Just before the heavens opened up . . . .
From our riverboat, now docked on the Mosel River, we ventured out on a dark and dreary morning to see the sights of Koblenz. Any city more than 2,000 years old has a lot of history to cover and we just scratched the surface with our guide who conducted a brief tour concentrating on giving us a quick overview of how the city developed. She also showed us the core of the city, founded by the Romans. Most of Koblenz has been beautifully reconstructed since WWII, much of it since the mid-80s. They have very successfully mixed old and new with reconstructed and managed not to lose the threads of their interesting history.
I loved the whimsy of the city – including the Napoleonic-era Schangelbrunnen, “The Spitting Boy” mascot who statue adorns a local fountain (and whose likeness is on the manhole covers). Another favorite was the comical face on the clock in the main square, whose eyes move constantly back & forth and whose tongue sticks out, four times a day, to mark the time.
We saw the small Christmas markets scattered around town, but did not get to linger since the rain began to come down really hard. They need the rain desperately in this region, so it really doesn’t seem justified to complain too much. We did get to see Koblenz’s large Christmas “pyramid” constructed of wood, fan blades and lights. Another Koblenz Xmas tradition is to open the windows of a local government building on the main square – one each day of Advent – today is day 2.
Even in the rain it was a really charming experience.
After lunch on board the S.S. Antoinette, we sailed on a smaller ship down the Rhine to St. Goar to see . We saw the castles of Marksburg, Stolzenfels, Sterrenburg & Liebenstein, Rheinfels and Maus & ‘Katz’. At the cliffs of Lorelei the captain played the sailor’s ballad lamenting the siren’s call to destruction on the rocky shores. on a week like this, the sailors would have no trouble seeing even the gravel, not just rocks on the shores of the Rhine.
Castles in the rain.
While we were on the Rhine, our ship repositioned to Boppard the better to avoid the Koblenz evacuation and bomb disarmament scheduled for this weekend. We did get to see the area where the 1.8 ton bomb, and its smaller companions, are buried in the shallow water and mud.
Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. What a Blast!
Gingerbread. Christmas Cookies. Hot Chocolate. That’s what we had for lunch today . . . snacks . . . and tea.
It’s late afternoon and rapidly getting dark. Now we are watching the pastry chefs demonstrate cookie-making techniques and share their recipes. We are also learning how to make the aforementioned gluhwein – but I am not paying attention. I have decided I don’t even like the smell of the gluhwein.
Goodies galore.
We deserve all these treats after walking around Cologne all day. It stayed cloudy, but only drizzled a bit midday (during which we hid out in a cafe with a luscious hot chocolate), so we were very lucky. This morning’s walking tour took us through Altstadt (Old Town), and by some excavations of the old Roman city and original synagogue, as well as the Cathedral. A major port in Roman days, this is now the fourth largest city in Germany and the capital of the Rhineland. Almost all of the city was destroyed in WWII, but the cathedral was spared and survived largely intact. To preserve the beautiful glass windows, they were all removed at the start of the war and stored underground.
Koln was one of the primary destinations for religious pilgrims; the relics of the three Magi put the city on the map along with Jerusalem and Santiago de Compestela. The Cathedral was built over centuries (a la the one in Pillars of the Earth) from 1248 until completion in 1880, specifically to house the famous relics. They are in a solid gold, three-part coffin still on prominent display today.
Those of us who speak English call the city Cologne, which is actually the French name for Koln; this is indeed where the term cologne comes from. A wonderful example of re-branding occurred when a liquor-maker found his product outlawed and decided to turn it into a perfume. One can only imagine what the odors in the city were like when wearing liquor was a good thing.
We found our way back to our favorite market – the Alter Markt and saw another portion in Heumarkt, geared towards children, with an ice rink and small Ferris wheel. There must be some sort of school holiday in Europe because there were many groups of young children around today, including groups speaking French and English.
We circled back to the Rhine and made a brief visit to the newest market, which is by the chocolate Museum along the Harbour. Hafen Markt has replaced the Medieval Market of years past and may not have been the best business decision; it was certainly not very Christmassy. We then made the lengthy walk along the Rhine back to our ship. I popped back out to see the last of the Cologne Xmas Markets – the Floating Christmas Market on the MS Wappen von Koln. An odd combination of vintage, Christmas and craft items, it is the only market that charges admission (€2 for UNICEF) and the first time I fell victim to the claustrophobic feeling when you enter a way-too-warm enclosure wearing a lot of clothing. I didn’t stay long.
Off to hear some more lovely piano melodies, hear a port talk about Koblenz and dinner. We
actually sail tonight – a rare occurrence on this voyage!
Carollers at the Alter Market entrance.
I’m sitting by myself – listening to the most wonderful pianist play Christmas music . . . it’s like I have a private performance. Even though Uniworld is a British company (owned by South Africans), I feel like I’m in a salon at Versailles; we have boarded the beautiful S.S. Antoinette riverboat for our adventure along the Rhine. While Mom is having a little reading and resting time, I’m taking care of business trying to get us organized and check in with my emails.
