Cologne, Germany

We made our way to breakfast in the dining area at our usual time and in our usual table.  Our usual server, Kate, made sure that we were all well satisfied.  We did have a very pleasant and interesting breakfast guest.  Trudy is a widow who now lives in Costa Mesa, California but grew up and spent much of her life in Mannheim, Germany.  We enjoyed her German accent that sometimes drifted into complete German especially when discussing one of the many topics on which she is passionate.  Trudy’s late husband was once mayor of Costa Mesa and she is still very active in politics as an elected official as well as serving on local committees.  She is quite a character.

The morning excursion was a walking tour of Cologne and the Cologne Cathedral, another UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We were on a bus with a guide who was very witty and was teasing the driver about how many Smart Car’s he has crushed with the bus.  Although we were initially disappointed that he would not be our city guide, we learned that the German guide, Ute, who was assigned to us was just as amusing but in quite another way.  On our walk around the cathedral she was telling us how easy going and liberal the citizens of Cologne are when compared to most other areas of Germany. 
About that time a bicyclist came riding past and she thrust her guide sign (lollipop) out at the cyclist and shouting in German that he was riding in a pedestrian only area. Later in the cathedral a man was leading a group of tourists who apparently did not have a license to guide from the Bureau of Tourism. She let him have it with a tirade on how it is illegal for him to act as a guide without the proper credentials and how his group should get out of the way of groups who were there legally. As we approached the crypt that is reputed to hold the remains of the three wise men, an American tourist, not with our group, was drinking coffee in the cathedral. Our guide soundly scolded her that she was not in a biergarten and should not bring beverages into a church.

Crypt that is reputed to contain the remains of the three wise men

The Cologne Cathedral is really magnificent.  It is good that Cologne is one of our last stops since if we had visited this cathedral first all of the ones to follow further up the Rhine would have been a letdown.  Although Cologne is a large city, the cathedral spires tower over everything.  Finding the towers of the church make it impossible to get lost in Cologne.  Despite being near 900 years old, the cathedral is still an active and working church. 

Ian with one of Cologne's Kolsch beers

After leaving the church the guide took us along the banks of the Rhine River past the fish market area where many good restaurants and biergartens are located.  She also pointed out directions to places for shopping and other area attractions that we may wish to visit in the afternoon.  We had been to Cologne in 2010 including to the cathedral but since it was in late December, the city looked very different.  There were many more people in the cathedral, the biergartens, shops and on the streets this time of year.

We took the 12:30 shuttle back to the ship and had lunch in the informal grill area of the Aquavit lounge.  We had sliced flank steak, soups, salads and apple beignets for lunch.  We left lunch to walk into the city to spend the afternoon visiting some of the locations in Cologne that we like to see.  We stopped by a shop that sells locally made fragrances and bought a cologne from Cologne for Gran.  We walked along the river and sampled several brands of Kolsch Bier which is only made in the Cologne area. 

Emily, Mary & Ian at ruins of Roman settlement

We made it to the Lindt chocolate factory and visitor center.  Mary, Emily & I had been here in 2010 but it is a very good visit.  There is a lot of signage on the history and making of chocolate.  You can also see chocolate being made into hollow shapes as well as small bars.  The process is very interesting and requires many steps to prepare what we know as chocolate from the raw beans. 

After leaving the Lindt factory we walked across the street to the Mustard (Senf) Museum.  This is actually just a store that sells a wide variety of mustards and has some interpretative displays on mustard.  We had several samples of the mustards including a special Cologne style as well as one made with Riesling wine.  Ian & Emily purchased several as gifts for family and friends. 

Mustard Museum in Cologne

We enjoyed the walk back along the Rhine since the temperatures were back up in the 70s by that time in the afternoon.  These cooler European temperatures seem very pleasant after leaving the upper 90s of home nearly two weeks ago.  We stopped at another biergarten for a final Kolsch and hunted a geocache or two along the way then made our way back to the ship.  Since we were all pretty tired we read, relaxed and just rested for an hour or so until dinner.  I even managed to doze off a little.

We had the daily briefing at 6:45 then dinner at 7:00.  A group was leaving for one of the optional tours that was a tasting of local Kolsch Bier from several of the area pubs.  The charge for the excursion was an additional $90 per person.  We were able to stop by several Biergartens earlier in the afternoon and sample local Kolsch Bier for only about $9 with each of us having sips to compare.  While we like Viking very much we do not think that we would recommend the optional tours as a bargain or even a desirable choice, at least not for us.

Ancient crucifix in Cologne Cathedral

Once again, Chef Mario prepared some excellent choices for dinner.  Appetizers were egg rolls or French onion soup.  The main course choices were roasted chicken, seared sea bass or porcini mushroom ravioli.  Dessert was ice cream, sorbet or a chocolate cake.  Most of us had the sea bass although Mary said that the porcini ravioli was quite good.  We ate with a couple from New Jersey who had lived outside Albuquerque for a number of years.  They were quite pleasant so we chatted with them well past dinner.

