2013-7-26 - Cologne Germany to Amsterdam, Netherlands

7/26  No daily informational papers being provided so the only guidance I have are my pictures. Town tour commenced with guides.
"Cologne Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church in Cologne, Germany. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne & the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture & is a World Heritage Site. It is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 20,000 people a day...Construction of Cologne Cathedral commenced in 1248 & was halted in 1473, leaving it unfinished. Work restarted in the 19th century & was completed, to the original plan, in 1880. It is 144.5 metres (474 ft) long, 86.5 m (284 ft) wide and its towers are approximately 157 m (515 ft) tall. The cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and has the second-tallest spires and largest façade of any church in the world. The choir has the largest height to width ratio, 3.6:1, of any medieval church...Cologne's medieval builders had planned a grand structure to house the reliquary of the Three Kings and fit its role as a place of worship for the Holy Roman Emperor. Despite having been left incomplete during the medieval period, Cologne Cathedral eventually became unified as "a masterpiece of exceptional intrinsic value" &"a powerful testimony to the strength & persistence of Christian belief in medieval & modern Europe".

 

 

From Wikipedia web site

 

Main entrance

 "The most celebrated work of art in the cathedral is the Shrine of the Three Kings, commissioned by Philip von Heinsberg, archbishop of Cologne from 1167 to 1191 and created by Nicholas of Verdun, began in 1190. It is traditionally believed to hold the remains of the Three Wise Men, whose relics were acquired by Frederick Barbarossa at the conquest of Milan in 1164. The shrine takes the form a large reliquary in the shape of a basilican church, made of bronze & silver, gilded and ornamented with architectonic details, figurative sculpture, enamels & gemstones. The shrine was opened in 1864 and was found to contain bones and garments".



 



Encased in bullit proof glass-The Shrine of the Three Kings--

once a year people walk under it

"Near the sacristy is the Gero-Kreuz, a large crucifix carved in oak & with traces of paint & gilding. Believed to have been commissioned around 960 for Archbishop Gero, it is the oldest large crucifix north of the Alps & the earliest-known large free-standing Northern sculpture of the medieval period.

 

The Crucifix of Bishop Gero, a famous 10th century sculpture, with a modern surround.

.

 

 

Depiction of the Three Kings

 

Cologne Cathedral seen at night from the other side of the Rhine at Deutz (web pic)

(wish I could have seen this scene)

As promised, they will provide all meals, free wine & beer as if we were on the boat...so, lunch it is - again. Wayne & I gained a ton of weight & the trip is not over yet.

Wayne, Judy & Dick

Guided tour through the city. We came across the digs under the city.

"An excavation site in Cologne has uncovered a trove of Jewish treasures, paving the way for a possible archaeology museum. The site was first explored in 2007, & since that time discoveries have included ceramic dishes, bones, tools, jewelry, & pottery with Hebrew writing dating back 2,000 years. The site was previously dedicated to Roman excavations, but this marks the first attempt to uncover Jewish remnants from an area that was once a thriving Hebrew center. Excavations show that the Jews in Cologne for a very long time were on good terms with the Christians, that their cohabitation saw long phases of peace & harmony..."

 

..."For a very long time, archaeologists quite simply ignored the Jewish past of Cologne. Anything that wasn't of Roman origin wasn't excavated, since the Middle Ages were of little matter and Jews weren't supposed to have played any role...

Now, the multiple findings may lead to a 32,000-square-foot museum to display the ancient treasures".



 

 

Picture of an actual Roman sewer they found

They dug it up & now it's on the street

 

 A very kewl, old Citron

 

 Everything on European licence plates something - you can see the EU symbol & under it denotes the area they're from ('D' ?) then I forget the rest



 Time to leave. An almost 3 hour bus trip to the Amsterdam airport hotel...It was abysmal as was the buffet - but the red wine  went down easily. I can't imagine how George felt having to get up in front of everyone to administer his last briefing. The people were armed, dangerous & ready for a fight. Let's not forget, there were many of us stuck at this god-forsaken hotel maybe an hour or more from down town -  would we have to cough up the price to get back to town?? In addition, many people already made arrangements & paid for transfers from the dock in Amsterdam to the airport now they had to hustle & change their plans - YIKES! what a nightmare. A compromise...Viking agreed to hire a bus to take the people from the airport hotel to individual hotels in Amsterdam. Problem for us...we were staying at a B&B & not easy for the driver to find. When we got on the bus in the AM, we discovered there were several couples who had not signed up for this service! It really screwed things up because the driver already had a list of places he had to go & he planned how he was going to drop people off in an orderly fashion. We drove away from the hotel heading towards town. We crossed over the river & around the bend we saw it...The Aegir was already docked !!!!!! We couldn't believe it & boy were we pissed. As I said, we weren't staying at a known hotel so we were the last to be dropped off about 4pm. And because the B&B was located in a tiny street on a canal, he had to let us out several blocks away. So there we were, standing on the brick sidewalk with about 6 pieces of luggage with bicycles whizzing past us at great speeds. Actually, we were across the street from Ann Frank's house so I knew the B&B wasn't that far away. We managed to wave someone down who gave us directions.  I was never so happy to just STOP & get off the merry-go-round!

You know it's interesting, when you've had a bad experience in the early part of a journey, it kind of fades as the trip continues, but when it's at the end of the trip it gives you a really bad taste & lingers.