Howells in a Castle

Wednesday 14 September 2016

Tuesday 13^th September 2016

The ship docked in Cologne at 6:30am this morning.

Forecast for today is for 29°.

Another early start this morning with breakfast at 7:30am then off the ship at 9:00am for our walking tour of Cologne.

The city was founded by Romans in 38 B.C. and became one of Europe’s leading trade and cultural centres in the Middle Ages.

Cologne was heavily bombed during WWII with 95% of the city buildings destroyed. Some were rebuilt in the original style but the majority have been rebuilt in the 50’s & 60’s style.

The tour was very interesting and finished with a visit to Cologne Cathedral, which is a massive Gothic building. Whilst the interior largely dates from the 13^th century, it wasn’t until 1880 that the exterior with its two 510 foot tall west spires was finally completed. The Cathedral houses a large gold casket in which the bones of the Three Wise Men are stored. The Cathedral was one of the few buildings to survive WWII mainly due to it having a metal roof. There are also a lot of roman relics in the city. One of which is an intact roman dining room, which was discovered when a bomb shelter was being built.

The ship sailed at 12:15pm and we are now heading towards Amsterdam, which will be our last port.

Tonight we have the Captain’s Farewell Drinks and Gala Dinner.

The Captains dinner was great fun. The four of us sat with our new friends Desmond & Alan from UK, Eleanor & Marlene from Canada and Paul & Dianne from Singleton NSW. Heather had arranged for a cake to celebrate our 40^th Wedding Anniversary to be served at the table and the restaurant staff all sang. It was a great way to celebrate our 4^th anniversary. After dinner we went to the lounge for a drink. One of the waiters who is also an excellent singer sang “As Time Goes By” while Lynne & I danced.