Around 9 pm we went up on the sundeck and looked out over the city of Cologne. As the temperature cooled and the wind picked up we decided to return to our stateroom for the night.  The ship leaves for Kinderdijk around 1 am and should arrive in midafternoon on Tuesday.  We have a tour to see some restored working windmills at 4 pm.

St. Augustine Alligator Farm

We were able to sleep in a bit this morning not awakening until after 6:30 am.  Since we had made a run to Publix the night before, we had cereal and fruit in the room for breakfast.  We were able to leave the Super 8 before 7:30 and headed toward St. Augustine.  By 8:30 we were at the parking area near the St. Augustine Old Jail.  Since we had tickets with Old Town Trolley, we were able to park for free all day.  We walked around the reconstructed village and the gift shop before going through the old jail that opened in 1891.  When Flagler opened his luxury hotel, he didn’t want the town jail nearby so he paid to have a large modern jail built a mile from the then town boundary and specified that the jail be painted pink to not look like a jail.  Our informative guide “arrested” us and booked us into the jail but gave us a tour of Sheriff Perry’s home that was attached to the jail.  

The jail had a secure and high tech locking system that was part of the installation by the St. Louis company building the jail to Flagler’s specifications. The jail looked so much like a hotel that it was common for rail passengers to come to the jail thinking that it was Flagler’s exclusive Ponce de Leon hotel. 

After leaving the jail, we went to the small but well displayed historical museum adjacent to the jail.  After that, we walked over to the area that is believed to have the area where Ponce de Leon looked for the Fountain of Youth and past a 600 year old live oak tree called Old Senator.  We walked over to the trolley station and rode into town then walked over to the St. Augustine Visitor Center.  We walked over to Flagler College in what was Flagler’s luxury Ponce de Leon hotel.  We had lunch at the student center there at Flagler College.  Mary had a ham sandwich from the Boar’s Head Deli.  I had a Chick-Fil-A sandwich.  Since we were in the historic heavily tourist part of the city, the student center was the least expensive place to eat.  After finishing our lunch we walked two blocks to the pickup point for the shuttle going to Anastasia Island where the Alligator Farm, lighthouse, state park and beaches are located.  We were pleased that the shuttle which runs once an hour was at the bus stop when we arrived.  We made the short trip over to the island on the bus while our driver gave us interesting information about the area along the way. 

Our trip package from Old Town Trolley included passes to the Alligator Farm and when we arrived at 11:45, the feeding at the large alligator area was preparing to begin.  We enjoyed watching the large alligators eat game hens and prepared pellet food.  Some of the alligators in the pond were very large.  The feeding lasted about 30 minutes and included a lot of information on each of the alligators in the pond. 

After the feeding concluded, we walked around the many displays at the Alligator Farm and saw nearly every species of alligators and crocodiles from all over the world.  

The Alligator Farm works with conservation groups to promote breeding of rare and endangered species of alligators and crocodiles to attempt to preserve the species.  There were also displays with snakes, birds, a few mammals and a number of turtles including four Galapagos Tortoises.  We especially enjoyed the large display with the Australian Saltwater Crocodile named Maximo and his mate Sydney.  Maximo is over 15 feet long and is still growing.  Maximo replaces Gomek, the prior saltwater crocodile who was nearly 18 feet long and weighed in at over 2000 pounds.  Gomek was a wild caught crocodile who died in 1997 while Maximo was hatched in captivity in 1971 and should be at the Alligator Farm for many years to come. 

After walking around the Alligator Farm and seeing what there was to see, we walked across A1A highway to the St. Augustine Lighthouse.  We weren’t interested in going up in the lighthouse, especially since there was fog limited visibility.  The lighthouse was constructed in 1874 to replace the prior lighthouse that collapsed due to erosion in 1870.  The current Anastasia Lighthouse operated until 1970.

When we completed our walked around the lighthouse, we caught the shuttle back to St. Augustine across the Matanzas River.  Once back in town, we walked a few blocks over to Whetstone Chocolates for a tour of their facility and processes.  We were able to get in the day’s last 55 minute tour at 3:30.  We learned the history of Whetstone Chocolate and that they invented the chocolate orange.  At one time, Whetstone Chocolate contracted with M & M, Mauna Loa and other large manufacturers of chocolate.  However, they are have recently downsized and are making high end artisanal chocolates.  We enjoyed our samples of white, milk and dark chocolates along the trip then stopped in the shop to make some gift purchases before catching the trolley back to our car on the day’s last trolley run.

After getting our rental car from the lot at the Old Jail, we drove back into town and headed for dinner at Harry’s Seafood Bar & Grill.  This restaurant was recommended to us by my pal, Joe, who spends a good deal of time in St. Augustine.  Harry’s specializes in New Orleans style seafood so Mary had shrimp and grits and I had shrimp etouffée.  We both enjoyed our meals then finished by sharing a slice of excellent key lime pie. 

After dinner, we drove back to our Super 8 in Daytona which took about an hour.  Mary called to give Sarah birthday wishes and we talked to our friend Bruce Neale who will give us a tour at the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday.  We are looking forward to the day.

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