Rhine Getaway Viking River Cruise
Day 6: Friday, November 05, 2021 - Cologne, Germany
The day's statistics:
Weather: low 50s, cloudy with a brief shower
Steps: 13,866 Linda; 13,375 Steve
Miles traveled (approximately): 25
We dropped our PCR saliva sample off at the front desk on the way to the restaurant.
Today's breakfast was, for Linda, the egg benedict, while I had the buffet items again too. Linda's egg benedict was literally
the same thing as the previous day (not that there's anything wrong with it) but, though I had the buffet each day, some of the
items were a little different so technically it was a different meal eat day, however so slightly...
Typically, the ship docks for the day (or some portion of it) and it departs after we all return. This day the ship dropped us off,
and we boarded buses for about a 45 minute bus ride to Cologne. Eventually the ship would get to the dock at about 12:30.
But before the ship dropped us off, we were able to capture another boat. Carrying a car.
This is the approximation of out walk this morning (remember the bus dropped us off).
- Dark green line is the walk from the bus stop, through the courtyard, the square, and eventually to Peter's Brauhaus
(for a technical break), starting in the upper right corner.
- Medium green line is the walk from the brauhaus to the cathedral.
- Light green line is the walk from the cathedral to the ship.
Today our tour guide was Rocco.
We boarded a bus for the trip to Cologne. There is late rush-hour traffic in Germany too.
This traffic sign shows that there are three lanes open. While I do not know if the sign and roadway supports
bi-directional traffic, the sign does show when there is a lane closing as the arrow points toward the inside
lanes. Also, the 100 on top is the speek limit. And again, for the metric challenged, it is on;y 62 mph.
Here are some sights we captured along the way.
While I can identify quite a few cars from their body, and perhaps with or without the emblem (but, as Linda will attest, not the
really old cars) there were some car models that I had never seen before, and some makes / brands that are only in Europe.
While we were in or through probably about ten cities and large towns, and a few smaller ones, we really didn't see too
much grafitti / street art. That's why I took a picture of it when I saw it.
We got off the bus and started the walking portion of our tour.
This facility got a temporary permit. So they put a temporary "roof" on it that consisted of this canvas sort of covering.
That was 10 years ago. The townfolk call the building the "trashbag".
A street sign.
The Rhine. With a boat. Carrying a car...
The Rhine in the other direction. (Our ship will eventually be parked on this side of the river on the other side of that bridge.)
Pictures from WW2 showing most of the city destroyed. Except primarily for the cathedral. We were told that was
because the allies used the building as the landmark for dropping their bombs. So it was spared.
The other side of the river. That's where the "native weird ones" live. The "stuck up new ones" live on this side
of the river.
Those are "love locks" on the fence on the bridge. Buy a lock, put it on the fence, and throw the key into the river
- and you will be together forever. (The grafitti appears to just be the tag "Ant Akse".)
One [humerous] thought is that there have been a number of drownings of guys jumping into the river to try to get the key.
Another one is that they switched to combo locks so they can be unlocked. Ha ha ha.
A kiosk selling the locks, found a little later in the tour, in town.
There are two guards in bright yellow at the top of the steps. They are there to keep pedestrians off the plaza.
When the band in practicing in the music hall. Underneath the plaza.
Yea, in case you didn't follow that - they didn't soundproof the music hall underneath the plaza, so when the band
is practicing, they can hear the people walking above.
Some non-specific sights.
There was a small courtyard with some restarants and residences around a fountain and a tree (and yes, there
are actually braces holding up the limbs).
I would not want to have to go up and down this staircase, ever.
We left the courtyard and entered the square, where city hall is located.
In defiance to "those in charge" (the government), when the clock chimes, the face below the clock sticks out
its tongue (we weren't around long enough to see that).
And in further defiance to those in charge, take a look at the very top of this building.
Here's a closer up. Do you see what is going on? Yes, the statue is "mooning the government", and has been for
over 600 years.
There were some wedding happening this day...
In this square, they were getting ready to start setting up for a celebration. On the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of
the 11th month, the city begins the celebration of the Mardi Gras carnival.
There is a bakery off the square that has this picture hanging in the window.
This is another shot of the distruction from the bombing during the war. As mentioned before, the cathedral was spared.
Somehow, the building in the left foreground remained standing as well. This bakery is in that building.
