R&R on the Rhine - Cologne

A tale of a cruise on the Rhine River:
R&R on the Rhine - Memphis to Amsterdam
R&R on the Rhine - Viking Bestla
R&R on the Rhine - Amsterdam
R&R on the Rhine - Kinderdijk
R&R on the Rhine - Cologne
R&R on the Rhine - Marksburg Castle
R&R on the Rhine - Upper Rhine Valley
R&R on the Rhine - Rudesheim
R&R on the Rhine - Heidelberg Castle
R&R on the Rhine - Heidelberg and Speyer
R&R on the Rhine - Strasbourg
R&R on the Rhine - Black Forest
R&R on the Rhine - Colmar
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich Day 1
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich Day 2
R&R on the Rhine - Zurich to Memphis

Mid-morning Monday we docked in Cologne (Köln), Germany.  I loved how we were able to dock right in the midst of the city.  The day was a little warmer than the day before and we had beautiful sunshine.

Our guide was a high school history teacher so he provided a wealth of information.  He led us on a walking tour during the morning and then we had the afternoon to ourselves.  We stopped by an active archaeological dig of the old Jewish quarter (well, it would have been active on a weekday).  It's one of the oldest and largest such areas anywhere in Europe.  There are at least six superimposed building layers from various eras being unearthed.

Jewish quarter archaeological site

The crown jewel of Cologne is its most famous attraction and the most visited attraction anywhere in Germany, the Cathedral or Kölner Dom. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site whose construction started in 1248 but was halted, unfinished, in 1473.  Work was restarted on the structure in the 19th century and was completed to the original plan in 1880.  The spires are about 515 ft tall and give it the largest facade of any church in the world.

It's so large that it's nearly impossible to get the whole thing in one photo but I was able to stitch together a couple to come up with these shots.  C and I came back after dinner to see what it looked like all lit up and with the crowds gone I felt like the photos came out better.  We'd heard there was an Easter-eve service that evening but there was not one being held when we stopped by after dinner.

There are beautiful stained glass windows throughout, most depicting some sort of religious scene or notable Biblical figures.  One window was lost during World War II and initially replaced with plain glass.  In 2007 German artist Gerhard Richter provided a new mosaic window composed of 11,500 identically-sized pieces of colored glass, somewhat resembling pixels randomly arranged by a computer.  The archbishop of the cathedral had wanted a window depicting 20th century Catholic martyrs and thus did not attend the unveiling.

The Richter Window

After our tour ended at the Cathedral, we went back on board for some lunch then ventured out on our own.  The handy thing about the Cathedral is that it's so massive that it's hard to get lost in Cologne as you can always find your way to it.  Next door to the Cathedral is the Römisch-Germanisches Museum or Romano-Germanic Museum.  It's got a large collection of artifacts from the Roman settlements on which modern Cologne is built.  It's built over the site of a Roman town villa that had a number of mosaics on the floor including this giant one featuring Dionysus in the center.

Dionysus mosaic

Of course there were hundreds of pots and pottery shards, glass vessels and goldsmith works. But it was fascinating to see all of these artifacts in a building housed on the very site where they'd been found.

Sensing it was time for a different type of museum we headed back down to the riverfront for the Schokoladen Museum.  Yes, it's just like what it sounds, a chocolate museum run by Lindt.  We considered whether or not we wanted to both wait in the line and pay the hefty entrance fee and decided...let's just go to the gift shop.  There was a bit of a line there too but we were able to indulge our sweet tooths (teeth?) and managed not to break the bank doing so.  Strangely we didn't have to worry about trying to bring any of that chocolate back into the US.  Somehow it disappeared during the week.  Hmm.

Then it was back to the boat for dinner and the sun had set by the time we were through eating.  There was a carnival on the other side of the river and the rides were all lit up and they set off fireworks.  C and I decided to meander back into town since we weren't leaving until 11 pm so we had the opportunity to take more photos and then just relax at one of the many biergartens/outdoor cafes.  It was a lovely end to a Saturday.