Cologne, Germany

Today was our last day in Germany and we ended it in Cologne, which is a one of the biggest cities in Germany (well like fifth or sixth). We took full advantage of our last day by going to as many of the Christmas markets as we could. The Christmas markets were the best in this city!

Our day began by taking a walking tour through Cologne. I am going to honest here... it was cold (well that has been a given) and I was really bored. There is a lot of history in Cologne so I just did not enjoy it. The one part of the walking tour that was really cool was we passed city hall (Rathaus) and saw one couple that were going in to get married and we saw one who were leaving after their ceremony! A tradition is after you are married, the bride and groom cut out a red heart from cloth and then the groom carries the bride through the cut out heart! It was so neat to watch!

After we toured Old Town, we toured the catherdral. It was beautiful but let's just say I am tired of church tours!

After our tour, we went back to the boat to have lunch and warm up. After lunch, we headed back into the city to shop! As we were walking, Aunt Jeanne said that the sky looked like a snow sky. Within 10 minutes large flakes started to fall from the sky!

It was gorgeous... shopping at Christmas Markets in the snow! After oodles and oodles of shopping, we went to the Chocolate Museum!

We got to learn about the cocoa bean- where is grows, how they harvest it, and what happens to it once it is sent to chocolate factories. Then we got to see how chocolate is made- from bean, to liquid, to solid chocolate. Very cool!


We even got to taste a bit! We then dragged ourselves back to the boat (we were exhausted from walking in snow and slush while trying not to slip and fall) for dinner. Now we are warm in our pajamas!

Tomorrow is our last full day on the boat and we are going to the Netherlands!! I cannot wait to see the windmills tomorrow afternoon!