Tuesday June 1 - Rhine Cruise - Amsterdam

This morning we were up bright and early to a clear sky and no rain. Johanna was there to send us off with a greeting to be taken to our Lord Mayors. We had to admit to feeling very welcome at our hotel.

We set out at 8 AM headed for our Rhine Cruise starting a few kilometers down the road. This turned out to be a bigger challenge as Manfred dealt with heavy traffic and a great deal of construction. As a result we missed our intended departure, so drove on to Bacharach where we caught up with our boat and took a shorter – but still enjoyable journey down the Rhine – taking in the beautiful scenery and the medieval castles on either side of the Rhine.

We then got off the boat and headed out toward Cologne. Here in the centre of town we toured the Koln Cathedral. This is a magnificent cathedral with what most of us agreed were some of the most magnificent stained glass windows. As you can see from the pictures – this was a truly magnificent cathedral.

We then took in a light lunch at the beer gardens and then were off again towards Amsterdam. On the way we learned a great deal about the history of the Netherlands including the manner in which land is reclaimed or created from the high water table. We were also introduced to Lidia’s home town of Nijmegen (though we were unable to visit). On the way into Amsterdam we were impressed with the sound barriers that have been erected between the road and the surrounding area. They are good to look at and effective.

We arrived at our hotel at 6:30 – a lovely modern looking hotel with nice rooms. After a lovely supper we headed off for an early evening looking forward to an early morning.

Harry and Barb had a delightful visit from Madeleine – our guide from 2000 – when we made our first trip with Rostad.