Day 8: Cologne, Germany

Today we had an omelet instead of our usual scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage. I guess we were feeling adventurous, lol. After breakfast, as usual, we left our tour guide behind and walked through the trash ridden streets. It was a ghost town for a while, but things picked up by the time afternoon arrived.
We made our way to the cathedral - a massive display of gothic architecture at it’s best. Apparently the cathedral took 640 years to build. There were a lot of church goers, being that it was Sunday morning. Inside we could only stare up at the elegant stained glass windows, simply jaw dropping. Attached to the ceiling was by far the largest organ I’d ever seen. We lit a candle and quietly exited the church.
While waiting for the Tourist Information place to open, we sat at a cafe overlooking the cathedral square and people watched. That’s an under rated activity, I must say. I had a glass of Champagne and an apple, sugar, and cinnamon crepe while Amber had an Irish coffee, which she thoroughly enjoyed.
At 10:00am we crossed the street and into the Tourist Information building. We got a map of the city and discussed what we wanted to do for the rest of the day. I picked a few nominees and Amber decided on one. We made our way to the Ancient Roman Ruins Excavation Exhibit. Not much to say, really. It was short and sweet - the way all museums should be.
Later we made our way back to the riverfront and strolled through a farmer’s market. I was ready to buy, but most items were antiques that were of no interest to me. We then went to Lindt’s Chocolate Museum. A very interactive, fun museum where you can actually see the machines making the chocolate in front of you. It was fun seeing all the different processes happen assembly line style.
Right outside the museum there was a terrace where we decided to grab a beer and some currywurst. Shortly thereafter we returned to the boat and took a nap. Around 6:00pm we woke up and had dinner at a cafe riverside. I ordered quatro formagio macaroni (which actually ended up being ziti) and Amber ordered the lasagna. After getting our meals, though, she wanted mine, so we switched. The lasagna was really good, so I didn’t mind.
After dinner we headed back to the boat in time to set sail for the Netherlands. We went to bed fairly early and I woke up around midnight, so I decided to come to the lobby and type up the trip report. Anyway, I’m gonna go to bed now so that I’m not exhausted tomorrow. Auf Wiedersehn!

Cologne - 6/10