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Published: April 7th 2008
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Day 5 Tuesday 25 September 2007
Riding the River
Wake Up Call: 6am Bags: 6:30am Breaky: 7am bus: 7:30am Leave 7:45am
Most of us had a snoozy drive our of Holland today. It was raining quite heavily and made good dozing weather. We stopped at the border for 20 minutes - toilet €0.50.
Back on the bus and on the way to Koln (Cologne).
We only had a quick half an hour stop to see the Cathedral. There was about to be a holy service so we were hurried through. The cathedral was amazing. The sheer size and detail was extrodinary. Inside, the stained glass windows were wonderfully detailed. I used the Holy water on the way out.
After using the toilets there, I grabbed 2 “Berliner” donuts for €1.25. Just big sugary jam donuts. YUM! They also had some lovely little pastry men with pipes. We grabbed some frommes (chips)for €2. They serve them in a paper cone with mayo - no thanks. Delicious on a chilly morning. I managed to grab a couple of quick souvenirs from a nearby shop waiting for a very late couple to return. This is another area I’d have liked time to explore.
The couple finally returned.. the lady sobbed in a ball. We had to take a quicker route to try and make our boat for the Rhine Cruise. We were cutting it fine.
Leaving Koln, we had great views of the cathedral. Gary pointed out the cleaning work being done on the black exterior. By the time they start on the 2nd steeple, the first will be blackening again.
As we drove through Germany, we saw the town of Bonn where Beethoven was born. We came to the beautiful Rhine River. The villages were wonderfully quaint the whole way along it. We only JUST made our boat and began to cruise. We saw many beautiful villages and castles as well as the Loralie rock and the mermaid monument to the lost sailors. The sides of the mountains had many grape fields - amazing as they were very steep. We bought a mini bottle of wine and a keepsake glass for €5.50. Wasn’t thrilled with the wine.
We boarded the coach again at about 3:30pm. It took 3 hours to reach our hotel and some impressive manoeuvring of the bus. Wurzburg was beautiful. Grape fields over the mountains and the villages
dotting the landscape.
The hotel was a quaint medieval one. We had been warned that this would be a Hotel de charm. Meaning.. not as nice as usual. We were given massive steel keys and had to go up and down and up stairs and walk through many decorated halls. The room was basic and very old with a balcony (too cold to go outside). Rob went straight to bed with a headache and feeling ill. Many people were whinging and complaining about the standard. The rest of us didn’t mind it at all. It was interesting and this was just a place to sleep at this point of the trip.
Dinner was a set menu in the restaurant. Rob missed it poor him.
Entrée - vege soup and bread - yum
Meal : Lamb shank ( Rob’s favourite) cheesy potatoes and veges. _YUM
Dessert - Apple fritters and cinnamon icecream.
Quite nice and the company was good.
Off to bed by 9:30pm.
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