Great Day Cruising and in Cologne

Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Rhine River, Thuringia, Germany
It was a great day. We slept in....8:30. Met in the lounge for a talk from Dragan, our cruise director about excersions we can take that are not part of the cruise....we're taking almost all of them. Except Sandy is not biking with me along the river...that's OK, she'll get her exercise elsewhere!  Today was beautiful...70+ degrees and sunny. First day I could wear shorts.  

We had lunch and met two people from Wisconsin . Not sure they appreciated me calling them "Cheddar Heads."  Oh well. They said there were 15 people from WI on the cruise. Haven't met any of them until now.

We disembarked in Cologne, Germany. Great old town. Founded by the Romans about 300 AD. We took a walking tour of Cologne.  They have these great tour communication devices with a communicator and earpiece for you and a communication device for the tour guide. We didn't like our first guide (tried to be funny, but it didn't work) so we joined another group. She was much better. Great information.

The town is dominated by a cathedral that took more than 600 years to complete. Amazing! After the walking tour Sandy and I went into the cathederal. Tremendous architecture. Supposedly the relics of the three Maji (you know, the three wisemen....no, not Larry, Curly and Mo either!) are located in the cathederal. It has the largest cfucifix in Europe and the largest altar . Very beautiful inside.
 
We did a little window shopping. Found some Hummels which we have been collecting since we got married 38 years ago. They are not as valuable as they were at one time. Too bad, I think we have more than 200! Didn't invest.

Stopped at a brewery...I know you are surprised! Interesting the waiters carried small metal basket-type containers that held several beers in slots...sort of like large communion trays.  The way it works is for you to order a beer and if the waiter sees in empty, he'll bring you another, marking a chit mark on your coaster...unless you put the coaster on top of the beer, which means, I don't want anymore. Very cool.

Back to the ship and before dinner they had a concert. A great group called La Strada performed. The trio consisted of two violinists and one guitar player....and were they simply amazing. They played a 45 minute concert of classical and gypsy music .  Again, they were fantastic. Standing ovation!  

We had dinner with folks we had met before, but never eaten together.  Both couples were from Australia...like 80% of the cruisers it seems. Great people. Finally found a few people our age, or near...did I tell you the cruise was dominated by older folks? Well it is. Sandy and I feel pretty young comparitvely. 
 
We went back into the lounge and just watched the river go by as the piano bar guy played some great music. A couple of great dancers (passengers) took the dance floor and they were great.  

Sandy headed to the cabin and I was going to finish my beer.  She got about 30 feet away when the piano guy started playing "Can't Help Falling In Love With You."  We had that song sung at our wedding....Sandy turned around and we danced!  Couldn't have planned it better! And we got applause...probably for Sandy's dancing. But it was cool!!!

Blog and bed! It was a good, good day!!!

Dave & Colee    
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