It was also in front of this window that our guide gave a heart felt thanks to the United States and Americans for
all the help that has been provided to Germany over the years, from helping liberate Germany (getting rid of Hitler) through
now (with tourism). Most travelers were, shall we say, "verclempt". Choked up a little?
Rocco also told us that he takes classes to Auschwitz. It takes him two or three days to "recover" from the visit. So
don't let anyone tell you the Holocost isn't real.
We crossed the square and went down a street to the right a little. Our guide knew the owner and they had an deal
so the owner let the tour groups use the restrooms. We didn't eat there, but it was a nice place.
Their menu.
And attached to the front of the building just outside the door, was this little guy (with his story. In
German. Sorry.).
After our technical break, we returned to our journey toward the cathedral.
Just about this time we had a brief shower. Brief meaning like 10 minutes. That was it. And that was it for
not only the rest of the day, but the rest of the trip. There were a couple threats, but this was the last rain.
The woman (?) is wearing a apprentice uniform. They are now eligible to travel from town to town to do work
for room and board.
On our approach to the cathedral, to the right, there was a rather modern building. It actually looked a little
out of place within this older town, especially in the shadow of this immense old cathedral.
But the reason is because when they were digging for a new building, they found some old Roman ruins. So they turned
the site into a museum. Here are some of the ruins from the window.
The cathedral, from afar, and progressively closer.
Some close-ups of the outside
A lot of the stone is sandstone. Plentiful, but comparatively soft. And requires frequent repair. Just in front of us, standing
somewhere to the side of front door, was this "damage". Let's just say... this is a REALLY big church. With a LOT of sandstone.
And across the plaza in front of the church... the "golden arches".
And then we got to go inside (after we showed proof of vaccination and put on a mask).
There was a pretty good amount of stained glass windows...
This picture (while not perfectly focused) isn't pixelated, that's the actual design in the window.
It's a big cathedral...
Some of the pipes for the organ.
In the church, under the single spire in the church from a distance image above, is this shrine, a shrine
to the three wise men, or maji, completed in 1225. It contains the bones of the three wise men.
Some other sights in the cathedral.
The pictures don't completely capture the size of the cathedral. Nor the "special-ness" of it.
After some time, we made our way through the cathedral, left, and started heading back to the ship.
Along the way we stopped at a shop for some souvenirs.
Here are some of the sights continuing on the return.
We were walking along the river. Then we hit some construction. On the sidewalk. So we had to divert our path a little.
In the first image, rather than walk down the right side straight to the ship, we walked along the path under the bridge and
crossed over the highway, walked along the highway (on the left looking at this picture) briefly, crossed over the highway
again - taking these pictures - down some steps to the sidewalk, and THEN to the ship.
There are three points of this image. The first is that this shows the stairs at the end of construction detour described above.
The second is that the water line is relatively low. The third is that wood is put around the base of the tree to help
protect it from construction equipment.
Why did we go back to the ship? For lunch, of course.
By the way, we COULD have stayed in Cologne if we wanted, and had lunch there. But there are two reasons why we chose not to do that.
One is because we enjoy the meals on the ship, and two, more importantly, because we had another excursion planned after lunch.
Here's today's menu.
From today's market fare, Linda had the potato salad with ham and eggs, and Steve had the whipped calamata olives
(trust me, it's under the cucumber and carrot slices).
We also each had a vegetarian taco in a newspaper wrapper.
Linda had cream of broccoli soup (I won't mention a small accident someone may or may not have had with the
soup), prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella foccacia, and the appricot tart for dessert.
Steve the crudite platter (again), golden fried parmesian crusted veal scaloppini (the spaghetti veggies were
underneath the veal), and the banana split for dessert.
For reference, when sat for lunch, Linda had 6.1K steps and Steve had 7.6k.
Our next excurion was a trip to visit the Brühl Palace.
This afternoon's guide was Daedae ("day-day"), and there were only six travelers on this excursion.
This was the first gas station was saw. I did what I could to quickly capture the prices while on a moving bus.
The first cuts off the bottom of the sign, the second is blurry, but still fairly legible.
The US typically has as many as four octane ratings that are usually 87, 89, 91, and 93, and diesel. Here it looks like they
have two types of diesel, and four others (the very last row doesn't appear to be for gas, but what it IS for is illegible).
There are some that are currently complaining - no surprise there - about gas prices, just like they were two years
ago when we went to Europe.
