Cologne for the mass and we will be instead doing Frankfurt for mass on Christmas Eve. We will stay in Frankfurt from the 23rd through the 25th early and do a day trip to Cologne that first day so he can see his church there that he is interested in. I am grateful someone mentioned the bells in Frankfurt on Christmas Eve so I am thankful for that. I love listening to that. I am sad I will miss the market in Frankfurt BUT I will hit the Rothenburg odT one, Munich ones, Nuremburg and I am sure I will possibly be able to hit the one in Cologne. Our schedule is currently: Land in Frankfurt Dec 17 then RodT thru 19th. Nuremberg thru 21st. Munich 21-23 then Frankfurt thru Dec 25th when we fly out.