Christmas Markets Part One

We left Amsterdam just after lunchtime on Tuesday for our 24-hour sail to Cologne, the longest stretch of the trip, and the least interesting, although leaving the port was rather fascinating. In Amsterdam we are not in the Rhine River; we reach that by going through the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal which is 74 km long. But all of the traffic that comes from the ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam headed toward Switzerland also has to come through this area and the canal, so it is extremely busy. Add on to that the ferries crossing the waterway almost by the minute, and you can see how much traffic there is during the week. There didn't seem to be nearly as many ships and barges when we arrived on Sunday.

Backing out into a very busy canal - a touchy proposition
but Bach can be very precisely controlled

The canal downriver from us; ferries, tankers, cargo barges

A barge pusher without a barge

Considering that Crystal Bach is 135 metres (438 feet) long, the pod propulsion system and the water jet bow thrusters keep her in place to the millimetre, according to the captain. And in watching us navigate past a couple of bollards out in the water, we could believe it. It was also interesting to see how easily the ship was backed out of the dock and turned around 180 degrees amongst the barge parade, and how quickly we merged into the traffic. It is really amazing technology that they use to run these ships.

After a very quiet and comfortable overnight and morning sail, we arrived in Cologne a little earlier than expected, and we watched as the captain manoeuvered us to the shorewall in between two other ships.

Our walking tour of the old town took us to the cathedral and the two closest Christmas markets and left us to wander about on our own.

Cologne is one of the oldest cities in Europe, established by the Romans as Colonia, and, like Rome, every time someone sticks a shovel in the ground, they come up with some kind of artifact. At the moment, they are building an underground museum between the cathedral (the Dom) and the old town hall because they have found so much in that area. In fact, our guide took us to the underground parking garage near the Dom to show us a preserved section of the original Roman wall!

The cathedral itself is one of the largest in Europe, and is important because it is said to house the bones of the Three Wise Men.

From the river side. The Dom was once the largest structure
in all of Europe. The odd building to the left is a concert hall.

Once again we found scaffolding!!!

Cologne is also known for its Christmas Markets, and, like most larger cities, there are more than one. The main market is beside the Dom, and another large one is at the Old Town Hall. We had a chance to walk around both of these, sample some Glühwein (the mulled wine winter specialty of much of northern Europe) and do a little shopping. Of course, it seems that most of what the people come to the market for is also to graze the food kiosks - you name it, you can get it, and Pommes AKA french fries, served in a paper cone, are very popular. We found one of Monica's Mom's favourite wintertime dishes, stewed kale, or Grünkohl, and had to try some.

With our bowls of grünkohl and sausage at the vendor's kiosk

Of course we weren't immune to grazing either. We bought some Spekulatius cookies, a package of mini-Stollen (the size of two-bite brownies but the traditional Christmas bread), and even stopped at a bakery that was selling Berliner donuts two for 1 Euro. Couldn't pass up that deal!! We took the Berliner to dinner with us and had them for dessert that evening.

Earlier in the afternoon we saw the
ferris wheel in the Old Town market; it
is over 100 years old.

Even a stage with live music and
St. Nicholas! 

This looks like one of the little Christmas
decorations that traditionally have a candle in the
middle; the heat turns the blades on top.

The Dom all lit up at night.

On the next day we sailed a few hours to Koblenz, where we arrived a little after noon. Fortunately, the weather was still holding, although there was the possibility of snow overnight before we headed down the middle Rhine.

              

Koblenz was also established by the Romans, who called it Confluencia as it is where the Mosel River flows into the Rhine. Here we took a walking tour of the old town where we visited two of the main churches and were introduced to the Christmas markets. We were once again stunned to hear how high the water has overflowed the banks of the Rhine at various times in the town's history. Our tour guide explained that the highest water level ever experienced would have put all of us completely under water where we stood at the base of the steps going up to the Statue of Kaiser Wilhelm on the Deutsches Eck.       

The first church was the Church of St. Florin, dating back to 1100. It was the church of the fishermen in the area. As with many of the churches here, there is not a lot of interior decoration, but with this being Advent time, they all have a beautiful large Advent wreath hanging over the altar.

The Liebfrauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady, is the main church of the Old Town, and is quite beautiful both inside and out.

               

But of course, we were here to see the Christmas markets. We tried the Glühwein again, and added the cups to our collection. Every town or city has a mug designed for its market, and all of the stalls use the same ones. In most cases, you pay a deposit, so you can return the mug to any vendor and get the money back if you don't want to keep the mug. Of course, we tourists want the souvenir, but the locals likely don't need all those mugs!

Here are the photos from the Koblenz market:

And we couldn't resist giving one of the Nutcrackers a sip of wine! See facebook for more comments....

              

We were not leaving Koblenz until 7:30 in the morning, to start our run through the picturesque Rhine Valley around 9:00. We all had our fingers crossed that we wouldn't have a rainy or snowy day to block our views of the castles.