Day 5 - September 16 - Cologne Germany
Today was the opposite of yesterday; a very busy day. I was up early for breakfast and we were off the ship at 9:15. There are so many ships docking in Cologne, weren't able to dock right in town this morning.
Viking hired buses and we were bused into Cologne where we met our guide for the "included" Walking Tour of Cologne.
On the way to the Cologne Cathedral, our guide pointed out the Old Roman Walls that surrounded the city, built by the Romans and much of which remains today.
The centerpiece of Cologne is the Cathedral. It was built (started) in 1240 but only a small portion was completed. It took almost 500 years to be completed, it being finished in the 18th century. It's one of the few structures that wasn't destroyed during WW II. Our guide attributes it to the French style architecture with so many windows. As the bombs fell the windows allowed the air pressure of the bombs to permeate the building but not destroy it. Also he he told us that almost 3 years prior to the war starting, the Germans made preparations to remove the stained glass windows and store them more safely.
We were able to tour it on our own for approximately 30 minutes. The stained glass windows and the mosaic floors were beautiful.
Stored in the church is the Shrine of the Magi believed to contain the bones of the Biblical Magi, also known as the Three Kings or the Three Wise Men. The shrine is a large gilded and decorated triple sarcophagus placed above and behind the high altar of Cologne Cathedral.
After our time in the Cathedral, our guide gave us a walking tour of the city center (the old part). The street where all the shops are on (the expensive ones) connects directly to Rome. It is truly the old roman road. Granted it mike take you five weeks to walk to Rome, but you don't have to make any turns!
He showed us around the city and eventually we wound up at the bus back to our ship which had moved from where we disembarked in the morning.
I arrived back at 12:45 and had a quick lunch onboard the ship as I had a 1:45 tour of the Bruhl Palaces. Our bus drove us about 35 minutes to Bonn and the neighboring Bruhl Palaces. The palace was built for the Grandmaster of the Order of the Teutonic Knights, the archbishop Clement August.
He really liked himself. There was a picture of him literally every room of the palace. The highlight of the palace is the Grand Staircase. WOW! Such grandeur. The last State Dinner of the German government was held there in 1996. John F Kennedy has been received there as well as Queen Elizabeth and just about any dignitary we can imagine. After 1996, the ceremonies were moved to Munich. The palace is exquisite. The rooms of stucco marble, porcelain fireplaces, amazing ceiling paintings. Again we saw ceilings that looked round or oval but were really flat. Amazing artistry by an Italian artist. Similar to the Sistine Chapel, it was painted by his lying on his back. It only took 6 months to pain the ceilings due in part to the fresco paintings needed to be painted while the plaster was wet. When it dried it was too late to paint and would need to be started over.
The second palace we saw was much smaller. It was the Archbishop's palace used for game hunting and primarily falconry. Even this one, much smaller, was still fantastic (some rooms). The staircase of over 100,000 delft tiles is something to see. The mirror room and the ceilings in many of them are fantastic.
Viking lived up to their reputation today. These tours are much about the 3 "C's". Churches, Cathedrals and Castles. While I saw a palace today, in two days I have an excursion to see the Marksburg Castle.
I'll finish now as dinner will be served in about 15 minutes. I've put on 9487 steps so far today. Early to bed!
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