October 6, 2015
We woke up a few minutes before the alarm, just after 8,
since we are not scheduled to arrive in Cologne (Köln) Germany until
10:30. The sky was overcast and looked
like it might rain. Temperature is about
16 C. We had the buffet breakfast and sat with a couple from Canada who were
almost finished then the Florida couple, from lunch yesterday, joined us and
then another American couple arrived. We
were talking about things to do in San Diego, Santa Barbara and San Francisco,
when we visit there in May. There was a
short program of useful words in German to use when sightseeing and shopping at
9:30 a.m., which we joined late.
At 10:30, the walking tours were exiting the ship, with
our tour tokens, guest pass and audio receivers. Our group is adding a guided tour of the
Roman German museum at the end of the regular tour. There are 40 in the group. Our guide, Danielle, walked us along the
Rhine river walk and explained the flooding protection system. Our dock location is very close to where the
Roman city was located about 200 meters further inland on higher ground to
avoid occasional flooding. First stop
was to learn about St. Martin’s Church built in the 13th century and
damaged, like much of Cologne in World War 2.
There was also a Benedictine Monastery on the site. At the Olde Market Square, it was explained
that the Romans established a garrison here in 100 B.C. and stayed here for 500
years. The Rhine was the border of the
empire. On the other side lived the
barbarians. The Town Hall tower was
interesting; at different heights and on all sides were statues of significant
people in the history of Cologne and a clock.
Under the clock is a jester’s face, which, on the hour, it sticks out its
tongue. One of the figures is Agrippina, who born in Cologne and became the 4th
wife of Roman Emperor Claudius. She asked her husband, Claudius to give Cologne
city status. After the death of
Claudius, a son of Agrippina’s previous marriage, Nero, became Emperor of the
Roman Empire. We went around the tower
to the front and saw three or four wedding parties, one of them Muslim,
entering or leaving City Hall. You must
be married in a civil ceremony in Germany and can have a church wedding later.
However, only 27% of the newly-weds have a religious ceremony. There is an excavation of Roman foundations
in the courtyard. There are plans to
build around the excavated foundations and create an underground museum. This is the city where Herr Farina first
produced “Eau de Cologne”. The location of his first shop is down the street
and has a red awning hanging over the street. Another famous perfume “4711”
also originated in Cologne. They are not sold together in the same store. We walked to another square where part of
a Roman sewer had been excavated and
displayed. The Romans also had fresh
water supplied by an aqueduct. Next was
a statue of a cobbler’s wife and elves, from an old German fable about Köln. The
people were not too industrious, but at night elves would sneak into the city
and do the work of the cobbler, bakery, blacksmith, tailor, etc. and disappear
by morning having completed all tasks.
One night the cobbler’s wife was curious and with a lamp in hand,
discovered the elves at her husband’s cibbler’s bench and scared them away,
never to return.
Kölsch is the beer of Cologne, similar to a pale lager,
but there are many different recipes. A
famous beer pub is Früh, just a few streets from the main railway station and
the Cologne Cathedral. Over 1,000
patrons can be seated in its four storey building. Next we gathered in a square and the main old
city shopping street was pointed out.
This was also the location of the main shopping street of the
Romans. Then we arrived at the Cathedral
Square. The cathedral replaced an older
one and was started in 1248. It is a
UNESCO World Heritage site. As a spoils of war, the remains of the three kings
who visited Jesus were brought back from Milan and put in a golden sarcophagus
and the bishop wanted a grander cathedral to store these relics. After 300 years and only the first third
completely, a roof was added and not until 300 years later was construction
restarted and it was finally completed in 1880.
It has many beautiful stained glass windows that survived World War 2. It was hit by 14 bombs, but did not
collapse. We could not go inside until
the afternoon. The main tour ended and our group proceeded into the Roemisch
Germanisches Museum. There was a
stunning mosaic floor from the third century AD which was discovered in 1941
and is its original location. The archeologists believe it was the dining hall
of a 20 room villa, since the center figure is a drunken God of Wine. The mosaic floor reminded us of a smaller mosaic
floor that we saw in the ruins of the Roman city Euphesus in Turkey last
year. The tradition in Roman times was
to cremate the dead. We saw a collection
of funerary monuments, like tombstones with Latin inscriptions. When we left the museum the step count was
just 3,222. The sun was coming out and the temperature was about 20C, however
there were some darker clouds in the west. We followed our guide back to the
ship and went to the dining room for a buffet lunch and sat with the couple
from St. Cloud, Mn. This couple, the
couple from New York state and ourselves have decided that we will try to
gather for dinner each evening.
After lunch, we went back to the Cologne Cathedral, less
than a ten minute walk away. We were
awed by the cathedral interior. The 19th
century renewed work and completion of the cathedral was true to the original
medieval plans. The choir stalls of carved oak, the painted choir screens and the
pillars in the choir were built in the 1300s, even some of the stained glass
windows survive. The shrine of the Magi
has its own special place that is only open for unimpeded viewing on January 6th
each year. Although there is no cost to
wander around the interior, there is a cost of about $6.50 Cdn to climb the 533
stairs to near the top of a front tower, almost 158 meters tall. We climbed a stone
circular staircase on the inside of the curve, as several dozen people made
their way back down; stopped at about 300 stairs, to walk around the bell tower as the bells sounded 3
o’clock. We continued up to the next level at 400 stairs switched to a metal staircase
of 134 stairs. The light breeze was appreciated, as we were quite warm from the
climb. The view was fantastic at 11 or 12 storeys high. Then the exit staircase
was 127 winding stone stairs, followed by 388 the circular stone stairs of our
ascent to where we started. When we
exited the tower staircase to the outside, there was a very gentle rain shower,
but not enough to erect an umbrella. We walked along the shopping street, Hogh
Street, which was the shopping precinct back in Roman days on our way to the Schokolade
Chocolate Museum on the waterfront located in the Rheinau docks. We just browsed the gift shop and bought some
Lindt chocolate that is not available in Canada and some other gifts. There was
still a light rain as we walked five minutes back to the ship with our
umbrellas open.
When we returned there was a lecture about current
Germany. Then at 6:15, there was a meet your neighbor hallway gathering with
champagne where people assembled in the hall of their level and met their
neighbours for 30 minutes, before Claus’ presentation at 6:45 of the itinerary
for Wednesday. Then it was off to dinner. We had a shrimp cocktail to start
when we sat down and conspired with the couple from New York state to switch the
seating arrangement and were joined by the other two couples. We had salmon or a
hummas & pita for appetizer, then Duck breast or fresh salmon for entrée
and ending with poppy seed cake or Dark Chocolate mousse for dessert. At 9, there was a classical concert performed
by a Cologne musical trio in the Lounge followed by the evening pianist to whom
we danced until 11, then called it a night.
Final day’s steps 14,608. Almost 13 km.
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