We went to bed in The Netherlands and woke up in Germany to a grey wet day. We spent the morning cruising along, looking at the scenery. They also screened a war documentary on Cologne in preparation for docking there later this afternoon. It was bombed heavily in the war so much of the city architecture will be post war. Apparently the rivers are low at present so we have had to travel at reduced speed, meaning that changes have had to be made to the schedule. Water levels are critical to these cruises. Too low and the boats can't travel, too high they can't get under some of the bridges. Hopefully it won't affect us.
We are going on a guided walk in Cologne this afternoon, which we are looking forward to. Looks like we will need our macs.
Fast forwarding, had a wet and quite cold tour of the city which is an interesting mix of buildings. The cathedral is very ornate and miraculously survived the intensive bombing that the city suffered in the war. New buildings in the centre have been built sympathetically in the old style of architecture. Interestingly, we sat this evening for dinner with two ladies, mother and daughter. The mother was German and had immigrated to Canada in her late teens, so her memory of Hitler was all very positive, as he had done a lot to improve education and she could see no other side to him. It made for a very interesting conversation over dinner. Lots of fun, meeting so many different people.
Tomorrow we go through the Rhine valley which we are really looking forward to.
A few pics of Cologne...
Post war buildings in typical German style - note the profusion of blue brollies in our tour group.
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