- Day 1 & 2 – Amsterdam
- Day 3 – Amsterdam, Avalon & Zaanse Schans
- Day 4 – More Amsterdam & Departure
- Day 5 – Cologne
- Day 6 – Rhine Gorge to Rudesheim
- Day 7 – Miltenberg
- Day 8 -Wurzburg
- Day 9 – Bamberg
- Day 10 – Nurnberg (Nuremberg)
- Day 11 – Regensburg
- Day 12 – Passau, Cesky Krumlov & Linz
- Day 13 – Melk & the Wachau Valley
- Day 15 – Bratislava & Scloss Hof
- Day 16 – Budapest
- Day 17 – More Budapest
- Day 18 – A lot more Budapest
- Day 19 – Budapest back to Vienna
- Day 20 – Vienna
- Day 21 – Vienna
This was a quiet day, we didn’t arrive in Cologne until about 4 pm, so most took the day to just relax. Once in Cologne, we were taken on a short walking tour of Cologne. We walked past several Christmas markets (their last day), the “Love” Bridge and their cathedral. The tour ended at the front door of the Cathedral and we were free to explore on our own.
I quickly took a look around inside the cathedral (too dark for pictures) and walked through the biggest of their Christmas markets. Initially my plan had been to get a mug of Gluwhein (hot mulled wine), but it was so crowded I just had to get out of there.
The “Love” Bridge, officially the Hohenzollern Bridge, is the busiest train bridge in Germany with over 1200 trains per day. It has 3 tracks and a sidewalk on either side. Attached to the fences that separate the sidewalk and the tracks are hundreds of thousands of padlocks. Couples put a lock on and toss the key into the Rhine below to profess their undying love.
On the other side of the bridge you have a great view of the bridge itself and the cathedral beside it. I’ve seen so many pictures of it taken after dark that I had to have one (or several) of my own. This is what I came up with…
I wandered around Cologne a bit more, then headed back to the ship. I was too late for dinner (my own fault) but Tony (the cruise director) had them send up some cheese plates for me and some others that returned late. They really do go out of their way to keep the guests happy.
