October 22, 2018 – Bonn and Cologne

October 22, 2018 – Bonn and Cologne
The original itinerary had us docking in Bonn but we were told at the start off the trip that we would be docking in Cologne and bussed to Bonn. When I woke up this morning and looked out my window I saw a concrete wall. After dressing and going out to look, I found out we were docked across the river from Cologne. The dockage area on the Cologne side didn’t have enough water depth for us to dock there.
We took buses to Bonn in the morning. We had an introductory walk. In front of city hall there are brass plates in the pavement shaped like the spines of books. This is where the Nazis burned books. Next we headed to Beethoven’s house. This is the house he was born in and raised as a child. It was very interesting. Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed.
When we walked out it sta3rted to drizzle. We decided to walk toward the bus and stop first at the HARIBO store. HARIBO is gummy bears worms, … Invented in Bonn. The store is huge with very product sold from mini-bags to bags you fill from bulk dispensers.
We got to the bus with time to spare. On the way back, Simone announced that they were able to get shuttle buses for the afternoon to take us into Cologne.
We took the first bus in and went to the magnificent Cathedral in Cologne. It is huge. It supposedly has the remains of the three Magi in an impressive gold shrine. The stained glass windows are beautiful. The cathedral took over 600 years to complete.
Tomorrow we will be in Holland. Only 3 full days left on the boat.