6th August - Koln

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Hi all from Germany.
I am writing this at 10.15pm and it’s still 28degsC according to my cellphone. We are sitting outside at a campground in Koln (Cologne), Germany, by the river Rhine, still in singlet and shorts (yes - even me, cold blooded Monique, is still just in a singlet top at 10.15pm!).
This morning we packed up all of the camping gear we would need from Auntie Margareth’s and Uncle Albert’s, and then had the joy of trying to fit it all into the boot of the little red Suzuki. After some attempts at fitting it all in, we folded ourselves into the car (nah, it wasn’t too bad!), and off we went down the autobahn to Duisburg - in the 30+degs. While the autobahns are a great way to travel somewhere fast, you don’t really get to see much countryside - except trees.
We stopped along the side of the autobahn at a rest area - they are quite nice - benches, a free toilet (!) and rubbish bins.
We then picked up our car, a little 1.6L Ford Focus, with the steering wheel on the wrong side, of course. We managed to repack our things into another small car - but this one had even less room due to the shape of the boot - so the backseat has to be used also (but don’t worry, we’re being careful about what we leave on the backseat so that it does not encourage burglars!).
We then made our way to Koln, using a map and my fantastic navigation skills! Daniel managed to negotiate his way out of the town and onto the autobahn, while driving on the wrong side of the road, and shifting gears with his right hand. The Germans here are crazy - at 130kph they were still roaring past us and weaving in and out of lanes.
As I was saying, my fantastic navigation skills lead us right to the camping ground, via a U-turn and some good luck! After we had put up the tent I decided we needed to go to the supermarket to get something for dinner - yip, that was interesting! We decided we would be good tourists and do things such as get on the autobahn instead of the normal roads, turn window-wipers on instead of indicators (Daniel wants me to tell you all that they are round the other way from normal - excuses, excuses), take ½ hour to find a supermarket, and 1 hour to find our way back to the camping ground! Yip - all fun!
After dinner we took a stroll down the Rhine, well actually, I sat around for hours while Daniel took photos of the same building over and over, but eventually I was allowed to walk on further. (Daniel says: I tried to get the exposures right while Monique moaned like mad).
Anyway, now it’s dark here and time for bed - so goodnight all.

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Photos

Picking up the rental car
In Auntie Margareth's little red car - this is what you get to drive Mum & Dad B

Our camping spot in Koln
That's our cute yellow and blue tent - and our speedy Ford Focus!

Koln
With the twin spires of the Dom in the background

View of Koln
From bridge near camping ground - over the Rhine