April 6

Day 3: Friday: Cologne

What a fascinating day! Like the CBS reality show, "Big Brother" - the slogan for Viking Cruises should be "expect the unexpected!" Why do you say that Mark? Because yesterday and today we were re-visiting cities we'd been to in 2014 and thought well, it's worth doing again for the seven new stops at the end and the castles on the Rhine (which is tomorrow - so excited). Then, yesterday was the cheese farm and that was so unique. Today we were doing the "Cologne City Tour" and we'd done that. Walked in the famous church for about ten minutes and walked around the old part of the city. Well, well, well.....NOTHING like that today. Unbeknownst to us, three years ago the "church part" was highly unusual because there was something going on during that part of the day. Today there wasn't anything going on at the church and so we got a 40 minute detailed tour of the gothic cathedral. JUST fascinating. Never would have known! We saw the shrine which holds the remains of the Three Magi; we saw stain glass windows that were installed in the 1200s. All of it, just amazing. The only thing is it WAS cold when the wind was blowing, but the sky was crystal blue with bright sunshine. Out of the sun, no wind it was gorgeous.

Shrine of the 3 Magi

The bridge & the Rhine River

The Cologne Gothic Cathedral

The train station - 2,000 trains A DAY cross the bridge (above)

The "Gnome Fountain" today (left) and three years ago (NOT under rennovation!)

We were back to the ship by 12:15 and immediately went to lunch. Met a new couple and then right back on the bus to travel to the Bruhl Palace. The guide we had there, "Unca" was so passionate and made the place come alive. Just great!

Bruhl Palace

The main staircase - the detail, just astounding

We had the option to get on the bus to go the palace "hunting lodge" or go on a half hour walk through the woods, and we opted for that. A good, l-o-n-g walk that certainly got our exercise in for the day!

Through the woods!

The Lodge Is In SIGHT!

Topped off the evening by having dinner with our new-found friends Dennis, Mary, Bob, & Nancy and then went on the top deck for a group photo with the bridge and cathedral in the background! Up early tomorrow for the Marksburg Castle and what should be THE photo of the trip then cruise through the Rhine River Valley with all the castles all afternoon. Just hoping we have an Internet connection to upload tomorrow!