It's okay, honey. We'll get to the church on time.....

July 16, 2022

spoiler alert: she made it!

We left our fabulous hotel in Unkel this morning, and started out with a ferry soon afterward.

We get across and immediately start to see more castles. Sheesh! They were everywhere you looked.

Looks like Buckingham Palace!

It was about here when Marjory tells me that we have to get to Cologne by 2 pm because she MUST see the cathedral (this is the main reason we are staying in Cologne) and the last tour in English is at 3 pm. One hour gives us time to check in etc and trot on over to buy tickets etc. In case I haven't told you, Marjory loves churches, Pat find them boring. I may have already told you.

I did the math, and told her we would not make it in time unless we hurried up quite a bit. She takes off like that bat in the underworld. Wow! All I had to do was set up an appointment to see churches all this time, and the woman rides like the wind! I had trouble adjusting to this new speed, but I was likin' it.

For that reason, she wouldn't let me stop to take any more photos. The next photo is our first sighting of Cologne, and you can see the twin peaks of the famous cathedral even from this distance. Once we got closer, the crowds started to build, and our route took us right through the downtown river access. I knew Cologne had about 1,000,000 people, but I didn't know I would have to dodge every one of them. That's what you get when you head into a major city on a Saturday during vacation season I guess.

We stowed our luggage and bikes (cannot check in yet so we are going to the cathedral in our bright biking clothes), and hurried on over. Tickets were available, but the people!

The cathedral itself is imposing. Very tall and narrow, quite long. Typical gothic style.

Inside was also awe inspiring, which I guess is the idea.

So why was Cologne such an important site for a church? Because of the relic, silly. They have the bones from the three magi (Kings or Wise Men) that visited Jesus in the stable. You can't make this stuff up. Oh wait....

So we made it in time for Marjory to get her tour and drag her husband along with her. First time in history she agreed to bike without lunch. As the tour is winding down, I won't get to use this new method of speeding up the bike rides, maybe on the Rhone?

Tomorrow, we take a train to Arnhem (Netherlands) via Dusseldorf, then a short bike ride (18 km) to Otterlo.

Today's ride: 54 km (34 miles)
Total: 1,472 km (914 miles)

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