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Monday, June 3
We left the drapes open last night. There was a lot of lightning from about 1:30 on. Occasionally, the industrial lights bothered, but mostly we had countryside floating by.
It was a rainy day today. There's not much on the schedule other than eating until we arrive at Cologne around 2ish.
So, we spent a lot of time on the Sky Deck. It wasn't as rainy as it looked like it might be when we got up. However, the clouds are building again (11:30 ish).
Soon after we got to the Sky Deck, I noticed that we were appoaching an interesting bridge, so I dropped down to the cabin to get my camera. By the time I returned to the Sky Deck, we had passed under that bridge, but the angle was better for photography - the sun was no longer in my face. The two photos on the left show this bridge we passed under. The photo on the right shows some houses along the shore of the Rhine as we sailed past.
The photo on the left above shows the flags flying from the bow of the ship. The one on the left is the Avalon corporate flag. The one on the right is the German flag. As we pass over borders, the one on the right is for the country we are currently in. The other two photos show some of the centerpieces found on the tables on the Sky Deck. They are succulents. One of them was in bloom.
We went back to the room for a little while so I could download and label the morning's photos. Carl took this photo of me at the desk in the room with the French balcony doors open so that we could enjoy the fresh air as we continued the journey. The doors are like a triple sliding glass door where the left two both open. Really nice!
Soon it was time for lunch, then we watched the ship dock at Cologne. It's an interesting process. And the captain steers the ship using joysticks for this delicate maneuver.
We were soon able to leave the ship for a walking tour of the city. We had a very good guide! (Chris) Cologne was founded by the Romans around 50 BCE. They called it Colonia, not that different from the modern name for the city.
The walking tour started by walking along the riverside. The three photos on the left above were taken on this part of the tour. The photo on the left is our first glimpse of the Cathedral with a local train passing in front of it. The second photo is Great St. Martin Church, dating from the 12th century. It was built on the remains of Roman buildings. The third photo is another old building that was interesting, but I can't remember why... The photo on the right was taken after we left Fish Market Square (below) and shows one of the typical narrow streets in this portion of town with Great St. Martin church in the background.
When we left the river bank, our first stop was the historic Fish Market Square. This square was where the residents bought fish up to the 19th century. The photo on the left and the center photo show the fountain that dominates the center of this square. The photo on the right shows some of the old buildings that line the square.
The photo on the left above shows the Rathaus (City Hall) of Cologne. The tall tower was built in 1414 and includes statues of many prominent citizens in the city's history. The second photo shows a detail of the figures on one corner of this tower. The third photo shows another of the figures. This one is Agrippina, born in what is now Cologne in 15 CE. The formal name of the town at the time includes her name since her father (Germanicus) was colonial governor at the time. Later, she would marry Claudius and her son was Nero. She's one of about six women honored on this tower. The photo on the far right shows a detail of one of the entrances to the Cologne Cathedral.
The tour ended in front of Cologne Cathedral which is huge! The original cathedral was completed in 818, but burned in 1248. The current building was started in the 1300s, but suspended in 1483. It wasn't resumed until 1842! This cathedral was completed in 1880. At that time, it was the tallest building in the world, surpassing the Cathedral in Strasbourg, which we'll see later in the trip. It reigned as tallest building until the Cathedral in Ulm was completed in 1884, just four years later.
The cathedral appears very dark, almost black. This is because sandstone absorbs many pollutants in the air. Parts of the building are being cleaned, which must be done delicately, as sandstone is also very soft. Using a sandblaster would destroy the many carvings. You'll see some of the cleaned portions in some of these photos.
The photo on the left shows a cleaned section of a column. The stone behind it hasn't been cleaned. It makes a difference. The center photo shows the main entrance to the building. There are some cleaned sections here and scaffolding covers the portion they are currently working on. The photo on the right shows the main towers of the Cathedral and the plaza adjoining the building. Our guide is near the bottom left corner.
