June 03, 2024 Cologne Germany

 Cologne, Germany

June 03, 2024

This morning out ship docked in Cologne. It was another cold and blustery day with the temperature at only 52F (11C). There was no rain forecast but it was a heavy gray sky with a nasty cold wind blowing.  We got off the ship to do the walking tour of the city and I ran back onto the ship to pull on an undershirt.  Hey! It's June.

The guide started us off and spent a great deal of time telling us about the roman ruins which were under the city streets and how they are working on this huge subterranean excavation which is on going and it will be a great experience when it is finished.  However no dates were given or any thing much to see of the progress. 

On the way to the Cologne Cathedral we stopped by the Grand St Michaela's chapel but did not go in.  We also stopped by a local brew house on the way and got the low down on how to order a beer in Cologne.  Simply take a coaster from the rack and place it in front of  yourself and fresh beers will be brought to you until you place the coaster on top of your glass.  

The Cologne Cathedral is the largest gothic cathedral, and it is really huge.  It was started in 1288 and was finished in 1888. It is truly magnificent.  It's huge scale is just over powering.  The soaring columns to the ornately laid mosaic tile work on the floors,  the gold inlaid relic chests, and magnificent stained glass windows are all just unbelievable.

After the tour we headed back to the ship which is tied up right down town.  On the way we stopped in a fabric shop where Agnes and Sandra purchased some very nice fabric.  

After lunch I walked up to the Lindt chocolate museum which was about the only museum open on a Monday.  They had just about every kind of chocolate bar and candy you could imagine on display along with a huge case of chocolate cakes which you could order a slice.  Having just finished lunch I passed on the cake but it sure looked good.

Cologne is a very interesting city as it has a lot of very old buildings which either survived the war or were rebuilt but it also has a lot of ultra modern architecture such as the Microsoft building which is right on the river.

All of this is not really the big story.  The big story is that all of the rains have caused a huge flood in southern Germany.  Some of the towns we just sailed through the water is up over 1.5 meters.  I saw a story on MSN news that the Rhine River has been closed to marine traffic.  Some of the pictures show huge amounts of flooding.  The river here is very high and has risen a lot since we docked this morning.  I think we got very lucky to have made our trip when we did. 

Terry