14th April 2019
It was green tea this morning for a change and we all made our way to breakfast by 7:45 as we had a fairly prompt start.
We all started with fruit and a selection of cooked breakfasts: Alison poached eggs, Ruth pancakes with maple syrup, Chris a cheese and ham omelette and Peter eggs Benedict.
We moored some way outside Cologne at a pontoon in Zons, so that we could drive to Cologne while the ship motored steadily upstream to find an available berth.
We collected our boarding passes and then boarded the buses which took us to the Centre of Cologne in about 30 minutes. Once there we were joined by our guides outside the Dom (cathedral). Our guide was Mohamed (originally from Berlin).
We saw the Palm Sunday procession entering the Dom, the clergy carrying the palms, followed by the congregation and lastly the band. Because of the service we were only allowed at the back, so our guide suggested that we called back later in the afternoon. Our guide was excellent and gave us a rare insight into the development of German society, which he expanded on later in the afternoon in the lecture he gave us on the ship.
We toured the precinct and also saw the town hall, protestant church and some bars selling the local Kulsh. He also told us how best to walk back to the ship over the railway bridge, if we did not wish to take the bus.
It was still rather cold, but warmer weather has been promised for tomorrow. We headed back to the bus and warmed up a little on the short drive back to the ship, where lunch was waiting for us. We chose the restaurant today, a bit more choice than the lounge and proper tables. We met up with the couple who had shared our table last night.
Alison decided to rest for the afternoon while Peter, Chris and Ruth walked back over the bridge for another trip around the city.
They returned later and warmed up with a coffee and tea, before we went into the lounge again for the 5 o’clock lecture on German society and culture. This was a fascinating insight amusingly delivered by Mohamed.
Back to our rooms for a quick wash and change before we were back into the lounge where we heard the options for excursions tomorrow. Dinner followed, with Alison managing to get a special dietary soup followed by fish, while the others had osso buco of veal.
After dinner we had to take our coffee upstairs to be in time for the light classical concert performed by a violin and guitar duet. The standard of playing was excellent and the packed lounge gave the performers a standing ovation at the conclusion of the hour long performance.
Afterwards we retired to our room to review the pictures of the day and plan for our early breakfast tomorrow for what has been promised to be a rather strenuous walk up to Marksburg castle. During our slide show, the ship slipped its moorings and motored up river towards our next port of call.