Germany - Day 1

Today was a day of travel...

We left Amsterdam...and made our first stop in Germany in the town of Cologne...or Koln as they call it here. Our first stop was The Dom (The Dome) which is an enormous gothic cathedral. It looks so much like Notre Dame in Paris, but it's darker - much of the stone actually looks black. It's also larger. When it was built...can't remember when...17??...it was the largest cathedral...tallest building in the world!

The Dome...
Looking down the main part of the Cathedral

After looking at it from the outside...going through the inside and listening to some of the mid-day mass...and not understanding a word of it...taking a few photos...then coming back out and taking some photos with some of the street performers (Charlie Chan was there...along with Elvis...and some other characters), we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe. The delegates were SO EXCITED when Janette announced that's where we were going. Camille, Charlie Chan, and Tom

Kayla, Charlie, and Hannah

Michael runs away from Michael Jackson...

Michael Jackson and Camille


Cheeseburgers/hamburgers..oh, they tasted so good! We're used to fries...fritas...because that's a Belgium food and we had fritas several times in Belgium. The Hard Rock cafe did NOT serve them with mayonnaise!

After lunch, we divided into two groups...those that wanted to climb The Dom's Belfry and those that wanted to get a jumpstart on shopping. 23 of us took the climb...with a bonus at the top....

Cori, Chad, and Danielle on their way to the top!Checking out the view from the top of The DomeGenevieve, Rae, Allison, and Sebastian checking out the view

Peter...or Fat Peter, the bell in the belfry of The Dome

"Peter"...or more commonly known as "Fat Peter" is at the top. "Peter" is the bell... and he is indeed fat...or robust...or in other words, he's a big bell! Our own Peter...he also made the climb to the top to see his namesake. It was worth it...

Just for your information...it was 533 steps to the top...and 533 steps back down...

I rested with a iced coffee from Starbucks after I came down...

It didn't take that long to go up, look around, take some photos, and come back down...so the 23 of us had lots of time to still do some shopping...or drink some iced coffee...or whatever...

Back in the coach we went...and came to our next stop in Germany...Koblenz. Dinner was pretty good...beef stroganoff...

In the restaurant for dinner...

We walked along the Rhine River a little before heading back to the coach. Bjorn, our great coach driver, pointed out these little plaques on one of the homes facing the river...little plaques that were taller than him (he's about 5' 10")Bjorn standing in front of the high water marks

and they were high water marks from when the Rhine has really flooded...

Back at the hotel, the hotel manager tried to give Bjorn a smoking room...It was great to watch this older German lady meet our 23 year old fireball delegation manager, Jeanette. They were talking in a very heated, very fast, German exchange of words...

Jeanette won....Bjorn got a no-smoking room that hadn't existed 5 minutes earlier!

So here we are...my first time in Germany...and tomorrow: a cruise on the Rhine River...and I can't even remember what else right now...