After 13 beautiful sunny, warm days, the rain and cold has come on strong – Saturday in Cologne and today in Amsterdam. But, we've still been out and about soaking up more history and culture. Cologne is a huge city of over 1 million with a very happening night life. Saturday night after dinner, we walked to the Dom (took 632 years to complete the building of the world's tallest cathedral). It is magnificent. It was such a beautiful evening as the 4 of us strolled the downtown pedestrian mall with shops, shops, and more shops (many high end shops). Mark and I went to 9:00 Mass Sunday at the Dom and then had a very good continental breakfast at Cafe Reichard – we sat inside this warm, cozy place across from the cathedral and watched the rain come down while people were scurrying about as the temperatures dropped. These big cities are ok, but you can't beat the charm of the picturesque little villages we've visited. After a grand Captain's farewell reception/dinner Sunday night, our ship set sail for Amsterdam.
One of our big memories of this capital city of the Netherlands will be the bikes which are EVERYWHERE!!!! There are 780,000 residents of Amsterdam and 600,000 bikes. Even have a parking garage at Market Central (train station) – 3 levels and all bikes. Enjoyed a panoramic tour of the city by bus, the Rijksmuseum (many beautiful Rembrandt paintings) and then 1-hour boat ride thru the canals. It was chilly and rained all morning so decided to skip walking around Amsterdam, eating lunch out, etc. which had been the plan. We returned to the ship for delicious Dutch lunch and then did some packing, napping, reading! A final fabulous dinner and then drinks and reminiscing upstairs in the lounge with new friends and more pictures as all said our good-byes.
After breakfast tomorrow, we'll board the bus at 8 for the airport and direct flight from Amsterdam to Chicago. We are taking with us a wealth of history, new friendships, memories, photos and a few
extra lbs.
Cruising on the Discovery II has been a wonderful, fantastic, incredible experience – from the moment we stepped on board and throughout our stay, we have been pampered, wined. dined and treated so special. Mark and I highly recommend you add a European River Cruise to your bucket list –
you'll love it!!!
1 comment:
Good morning Pat: Morning for you when you get this note, but 8:00pm for me. You are so right about the big cities. They are nice to visit and see the highlights, but it is so lovely to see all the villages and towns along the river.
Safe travel home. It will take you a couple of days to catch up with the time difference, and, of course, the unpacking and washing.
Love, Judy
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