Cologne: We had been told that, in the middle of the night, we’d be passing the remains of a famous bridge that played a pivotal role in the last months of World War II, and in the movie Saving Private Ryan. We decided to go out and see it, along with perhaps 25 others. It was very cold on the sundeck, but after awhile the floodlights came on and we saw what simply looked like a wall with a sign on it.
Then it was back to bed for a few hours until breakfast and our walking tour of Cologne. Another old, fascinating city, with a colourful past. The centrepiece of the tour was
the beautiful cathedral, which miraculously survived almost intact, the heavy Allied bombing during WW2. It’s easy to see why most damage is on one side, since the huge central railway station is only a stone’s throw away. I felt like I could study the inside for a very long time and still not understand, or even notice, everything. It was wonderful to just walk around and absorb what I could. Larry went back to the ship, but I stayed with the guide through the old town before returning for lunch. Not surprisingly, one stop on the tour featured a famous cologne that has been produced here for hundreds of years. Then I went to the Chocolate Museum but skipped the tour and spent quite a while in the shop. After dinner we watched Monuments Men on our TV and called it a night.More Photos of the Day
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