Sunday June 9th

We were in Cologne, Germany and it was an event filled day. We had breakfast and then got ready for our morning walking tour of the Cologne cathedral. We were ready with our things gathered and the ship was safely tied up. Then Sam came on the PA to announce that there were some unforseen problems. They were having a marathon in Cologne and many roads were blocked off making it impossible for the buses to reach us. That would not do since we were a half hour walk from where our tour was to begin. To solve the problem the captain agreed to move the ship to the town center just long enough for us to disembark. Then he would return to our assigned docking location. That move would bring us past the closed roads and into the area of the tour. This move would take about 25 minutes which would mean a shortened tour but that was a solution to the problem. So away we went. Of course all of the tour guides and drivers etc. had to be notified of the time and location change.
Our guide was Peter and he was very good. Being from Holland he has several different comments during our walk.

We walked over the bridge with all of the lovers locks. He told us how many tons of locks were on this bridge. I think he said 25 tons but I will have to check that with Google. It was really amazing to see.

Once you get on the bridge you can see more of the famous Cathedral. It is unbelievable and all I can say is look at the pictures. You will be dumb struck when you realize the time period in which it was begun.

Because it was Sunday we believed we could not enter the cathedral. But last minute Peter learned that we could go inside. He gave us 10 minutes to have a quick peek. Of course Ken and I went in, cameras in hand. I lit a candle for Len, took pictures got a guide, tried to get change to pay for it. There was a sermon happening in German. We did not understand it but we were awestruck by the architecture. I was hoping to hear the organ but no luck.

Then we left. Unfortunately we had been there 15 minutes, not the allowed ten.

So we tried to find our group and met with no success. We could not even hear Peter on our Quietvox devices. We walked to where they might be and then gave up. We were in a strange city, we did not know the language and we did not know where we were going. We were not really worried but we decided that we had better make our way back to the square in front of the cathedral. We knew there would be Viking guides there and we knew where out bus would be leaving from.


We saw Sam and checked with him, we were right on the location and the bus to return us to the ship would be there in 10 minutes.


The rest of the day was uneventful. We basically relaxed and enjoyed the ship. People watching on the Rhine... who would have ever thought we would be in Cologne Germany enjoying the scenery.

As an aside it would not have crossed my mind... especially since I thought Cologne was in France. Eau de Cologne should come from Cologne and than should mean Cologne was in France. I discovered my ignorance when we booked this cruise.


After dinner there was entertainment in the longue. We were entertained by 3 pieces of the Cologne Academy of Music. They played classical pieces that were very familiar and they also did some modern music. It was VERY good.

By then it was time for the ship to leave port and we watched sail away before we called it a night.