This afternoon, Viking Eistla is docked on the east bank of the Rhine River in Cologne, Germany. Fortunately, Eistla is docked within easy walking distance of Hohenzollern Bridge, a massive railway bridge which also has a pedestrian walkway leading into the heart of the city.

*Viking Eistla docked next to train bridge in Cologne*

Today, we will be joining the Christmas in Cologne walking tour which begins at 2:15pm. This tour is an included tour on Viking River. After meeting our local guide, along with ten other guests, we begin walking toward the bridge.

This tour involves a lot of walking and there are a lot of steps to climb, as well. To make things more challenging, there is a light rain today. Therefore, good walking shoes are a must and anyone with mobility issues should avoid this tour.

*Train bridge with cathedral on the other side of the river*

As we begin walking across the bridge into town, our guide points out all of the padlocks (see behind him) on the bridge. These “Love Locks” are a common sight on bridges in Europe. Couples in love will buy a padlock, attach it to the bridge as a sign of everlasting love and, after locking it, throw both keys into the river. At last count, there are over 900,000 locks attached to the bridge railing!

After crossing the bridge, our guide stops several times to point out various landmarks along the way.

The city is very crowded today, even though it is Sunday. Many tourists opt to take one of the little tour trains to explore the city. A roundtrip on the train is 20€ (about $23 US).

Our guide stops at one of the entrances to the main Christmas Market in Cologne (there are four of them) next to the cathedral. The elves depicted over this entrance to the market symbolize the spirit of Christmas giving and craftsmanship, with stalls featuring handmade goods and treats.

*Entrance to one of Cologne’s four Christmas markets*

Our tour lasted about two hours and, at the end of the tour, our guide presented each of us with small bags of butter cookies with an imprint of the cathedral on each cookie.. By this time, it had started to rain (notice the umbrellas) and temperatures were dropping as the sun was going down.

Rickee and I decided to seek refuge in a local cafe across from the cathedral. The cafe was huge and very busy. I ordered a cup of coffee and Rickee had hot chocolate. She claims it to be one of the best cups of hot chocolate she has ever had. Our total bill was 16.60€, or about $19 US. And, the merchant would not take a credit card for any ticket under 20€! Thankfully, I had enough Euro to cover the bill. I will need to find an ATM tomorrow to get more cash.

After our coffee and hot chocolate, we take time for a quick selfie in front of the cathedral.

Our plan was to walk through the Christmas Market next to the cathedral and make our way back to the train bridge, and eventually, Viking Eistla. We entered the market just as it was starting to get dark and all of the vendor stalls were lit up and decorated for Christmas.

Visiting the Christmas Markets in Europe really gets you in the spirit of Christmas like no other experience. The vendors in the market are selling everything from ornaments to pretzels, and of course Glühwein, a mulled wine drink served warm in decorative mugs. When you buy the Glühwein, you also pay for the decorative mug. If you do not want to keep the mug, return it to the vendor and get some of your money back. A lot of people collect these mugs but getting them home is a challenge. The vendor below was selling what looked to be delicious bratwurst sausages on fresh rolls. I came very close to ordering one.

As we worked our way toward the exit, the crowds got even more intense. At some points along the way, it was almost impossible to move through the crowd. The layout of the markets can also be very disorienting. By the time we exited the market, we were not exactly where we thought we would be and were having trouble finding our way back to the bridge.

We stopped inside a large camera/electronics store and asked one of the employees how to get back to the bridge. He was not familiar with the area, interestingly, but he pulled out his phone and, with the help of Google maps, was able to show us how to get back to the bridge.

A few blocks later, we found the bridge (it is hard to miss once you can see it). By now, it is raining steadily, pretty cool out and dark.

*Cold and rainy walk back across the bridge*

We arrived safely back at Viking Eistla about 5:30pm.

For dinner this evening, we found a nice table for two at Aquavit Terrace. We each ordered the Cheese soup and I ordered a Caesar Salad.

For our main courses, Rickee ordered the Chicken Supreme, which is on the ‘Always Available’ menu, and I ordered the beef specialty dish (sorry, cannot remember the name). My beef dish resembled pot roast and was extremely tender, but lacked any real depth of flavor. Rickee’s Chicken Supreme, on the other hand, was quite good.

For dessert, we shared a piece of Carrot Cake, which was very good.

We did a lot of walking today, each racking up about 9,000 steps (as recorded by our watches). Viking Eistla is featuring some classical musicians this evening in the Lounge, but we are pretty tired, so off to bed for us. Tomorrow, we will be visiting Koblenz and having dinner in Rüdesheim.

Day 3 - Cologne, Germany

Day 2 - Dordrecht, The Netherlands