We leave Dormagen and head for Cologne (Koln): We ride fast due to the threat of thunderstorms

July 26, 2013

Slept well in our spacious room at Stadt Hotel Dormagen.

Boris the owner of the hotel, chef extraordinaire and extremely nice guy.

Every morning Boris prepared fried eggs for us.

The weather forecast for this part of Germany has a severe thunderstorm advisory with continuing extreme high temperatures and humidity for the next 4 days. With Boris' help, we found a hotel in the heart of Cologne for only 45 euros including breakfast and just steps from the impressive Cologne Cathedral. There is a campground in Cologne, but the weather forecast combined with our shaky health has convinced us to stay in a hotel.

Once again, upon leaving this hotel, we feel compelled to treasure the memory of meeting such wonderful people like Boris, Rene, and others at the hotel. They were so wonderfully hospitable and eager to teach us about their country, its cuisine, beer and customs. We highly recommend staying here.

Boris, the owner/chef of Stadt Hotel Dormagen and his friend Rene gave us a memorable place to stay for 3 nights....German hospitality at its finest. Barry and I have thumbs up as we are both feeling healthy again - it was good to finally be able to eat and enjoy Boris' tasty breakfast and made to order eggs.

We were able to ride a direct route to Cologne on autoroute 9, bypassing the more ciruitous Rhine bike route. What a joy it is to ride on a paved bike path, which is separate from the traffic, all the way in to Cologne. We keep reminding ourselves not to take this for granted. Once we go home, apart from the Lochside/Galloping Goose trail in to Victoria and the many bike lanes in Victoria, we know that this type of infrastructure in British Columbia is all too rare. We were just reading online about a neighbourhood dispute in Vancouver where they are proposing to put a bike lane in a wealthy area. Hard for us to relate to the negative reaction. Oh well, that is one of the many reasons we love to cycle here.

On the Rhine River, in front of the Bayer plant, we spotted this crane dumping white powder from a river barge to a huge container that piped the powder into the Bayer plant.

The finished product from the Bayer plant being piped onto river barges

Arrived in Cologne just after 11. We found a cafe on the street to once again enjoy a currywurst with noodle salad and moved in to our room by 1:30. Our room has a bit of a view of the cathedral - it will be impressive at night and we figure that the church bells will sound like they're in our room.

We love these cars with seating for one.

Cora and Georg (whom we met in Langst-Kierst at the campground) had recommended that we check out Globetrotters, an outdoor/camping/travel store in Cologne. We went for a walk to find it and were blown away by what an incredible store it is. In fact, it is an understatement to call it a store. By design, it is interactive and includes on the lower level a pool to test kayaks, scuba diving gear, etc. as well as an ice room, a water room, etc as to test clothing and equipment that they sell. In fact, if you need innoculations for travel, you can do this here too. The store covers 4 floors and for gear hounds and inveterate travellers like us, Globetrotters is nirvana. Forgot to mention that there is also an incredible map/book section. We spent hours here.

Today's ride: 32 km (20 miles)
Total: 543 km (337 miles)

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Charmaine RuppoltI was in Hamburg this past May, and stayed at a hotel not far from the Globetrotter store - - if I had known about it, I would have gone to check it out! :/
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