Owdy from Cologne

A relaxing morning on board. It's interesting we don't have to travel to anywhere, our hotel does it for us. A lovely sleep in, breakfast and then lunch and 3pm came and we docked at the ancient city of COlogne - home of eau de cologne, in its original form and the later version of 4711! We had a walking tour of the old city, divided up into 4 groups each of us given a hearing aid and receiver and our guide spoke as she walked - much easier to hear as a group rather than having her having to shout to the group. We saw old Romanesque type architecture and the magnificent Cologne Cathedral - famous because it is reputed to hold the remains of the 3 wise men (photo3). There were some old tapestries on display inside and the ceiling height is enormous as are the columns that support the structure - you may be able to pick out Graeme standing next to one of them being dwarfed. Way up on one of the walls is a set of pipes from the organ - it would be stirring to hear the organ playing. We've just had the formal Captain's welcome dinner - a 7 course meal. They are not large helpings but scrumptious and easy on the tummy.
Our stateroom is self contained - the ensuite is just on the right as we enter the room. We are in the middle of the ship on the port side. Wardrobes on the left as you enter, drawers under the bed as well as space to store cases. A TV on the end of the bed where we can watch whatever we like eg. info about our next day, GPS of the journey, camera on the bow of the boat as we travel, then other channells or films. Staff service the room 2x a day, make the beds eg in the morning, then pull back the sheets and arrange jamas on the bed at night (if they can find them) and leave us a nougat. What a life of luxury which we had better not get too used to. We set sail tonight at 1am for Koblensz where we will arrive about 10-30am tomorrow.