Friday November 1st, 2024. All Saints Day. Cologne, Germany.
I don’t think I mentioned yesterday that we would be leaving Koblenz, Germany at 3am to head towards our next destination on the Viking Hiln. The problem with a 3am departure being on the starboard side of the ship with a balcony is we are on the side where the gangplank and the bow lines are attache so when the ship has to leave at 3am there is a lot of noise outside our balcony. Of course the noise woke both of us up. Not ideal in the least when we are both struggling with colds and need as much rest as we can get!
In the Port Talk yesterday our Program Director Jackie told us that we had good news and bad news for Cologne. We had bad news the last time we were in Cologne last December in that the Cologne Cathedral which they call the “King of all European Cathedrals” was closed to the public due to a bomb threat scare. The only people getting inside last Christmas into the cathedral were a children’s choir who were rehearsing for the upcoming New Year’s Eve service. Anyway, we were very disappointed last year that we came all the way to Cologne and were not able to see inside the Cologne Cathedral. I mean how many times in our lives are we going to be in Cologne?
Jackie’s good news was that the Cathedral would be open. Yeah! Finally! We had to visit Cologne twice to be able to see inside the Cathedral but today was our lucky day! We were in the right place at the right time finally!
The bad news was that November 1st is ‘All Saints Day’ in Germany and in many parts of Europe too and that meant that all of the stores were closed except for tourist shops. Oh well. We have done enough shopping on this trip and luckily we had an idea that November 1st was as holiday so we had bought an extra suitcase in Koblenz, Germany yesterday instead of waiting until the much larger shopping city of Cologne.
Stacy, Vange and Rob. Steve skipped the tour this morning as he was ‘toured and cathedraled out’
Richard in Cologne
Our included tour this morning was a 2 hour walking tour of Cologne with a guide. Our Aussie friends from Perth also happened to be on the same tour as us for the first time this week. Our guide last year in Cologne went by the name “Two Metre Peter” and he was very tall obviously from his name, and he was a great guide. Richard inquired if he happened to be doing tours for the Viking Hiln today, but Richard was advised that he was not. There were other Viking River Cruise ships in port today, so perhaps Two Metre Peter was doing a tour for another ship. We had really hoped we could have Two Metre Peter again do a guided tour with us.
Ian, the sneering guide
Our guide Ian, was originally from London, had married a German woman and has lived in Cologne or KOLN as the locals call it, for over 40 years ago. He was a very repetitive guide and also a very slow walker which meant that we didn’t cover much distance between where our ship was docked downtown Cologne and where our tour was to end - at the Cathedral.
The last time we were in Cologne the water levels were so high that Viking had docked our ship where they have a winter storage facility for all of their Viking longships we were bused on a shuttle bus into Cologne for the day. It was much nicer being docked right downtown Cologne than having to take a shuttle bus for a 15 minute bus ride from the winter longship storage location.
There is a small statue on the middle grey building of someone bending over
A close up of the statue
Second statue from on the right on this building in a lewd act
Ian showed us some very lewd statues on some of the buildings in Cologne. Apparently these statues were meant to basically thumb their nose or their butts in this case at the local government.
We learned about the Hanneschen Theater puppet show that has been held in Cologne consecutively since 1802.and which is given in the local Cologne dialect so even if someone spoke German they probably couldn’t understand the puppet show.
Tunnes and Schales
Our guide showed us a couple of statues in a square which are the main characters of the ongoing puppet show. I’m not sure why our guide was so focused on lewd statues, or a puppet show and its figures we will never see rather than giving us some more history of the City of Cologne.
We finally heard from our guide that Cologne is a Roman City and apparently anywhere they dig to start new construction Roman ruins are found. Ian our guide’s father in law is an architect and he says it is a nightmare because the local authorities have to be advised whenever ruins are found and then the new construction is stopped until a complete excavation of the Roman ruins have been completed.
The reconstructed Roman road in Cologne. Not original and not in the place it was found either.
We did see the remains of an original Roman road which had been reconstructed and moved and which the stones were not in their original places because the stones had been chalked when excavated and then it rained and the chalk markings washed away, so no one remembered how to put the Roman road back together. We walked on it and it was very difficult to walk on. The stones were very spaced out and jagged which led for slow walking. I could only imagine how a horse and chariot ride would have felt on that Roman road!
Made of Sandstone, the Cologne Cathedral cannot be cleaned. The lighter parts of the cathedral in the photo have been replaced when they were damaged during WW2. The Allies used the Cathedral as a navigation point and bombed the cathedral dozens of times.
We finally made it to the Cologne Cathedral and it was time to ditch Ian the slow, repetitive, less than informative, verbose guide. Viking usually has great guides and maybe Ian was just having a bad day, but it felt like he was just putting in his 2 hours to get us to the cathedral so he could get his tip money and get on with his All Saints Day.
We lined up in a short line to get inside the Cologne Cathedral and lo and behold we could hear a choir singing! Given it was 11:30am on All Saints Day, there was a mass going on in the Cathedral. There was one priest who was doing crowd control at the back of the Cathedral who made sure that no one went past the barrier unless they were going to participate in the mass or take communion.
