Today we had a leisurely start, with a late breakfast as there were no activities planned for the morning – except a quiz on jumbled names of countries of the world.During the afternoon, the ship arrived into the vibrant city of Cologne (Koln). We arrived an hour late because of the strong current due to the low level of the Rhine. Europe is in the grip of a drought, (though in the same way we think of it) meaning that river levels are low and tulip growers have to irrigate.
Cologne is one of Germany’s largest cities and has a history which spans over 2000 years. We took a walking tour with Oliver (a nice young Cologner) who provided an interesting account of the fantastic history of Cologne, one of the furthest north outposts of the Roman Empire - and the story of how Agrippina she raised Cologne to the status of a legal Roman colony after she married the emperor Claudius, before killing him to install her son Nero on the throne.
We saw the Cologne Cathedral which dominates the city and sucks an incredible amount of money (10 Million euros a year) to maintain. Oliver described the way that Cologners see themselves, as laid back group of Germans, courtesy of the influence from the Romans. He also explained the stories behind some of the statues and sculptures that we passed. Most of the city was destroyed by aerial bombing during WWII but has been rebuilt, in some cases identical buildings to those that existed before the war. We also saw the Rathaus (Town Hall) with its many statues, all re-sculpted from drawings and photographs. Amazing.
We spent the rest of the late afternoon & evening exploring the town, including a lego shop where you could buy variouse pieces in the same way as candy at the movies – fill a plastic cup with your selection & pay. It was pretty warm, so when we returned to the boat we had a short dip in the deck-top pool which was fairy cool, but just warm enough for a quick dip. The boat headed off, and we found ourselves having another delicious meal as evening fell, cruising up the river and watching lights came on in the towns along the river. Fantastic.