Cosmopolitan Cologne

It was an early morning into Cologne. For the first time on this journey, our arrival was overcast and rainy. As has been the practice, we were met by a local guide who welcomed us enthusiastically to 'her' city! Our tour led us past several 'brauhaus's' along the way. Luckily, I have a good sense of direction...found them all later in the afternoon. Pictures don't suffice for this structure, The Dom , twin spires that require 521 steps just to climb to the base of the spire, a cathedral that took 600 years to complete; we were amongst the regular 30,000 visitors per day. Dark, no heat, massive stained glass windows, red-robed members of the Swiss Guard, overwhelming to say the least. While we spent approximately 90 minutes at the cathedral, one could literally spend days there.
Our afternoon consisted of free time touring through a massive shopping mall area. My son will appreciate that standing opposite each other were two stores...SportsCheck and Sposstadt Sports. There was one sports store that specialized Nordic walking attire and poles.
Onboard the Bragi for the evening, yet another enjoyable dinner followed by a concert, "Music of Cologne".
It was just prior to 3:00AM when the Bragi struck the bridge pylon...crushed the pylon, throwing everything on board,"ass over tea kettle", as we would say in Kanata. The biggest hit was taken by the dishes...over 50% were smashed! The result was a ten hour delay whilst local officials, police and river authorities completed their respective investigations. The captain called us all together to explain what had occurred and the subsequent reactions. The biggest disappointment for me was that because of the occurrence, Kinderdijk would be dropped from the itinerary...no World Heritage site for us today...all my life I've wanted to see real windmills!
As we begin the final hours together aboard the Bragi, there is much to do in order to disembark. Settling of accounts, packing for the next phase. We will leave the boat in Amsterdam tomorrow morning at 5:45...heading to the airport for flights to Frankfurt, then on to Marlow, England.
Travelling with our friends the Barbers and Coulas's has been such a wonderful experience. I can't wait to share the thousands of photos we've accumulated...once back in Canada!