The singing from the choir was so angelic! The Cathedral was stunningly beautiful inside with so many stained glass windows lit up from the natural light outside. It was so ethereal to finally be inside the Cologne Cathedral, but also to see hear the choir. I took a few videos so I will see if I can post them below or on Facebook.
Richard had worked his way up to the front of the barrier at the back of the cathedral and then he found out that people were going for communion, so being Catholic, he headed down the long, central aisle, of the cathedral to go and participate in communion. When he got to the front of the cathedral he said that there were two choirs at the front, with one on either side of the alter. Unfortunately he was not allowed to take photos during the communion at the front of the Cathedral
Wow! What an amazing experience! Its funny how things somehow work out! Last year a bomb threat and we couldn’t get inside the Cathedral and today not only did we get inside the Cathedral, but we saw a mass in progress and heard the angelic choir! Sometimes we really are charmed with our serendipitous travel plans!
Steve and Stacy. Rob and Vange. Me and Richard. Selfie time in Peter’s Brahaus, Cologne
We had mentioned to our Aussie friends that if they were interested in going out for lunch in Cologne the place to go would to “Peter’s Brauhaus”. We had eaten at Peter’s last December after we found out from our guide Two Metre Peter that Peter’s is where the Viking optional excursion has dinner the night we were docked in Cologne. Jackie had mentioned that Viking would again be doing a Brauhaus dinner out tonight, but we preferred to do things on our own, with no set menu and experience Peter’s with our Aussie friends. Anything to avoid an optional excursion with Viking that we would have to pay for and that we could do on our own!
Kolsch beer, Cologne. The key to ordering is leave the coaster off the beer when finished and they will bring you another one. If the coaster is on top of your glass you will not be given another beer. The server marks how many beers you have had in ink on the coaster.
Cologne of course is known for the beer Kolsch that to be known as ‘KOLSCH’ must be brewed within 50 km (31 miles) of the City limits of Cologne.
Our server with her ‘crown’.
The beer is served in a thin 7 ounce glass and the tray that the server holds the glasses in is called ‘a crown’. Our Aussie friends were interested in trying the Kolsh and having an authentic German dining experience, so we met up with everyone at Peter’s at 1pm after everyone had some free time for exploring on their own.
Sauerkraut soup
When me and Richard had eaten at Peter’s last December I had tried the Sauerkraut soup with sausage. I had actually forgotten about this wonderful soup until I saw it on the menu again at Peter’s. I loved the soup so much that I made it a few times in Florida in a slow cooker which was perfect for some of the cooler January and February nights in Florida.
Sausage with sauerkraut and fried potatoes with bacon. No calories at all!
I convinced the Aussies to all try the sauerkraut soup and they all loved it! They and Richard also ordered other main courses with sausage or schnitzel. The sauerkraut soup was enough to fill me up accompanied by a hearty German bread on the side.
After lunch Vange and Rob went back to the ship while Steve and Stacy and me and Richard walked around Cologne. The city was definitely a lot busier now that everyone was up and about on their holiday, with many families walking and socializing in the wide pedestrian streets of Cologne.
We saw a brass band in front of the Cologne Cathedral entertaining the crowds who had come to visit the Cathedral and looking for tips of course.
There was also a man with two large buckets of bubble liquid who had set up in a children’s play area, blowing bubbles to entertain the families walking by with their children who also had the day off from school.
We took a selfie instead of hanging a lock on the bridge
So many locks!
I wonder how many of these lovers are still together?
There were all colours and kinds of locks on the bridge!
Our guide Ian had mentioned earlier in the day that the Hohenzollernbrucke bridge in Cologne that we could see not far from where the Viking Hiln was docked was full of “locks of love”.. We had seen locks of love in Paris, Prague and Budapest, but I have never seen so many locks on one bridge in my life! It was unbelievable how many locks were on the bridge which is both a pedestrian and train bridge. Apparently there are over 300,000 padlocks on the bridge in Cologne! We had to go and photograph the locks of love as it made for some great photos!
So much chocolate, so little time!
The busy Lindt store at the Lindt Chocolate Museum in Cologne, Germany
We understood that the museums were still open in Cologne today even though the stores were closed, so we decided to walk down the Rhine past our ship to the Lindt Chocolate Museum. By now it was about 3pm and I think most of Cologne had the same idea! The museum was packed and there were huge lineups everyone for the cafe and to enter the museum. The cost for the chocolate museum was 15 euros each for seniors, so instead of going in the museum, we decided to visit the gift shop instead! This gift shop was massive and had so much chocolate in it I didn’t know where to turn or what to buy! We walked out with quite a lot of chocolate, including one of my European favourites (dark chocolate with marzipan), which will be great for Christmas in Florida this year!
Strasbourg Cathedral
Strasbourg Cathedral. The ‘Queen’ of European Cathedrals
Cologne Cathedral
Cologne Cathedral, the “King” of European Cathedrals
We walked back to the Viking Hiln after a very full day in Cologne. We saw new things again on this visit andd instead of visiting Christmas markets this time, we were finally able to get inside the Cologne Cathedral and have a truly once in a lifetime experience of being at the right place at the right time on All Saints Day! I’m so glad we were able to visit the Queen (Strasbourg) and the King (Cologne) of all European Cathedrals on this trip and make some wonderful memories of our days wandering around some of the nicest, old, historical cities in Europe.
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