Rhine River and Cologne, Germany

We left Mainz on a Wednesday morning to take a day cruise up the Rhine River towards Cologne, our next stop.  Doug had been very frustrated in getting information about the cruise.  The website didn't answer all his questions and the booking people for the cruise line didn't seem to know much about the actual cruise details, they just booked the tickets and sent you to the website.  We were told, though, that we could NOT go from Mainz to Cologne in one day even though the website schedule seemed to say you could.  You could buy a ticket to get to Koblenz and then either get another ticket from Koblenz to Cologne for the next day or take the train. 

Eltville's Electoral Castle

So we had our cruise tickets to Koblenz and our train tickets from there to Cologne where we had a hotel reservation starting that night.  Lo and behold, we get to the ticket office at the dock Wed morning (which is only a guy in a booth handing out the tickets and selling postcards and cruise maps) only to find out that on Wednesday the schedule includes a 4 hour layover in Boppard before continuing on to Koblenz.  So much for planning.  Now we would miss our train to Cologne.  What we ended up doing was just getting off at Boppard, found the train station (which was closed for lunch), and bought a train ticket from the machine to get us to Koblenz where we met our train for Cologne.  Such are the lessons of traveling.  You must be flexible.  We weren't the only ones to do that, either.

Ehrenfels Castle ~1211

The cruise started out really nice, sunny day and warmish.  There were some tables with chairs set up and a partition of sorts in the middle, but mostly you just got a chair and found a spot.  There was a closed in restaurant/snack bar and a play area for the kids.  As the day progressed, the weather got cloudier, colder, and the kids much louder.  Sorry to say, I wasn't that disappointed to get off the boat and on the train. 

Reichenstein Castle (11th century)

The part we toured (Mainz to Boppard) is the prettiest part of the Mainz to Cologne section which has been declared the really "attractive" section and a UNESCO World Heritage site.  It is lined with vineyards, small communities, and castles.  Lots of castles.  The river level was high and I was surprised to see sections of trees that looked like trees in flood waters.  It really is a very pretty trip.  It just got so frigging cold I had to go in the restaurant to get out of the wind.

Stahleck Castle (1095)

Niederheimbach

Cologne, for us, was dominated by the Cologne Cathedral.  That was what we wanted to see most in Cologne.  You come out of the train station and there it is.  It is hard to get back enough to really get it in a picture.  It is HUGE.  And so black from time and acid rain.  I wanted to get a scrub brush and bucket and wash the windows.  They were such a black mass, I wondered how light got inside.  But it is understandable that it is so black.  Being huge and very, very intricate, I'm sure it costs a fortune to keep the exterior clean.  Plus, by the time you got the last section done, the first section would need to be done again. 



There were sections they had cleaned and, like almost everywhere else we were, there was scaffolding where they were working on things.  Maintenance is a constant battle for things that old.  But it is beautiful and so, so intricate.

We also toured the Lindt Chocolate Factory on our anniversary.  Yum, yum.  Bought lots of chocolate, had sausage sandwiches we ate along the Rhine, watched the people pass, and enjoyed the sunshine.  Topped the day with sparkling wine from our friends, Klaus and Sophie.  Couldn't have been better.