Day 6: Cologne

We sailed into Cologne with the beautiful views of the Dom (Cologne Cathedral). The 4th tallest church in the world and another UNESCO world heritage site. 

After breakfast, we met our tour guide for a walking tour of part of the city and the Dom. 

We learned about Cologne’s history including its Roman influence. Since it is Monday and in Germany all museums are closed we didn’t get to see this up close. The Dionysus mosaic floor below is in the Romano-Germanic Museum. It dated back to AD 220-230. 

Inside the Dom, the tour guide described all the time that went into the cathedral. They began build in 1248 and 632 years later it was complete. Quite the turn around. 

The stained glass windows were so impressive as you can tell Mo, Kris and I were pretty enthralled. Pictures just can not do them justice. It was freezing inside, I can’t imagine how people could sit thru a full service.

We all took a little break and went back to the boat to warm up and have some lunch. MO stayed back to study the inside of his eyelids, while the rest of us explored a nearby Christmas market. 

I tried to convince Kelly to go curling with me. I know if Christina had been here she would have gone with me. 

They also had ice skating. 

Instead we did the next best thing, we tried out some local cocktails: a Kölsch beer, Glühwein (hot mulled wine), and Eierpunsch (hot egg nog). They were sure something...

After adventuring around and spending some money on this and that at the market, our next big adventure was a lecture from a professor from Cologne, on current day Germany. The nerds in our crew really loved it. 

Last but not least, we celebrated MO and Kris’s 46th wedding anniversary. The ship left them a cake in their room.

Tomorrow, the day of castles.