The ship is fully decorated for Christmas – all in a white/snow glittery theme – it’s lovely and somehow very tranquil.
While I’m on the topic of decorations let me explain how they do things here . . . there are dozens of healthy looking evergreens pretty much everywhere you look. Of course, trees are in the Christmas Markets, but also around every corner and placed up against the multitude of construction barricades around downtown. Lights are white and used much more sparingly than we do in the USA. Ornaments generally are a single color and large with colors of choice being red, blue, silver or gold. It’s a beautiful effect.
We’ve had another sunny, beautiful day, but with the angle of the European winter sun you find yourself generally in the shade. The temps are in the 40s during daylight, 30s at night. It’s completely dark here by 5pm. Of course, the better to see the Christmas lights!
We got two more Christmas markets under our belts today – the Neumarkt (also known as the Angel Market) and the Rudolfplatz (aka Fairytale Market). Although named the Neumarkt, this is actually cologne’s oldest market launched in the 70s, and features really beautiful decorations on the top of each stall and lots of lights and stars in the huge trees. As with the other markets we’ve seen, there is a huge focus on food and there seems to be lots of locals taking advantage of the culinary opportunities. Even though these markets attract tourists, it’s all very German and most of the visitors seem to be German. I have made one significant discovery – I do NOT like the Gluhwein – in fact, I find it a little nauseating. Heat up and spice your next glass of red wine and see what you think. I do love the cute little mugs, however.
We had a lovely walk to the Rudolfplatz through an attractive, high-end shopping area on Mittelstrasse, but the market itself was very disappointing. It was a much smaller market and even seemed a little seedy compared to the others.
Knowing us, you will have guessed that to fortify ourselves for all these new experiences, we began the day at a wonderful bakery/coffee shop . . . then off to catch the cute “Christmas Market Express” train that gets you to the main markets efficiently. Roundtrip tickets were €7, and one way tickets are €4. The little yellow cars are enclosed and keep you warm while listening to Xmas music. Our route took us down by the Rhine, past the Chocolate Museum and Cologne’s newest market: the Harbour (sometimes called Port) Market.
Our hotel graciously extended out check-out time until 2pm, making it really easy for us to have a leisurely market experience, get back, reorganize and take a cab over to our ship. It was a good thing I called to double-check the ship location, because it was not where I had been told.
Of course, we had to have a light lunch right after we boarded . . . .
We spent the rest of the day learning about our ship, how the crew has planned to deal with the low water situation (good news – I think they have everything beautifully worked out), making new friends and enjoying a lovely dinner. Since this is one of the only riverships with an actual swimming pool, one way they have made our ship lighter in order to navigate the lower water levels, is to empty the pool. The Captain joked that if we had to evacuate the ship while sailing, we would be able to just walk off. In any case, we will still be changing ships in four days.
Gute Nacht.
Welcome to Koln.
Are You Ready for Some Xmas!
We headed off to Germany with the Rhine River at its lowest level in decades. A few days before our trip we got word about the river conditions and reviewed our options. River traffic will not be able to make it all the way up or down the river, so at the very least, we will need to change ships at some point. Deciding to go for it, we have arrived in Cologne. We flew into Frankfurt on the huge Lufthansa 380 and hopped a quick train down to Koln, the largest city in the Rhineland.
Although not being covered in the U.S., the Rhine is so low that there are sandbars in places and the water is less than four feet in others. Never a deep river under normal circumstances, a severe drought and no snow in the Alps has created the current situation. One particularly unsettling consequence is the revelation of unexploded ordnance from WWII strewn along the riverbed. Of significant note, is an “enormous” RAF bomb and two smaller bombs (at least one from the USA) embedded in the mud near Koblenz. The Germans plan to evacuate about ½ of that city (45,000) including hospitals, a jail and the train station, in order to diffuse the larger bomb this weekend.
We have come in a day ahead of our Uniworld River Cruise; now settling into our lovely hotel, the Excelsior Hotel Ernst, in the center of the city and organizing our attack on the first of the Christmas Markets. Cologne has seven.
We started with the closest ~ the Weihnachtsmarkt am Kolner Dom (Cathedral Christmas Market). This market was festive and colorful, but did not really feature any distinctive merchandise. My favorite part was the plentiful food stalls and all their associated fragrances – licorice, gingerbread, warm pretzels, giant potato pancakes frying, nuts, chocolate, gluhwein; all in all, an amazing and wonderful assault on the olfactory senses.
But the best part of the day was yet to come . . . we wandered on over to the Alter Markt near the Old Town and were instantly transported back in time. Old fashioned wooden stalls, pine greens everywhere, woodland carvings, staff in period-costumes and beautiful lights and decor ~ all under the watchful gaze of the cute Koln Gnomes.
Back to the Excelsior for afternoon high tea – our chosen alternative for dinner tonight (did I mention we ate a cheese pretzel at the market?) A wonderful way to end the day ~ stuffing ourselves with all those wonderful goodies.
By the way, it’s really cold, our long-coats and gloves are perfect!
