Cologne

Most of the day was taken up with cruising along the Rhine to Cologne where we arrived at about 3.45, which was very relaxing just watching the world glide by and the activities on the riverside. We then went on a walking tour of Cologne and it's incredible cathedral; work began on it in 1248 after the original cathedral was pulled down and it continued for 300 yrs until they ran out of money. It then sat unfinished for another 300 years until work resumed and it was finally completed in 1880s. There is a gold casket inside which they say holds the skeletons of the three wise men who visited Jesus; their remains were reportedly bought here but testing has never been done on them to verify that, however, tests on a piece of cloth is said to have proven it was made 200 years AD and was made in Damascus.  IF that timing is correct, it suggests it probably isn't them..but who knows!

 

We had a laugh along the way when passing a newish building and the guide explained that the word Rathuis that was written on it was pronounced Rat House and was actually the council house.  Some suggested some of ours should be so named.:-)

 

We are now on our way to the Rhine Gorges.