We had a fantastic breakfast – fruits, yoghurts, fruit coulis, cold meats, roll mops, salad!, bread and rolls, pastries, pancakes….. Now it’s off to Cologne. On the way Gerry gave us the obligatory language lesson and told us all sorts of interesting facts.
The main thing to see in Cologne was the Cologne Cathedral, know as “The Dom”. It is an enormously huge and ornate Gothic cathedral.
After lunch it was back on the bus and off to Boppard, where we boarded our Rhine cruise to St Goar. A lovely cruise, with views of riverside homes and castles. We saw many vineyards on the banks too. The Rhine area is known for Rhine Riesling and Auslese wines. Obviously, Rox and I had to have a little bottle of wine – it came with a complimentary wine glass and as we both wanted the wine glass, we simply had to have 2 bottles of wine! Paula had hot chocolate and I helped her consume the most delicious apple tart. Bliss!
We saw a church with a pub attached. It seems that the vicar also serves behind the bar! (see below)
After we left the boat we drove past the Lorelei rock, where in times gone by the mermaid sat luring unsuspecting sailors to their watery graves. We also passed a toll booth in the middle of the river – very cute!
The old toll booth on the Rhine river
The main thing to see in Cologne was the Cologne Cathedral, know as “The Dom”. It is an enormously huge and ornate Gothic cathedral.
To give you an idea of the size and height of the spires, this is a replica of what is on the very, very top of the spire.
Once we had seen The Dom, we took a walk down the main street. I stopped at the 4711 shop, my Gran loved 4711 and the smell of it immediately took me back about 35 years! I bought a couple of little bottles as souvenirs. The girl at the till found my german completely hilarious! At this point the girls were chomping at the bit to go off and shop (maybe they just didn’t want to be put through the embarrassment of my language skills again?), so we sent them on their way and Grant, Dad and I went in search of an authentic German lunch. We found a lovely little restaurant down one of the side streets. Between us we had leberwurst, pickles, german bread, Dutch cheese, cabbage, kartoffel and wurst. With beer of course!!
After lunch it was back on the bus and off to Boppard, where we boarded our Rhine cruise to St Goar. A lovely cruise, with views of riverside homes and castles. We saw many vineyards on the banks too. The Rhine area is known for Rhine Riesling and Auslese wines. Obviously, Rox and I had to have a little bottle of wine – it came with a complimentary wine glass and as we both wanted the wine glass, we simply had to have 2 bottles of wine! Paula had hot chocolate and I helped her consume the most delicious apple tart. Bliss! We saw a church with a pub attached. It seems that the vicar also serves behind the bar! (see below)
After we left the boat we drove past the Lorelei rock, where in times gone by the mermaid sat luring unsuspecting sailors to their watery graves. We also passed a toll booth in the middle of the river – very cute!
The old toll booth on the Rhine river
We then headed to our hotel in Ludwigshafen. Not a wonderful hotel, but it was adequate for our needs. Supper was included and consisted of a chicken soup, a beef goulash (not very nice) and a cheesecake dessert.
This is bringing back such memories! In July 1989 my family also took a Rhine Cruise, but from Rotterdam to Basel, so 4-5 days. We also stopped at Cologne and I LOVED the cathedral (and the fantatic Roman mosaics displayed nearby). In 2000 hubby and I did a Christmas cruise on the Rhine and stopped at Boppard and Cochem, and I just remember drinking litres of the wine ;-)
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