Oct 13, 2011

The sun was shining this morning and we enjoyed a comfortable walking tour of some of the old city of Cologne as well as visiting the Cologne Cathedral which was one of the few buildings still standing after the WWII bombardment. The Cathedral houses the relics of the three Magi (the 3 Wise Kings) who visited baby Jesus in the Bethlehem Stable and has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries. The cathedral was in fact also the tallest building in Europe until the Eiffel tower was built in Paris. A quirky bit of town planning has placed the city railway station right beside the Cathedral and 1,200 trains a day move through it..…apparently this was considered a good thing in the times that the station was constructed.



A view of the Cologne Cathedral from the riverside with the Museum of Modern art visible to the left hand side



The building on the corner is the only building to survive after the WWII bombardment on the Haymarket Square in Cologne

After our walking tour of Cologne we hopped on a bus and went to the medieval city of Maastricht back in the Netherlands where we had another walking tour and some free time to explore ourselves. This was a pretty city. We lunched on the square where Andre Reieu has his annual concerts and drove past his small palace on our way out of town on our way back to our ship which had moved on to Andernach.



The Town Hall in Maastricht designed by the same architect who designed a palace for Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands in a similar style though hers is somewhat larger



Some of the original Roman walls surrounding the old city of Maastricht. Similar ruins complete with towers and arches are visible still throughout the old city

A sample of Barge traffic on the Amsterdam to Budapest route. Check out a short video on You Tube to give you an idea of the incredible volume of the barge traffic. AWESOME!

Click the link: http://youtu.be/FZLnuZLGLIQ


Bits and Bobs:

Some of the parking we have seen throughout our travels in Europe has been an exercise in ‘touch feel and bump’ but we were intrigued with this parking in 2 disabled parking spots across the road from our coach in Cologne (4 cars in 2 spots) and two people who got out of cars that I saw were as disabled as me!



A better example of the space used but a bit blurry