These prices are per liter. PER LITER. Again, for the metric challenged, there are ~3.75 liters in a gallon. So the
US equivilent, in order, for this station, are: $6.15, $6.79, $6.60, $6.82, and $7.31 (assuming that its 1.95 and not
1.99). So those that are whiney little b***hes about $3.00 or $4.00 per gallon can just sit down and shut up.
These "L-shapes apartments" are supposedly very expenseive. Seven figure expensive. And let's hope the elevators
always work, because that is a LOT of stairs...
Some ruins. In the middle of the city.
If you took the written words off this sign (not including the logos), you would almost think you were in the US
somewhere...
We entered Route 555, aka a section of the autobahn. YES! Unlimited speed!
When the speed limit sign has no number but rather four black lines at an angle on it, that means there is no limit.
In your dreams! At least mine. But maybe not on a bus...
We eventually arrived at the palace.
The palace is Clemens August's palace (as said above, also known as the Brühl Palace). He was the Prince Elector and Archbishop of Cologne.
And the gardens.
Inside, some various sights...
Nice gold leaf wall paper, right? Well, actually no. It is really silver, with something over it that causes
a reaction that turns it gold colored.
Our Palace guide, Peter, showing us a picture of damage to the palace during the war.
After we toured one of the wings, we entered the "foyer".
Looking at the full image a few rows above, there is an opening that goes through the building right in the middle. From the direction of the
image, horse and carriage would proceed through this entryway, and the visitors would enter the palace to the right. That foyer area is where
this selection of pictures is from. It was an opulent, two story foyer with the stairs leading to a room that is actually above the entryway.
And that isn't marble, it is a coating made to look like marble.
This gate is to the entryway, and you can see the opening to the outside on the right. We approached the palace
from that direction.
This figure was on the other side of the entryway, across from the gate.
This stitch generates an optical illusion. The round section at the top looks like it at the top of the wall, but
it is actually the ceiling - with the chandelier hanging from the middle of it. So if you were there, and stood at
the bottom of the stairs, and looked up, this is how it would look, from top to bottom.
(I left this one a little bigger than some of the others, so you should be able to zoom in nicely.)
A close up of the chandelier.
These figures, around the top of the ceiling, look like they are holding up the ceiling. Here is a close up of them,
though they are visible in a couple of the other shots too, such as the chandelier one above.
The figures look like they are interacting with each other too - and not just in pairs, but also between a couple
of the pairs as well.
The center of the ceiling.
There is some symblism in there too, such as the CA (for Clemens August) on the monument, and the lion at the base of the monument for power.
The gathering room, where dancing also took place, is above the entryway.
The ceiling in our house is painted flat white. How about yours?
The dining room, with some china.
The ceiling in our house is painted flat white. How about yours?
This door, off the dining room, doesn't actually go anywhere. It is there to provide symetry to the room.
Some more sights of the palace.
The ceiling in our house - oh, never mind.
And more...
Off the library (the room with the last chandelier above) was a "hidden door" that was used by the servants to enter the room / area
on the sly. This was sprung on us and I didn't get a shot of it because it was opened and people filed through it in no time.
A reinforced servants staircase.
Around the road from the palace is the "hunting lodge" (that's what they called it...). It can also be
accessed by walking through the garden, out the back, and through the woods.
There were a LOT of falcons throughout, separately or included in some of the art.
A work of art were Clemens was dressed to try to look like "one of the guys"...
A curved bathroom.
We were done inside, and were headed back to the bus. But a minor detour to the on-site chapel first.
The chapel is dedicated to Saint Mary of Egypt, a former prostitute (feel free to look her up on Wikipedia).
We started our return trip back to the ship. Just outside the palace area, we spotted a rather large harvested
crop of sugar beets (quick attempt from the moving bus...).
And closer to the ship.
After a brief nap, it was time for our daily port talk before dinner.
Tonight's menu.
Linda had crispy Mediterranean tart, seared cod fillet, and white chocolate cherry ice cream for dessert (she
was origianlly not going to have anything, but Sam sort of talked her into it).
Steve had Cologne cheese soup, Indian lamb curry, and Donauwelle for dessert.
After dinner and a brief break, we stopped by the coffee station for a cup of coffee and then headed to the lounge
for some local entertainment.
Before the local entertainment showed up, we listened to Daniele play the piano. Here's a song.
The entertainers consisted of a violiniest and a guitarist. They played a number of selections and they were very good.
We were also underway again. We were on a moving ship and it was night. So a couple of these aren't perfect.
We returned to our room and went to sleep.