Very early in the morning we arrived in Cologne and tied up to our mooring point. This location was also an ideal location from which to tour the old city. Today's weather was a bit warmer, but also a bit damper so umbrellas were the order of the day.
Our guide led us on a serpentine route through the old part of the city and we ended up at the main Cathedral. Surrounding the Cathedral, the Christmas market preparations were in full swing. This Cathedral was lightly damaged in WWII, although much of the rest of Cologne was destroyed. The cathedral was fairly plain inside but had a more recent pipe organ installed.
Afterwards our tour went over to a local brew house to sample some local Cologne beer called Kölsch. It was a bit bitter for my taste, and we opted to leave the group and make our way back to the ship independently. Our route took us down Hoh street which is a long pedestrian mall. Along the way we sampled traditional pastry and window shopped. Our goal was to make it to the chocolate museum which was near our ship. We made it to the chocolate museum's gift shop and purchased some local chocolate and then reboarded the ship prior to our 12:30pm departure. It was too short of a time in such a large city.
Following lunch we positioned ourselves in the front of the ship in the main lounge where we watched the industrial scenery of the Rhine go by throughout the afternoon. We used the Quietvox headsets which provided periodic commentary on significant items. There was a large Ford Motor Co. plant as well as a number of chemical and other industrial plants along the river. A number of river boats passed us on their journeys upriver. It's a busy commercial waterway. We also passed under a number of very pretty suspension bridges.
At 4pm there was a special tea time with all sorts of chocolate desserts being served including a Chocolate fountain. Afterwards the pre-dinner cocktail hour was held including the Captain's farewell toast. Promptly at 7pm the farewell gala dinner was held. We ate with Annie and Micky from Taiwan and had a lovely dinner with them sharing travel adventures. This dinner, like all the rest, took two hours. As we had to be up by 4am to get our ride to the airport, we excused ourselves to finish packing and get to bed early. And finally our Castles Along the Rhine trip would be over.
It was a wonderful voyage packed with all sorts of cultural and historic locations and memories. We'd highly recommend it, and we're thinking of how we might do another river cruise. Perhaps it would be on the Danube or the Mosel. Time will tell. In the next and final installment of this trip report, I'll do a mini review and summarize our trip home. Stay tuned .
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