We woke up this morning in Koln (Cologne) and shortly headed off to see the city with an energetic young university history student named Max as our guide.
He was dressed more conservatively than our red coated Birgit in Koblenz, but he did have a wicked sense of humor and a whole batch of stories that always seemed to circle back to beer. It seems that most pubs specialize in only one type of beer so you do have to do a real crawl if you want to sample multiple brews. For total cachet, the Einstein lager has to take the prize.
Our guide also relished telling us about the Cologne cafe tradition that you will be brought a glass of beer and when it is empty they will keep on refilling it until you cover the top of your glass with your coaster. Your bill will then reflect the number of little marks on that coaster put there by your waiter. He showed us one of his that had 24 marks on it. Dryly (or perhaps liquidly) he deadpanned that he did have a few friends with him that night.
We wound our way through narrow streets and some back alleys all the while being regaled with the stories of the "eleven virgins," lots of bones, and the golden sarcophagus in the cathedral containing (supposedly) the bones of the Three Wise Men. .
We discovered that if you are hungry there are always fresh jelly donuts awaiting
in Cologne. Yum and more yum.
Finally we reached the super Gothic mass that is Cologne Cathedral.
Max explained that it didn't really look like much n the middle ages as the only completed portions of the cathedral were the choir and one tower. It took until the 1800's until what we see today was fully finished.
The city of Cologne was almost 90% destroyed in WWII though the allies made great efforts to avoid the cathedral. Below is a picture our guide had of the city just after the war in 1945.
DISAPPOINTMENT! It turned out that the day we were in town was also the day of an area wide children's feast day. Teachers and their classes were everywhere.
And you guessed it. The main gathering point was the cathedral where a commemorative service was being held. The huge church was filled to the brim with school groups and their teachers. We tourists were relegated to a small area at the rear of the nave. No way to get back to the famous three kings shrine or to really see most of the the statuary and windows. Only a few photos were possible This was the only window I could actually see straight on..
Yet when you have lemons there is always the possibility of lemonade. While we were standing with the crowd at the back the organ sounded forth and the congregation of children launched into a hymn.
I grabbed my phone and managed to get a short recording of the singing complete with hand movements.
More serendipity on the way back to the boat. We came across another large group of children exiting a different church.
It turned out to be the Romanesque St. Martins.
Unlike the main cathedral it did not escape the bombs and pictures inside illustrated what it looked like after the war.
A careful rebuilding, however, has left a lovely space. We were able to enter after the children had left.and had the sanctuary almost to ourselves.
The windows are modern but still impressive.
One remarkable mosaic near the altar has been restored to its ancient glory.
Goodbye Cologne Hope to return some day
It was a gorgeous afternoon to sail and we had the Captain's final dinner to look forward to that evening. Salmon appetizer, a pea soup, delicious sea bream with veggies for main course.
There was the traditional staff parade.
The chef and his crew prepared Baked Alaska for dessert.
And Victor. our favorite barman and waiter, was ready to serve.
A pleasant good evening to all.
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