Coming up …..
Cruise Brochure
Enjoy free time on board your ship before arriving into Cologne. Founded by the Romans, and one of Germany’s oldest cities, Cologne is famous for its magnificent World–Heritage listed Gothic Cathedral, a highlight of this stop. Join your guide and explore the city including the Old Town with its beautiful squares and historical monuments. During your free time shop for handicrafts, explore the old town or visit a local market before returning to your ship.
If you fancy going further afield book an excursion to Drachenburg Castle or Bruhl, famous for the Augustus Palace and Falkenlust.
Well, the forecast was spot on and we woke to our first sunny day of our tour ?
We opted for a light breakfast in the Lounge at the front of the boat. We were around Dusseldorf by this stage and the towns, fields and bridges passed us by as we enjoyed our breakfast with the view.
Enjoying the sundeck as we cruise toward Cologne
Our morning was pretty lazy really – with the lovely sunny weather we took advantage of the sundeck and wandered up and down the deck watching the scenery pass by as we moved closer to Cologne. Adrienne and Jo tried the noughts and crosses as well as the putt putt golf. Despite the sunshine, it was still pretty cool as the breeze kept most people reasonably rugged up.
For lunch, we again opted for the “light” version before getting organised for our first of the group walking tours of Cologne. The tour lasted about an hour and a half ending up at the Cathedral. We then went inside ourselves after the tour finished. Today it was also Greg’s birthday so after the tour we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe in Cologne for a celebratory drink. Greg has a bit of a “thing” for Hard Rock Cafe’s – he has now visited 74 of them around the world and he collects a pin as a momento from each one.
Arriving in Cologne with the huge cathedral front and centre !
Gold box said to contain the remains of the 3 Wise Men
After drinks, we headed back to the boat. Cologne was really buzzing today ! With everyone taking advantage of the fine weather, there is also the Ice Hockey World Championship happening at the moment so there are vast numbers of supporters from each country, festooned with their country jerseys, packing the pubs and bars and restaurants and preparing for the games.
Dinner was again delicious ! As I mentioned previously, today was Greg’s birthday and during dinner the lights dimmed and the crew appeared complete with birthday cake and singing happy birthday ! After dinner there was trivia – “Timelines” – where we had to determine the year of the event shown on the video screen. Competition amongst the groups was fierce however no match for the “Allowonger” team who took the liqueur and chocolates 1st prize !
Happy Birthday Greg !
During trivia, the boat set sail from Cologne as we headed further up the Rhine to our next destination – the weather reports aren’t great so we will see what happens tomorrow !
Today’s “Tour Trivia” – The city of Cologne was named by Aggrippina, wife of the Roman Emperor C..C..C..C..Claudius – calling it “Colonia”. She succeeded in convincing Claudius to elevate her birthplace to Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (Colony of Claudius and Altar of the Agrippinians) !