Although our ship was near the entrance to the Main River where we will be mostly traversing, we first travelled north on the Rhine River to Cologne where we spent the day exploring. There was an organized walking tour of the downtown area once we arrived. Although we have ~140 passengers on board they have a good system of breaking us up into manageable sized groups, each with a specific local guide for tours. We were given colored coded cards to define our group and we would rally around the same color flag held by the local guide. Vantage provides passengers with state-of-the-art “whisperers” to use to easily hear what the tour group leader is saying without having to be standing right next to him/her. This is a wonderful technological advance for group tours.

The major sight in Cologne is their gothic styled cathedral. The last time we were in Cologne we could not go into the cathedral because there was a funeral being held for an important local dignitary and the church was closed to outsiders. Today is Sunday so we have to deal with all the Sunday masses being held at the church.  Free access could not be possible until after 12 noon. Our tour leader did tell us about the church and its history as we walked around the outside. Construction of Cologne Cathedral began in 1248 but was halted in 1473, unfinished. Work did not restart until the 1840s, and the edifice was completed to its original Medieval plan finally in 1880. It is the most visited site in Germany, with some 20,000 people a day. The cathedral is the largest gothic church in Northern Europe and has the second tallest spires of any church. It was made famous because it houses the relics of the three Kings who visited Christ at his birth. The church is in constant renovation; there are 80 full time artisans working there.

Near the church is a museum built around an almost complete mosaic floor from a Roman villa that occupied that spot. We were able to see the beautiful floor that was in the dining area of the former mansion.

Our walking tour then proceeded along the shores of the Rhine River  to an area where the old medieval markets were located. It is now an area with restaurants, bars and entertainment venues. The tour ended at one of the famous brewing houses where we tasted the famous local beer, “Fruh Kolsch”.

We all remembered that our last visit to Cologne in 2015 included a stop at a local pastry shop near the cathedral where we had some fabulous pie. We all wanted to go back because it was so good. Thankfully Bruce remembered where it was so off we went. After all, why not have some dessert after a beer! They did not have the exact same pastries we had last time but we found some equally good substitutes.

We had to walk back (~ 1 mile)  to the ship for lunch as we missed the bus and quickly dropped into the Cathedral even though there was a mass going on. We simply could not go beyond the back of the church but I managed to catch a few photos of the inside.

The offered afternoon activities were to walk back into the city center (Bruce & Jan did that) or take a 5 mile bike trip along the Rhine River which Yvonne and I chose to do. This was made possible because the ship has 20 modern bikes on board for guests to use. Neither of us has ridden a bike in over 10 years but what could go wrong? This was a challenge that had to be met! As we reported to our sons, we survived the ride without injuring ourselves or any pedestrians we met along the way!

 

Dinner tonight was a set course Captain’s dinner featuring sirloin steak and multiple accompanying dishes.

The on-board entertainment for the night was two local women who sang noted German songs “through the ages”.

Needless to say because of the walking and bike riding (15,945 steps worth) we slept very well that night!