Cologne. July 13

This morning was pretty rainy. We went and got breakfast from a nearby café as we hadn’t been able to make it to a supermarket the day before. We both had eggs of a sort and while we were eating, Elise texted A&J to see what they were up to. They said they were on a tour into the city, but it wasn’t until later, when we were walking in the direction of the Cologne Cathedral, that they mentioned that they were spending some free time in there too! So we met them as and squashed their plans of coffee and cake, suggesting we climb the tower instead! Aren’t we kind! They were up for it of course, and we climbed the many steps, some of which were outside and quite slippery from the rain, to the top. We had some time to look at the view before making our way down again.
We still had some time before they had to re-join their tour group, so dad took us around the corner to show us the beer hall that their guide had suggested, just in case we were interested (we were). Dad also got a pretzel, which, as we got a taste, was super good. We will return.
After splitting from them we decided to take a little walk and ended up next to the Rhine, so we stood taking pictures and having a look at potential cruises, when lo and behold, the familiar APT Amabella cruise boat floats past. Elise tried to viber Andrew and when we saw him at his balcony, with his camera out, we waved excitedly! Andrew called a few minutes later, totally unaware that Elise and Ash had been waving at him, even though its very likely we're in those photos. MAAAAAAANNNNN, WHAT A WASTE OF A MOMENT AMMIRITE?!

Views from the Cathedral (excellent weather indeed)

HELLO A&J

The Amabella passing us! Hey Andrew (white speck on top balcony)!

Elise- HI DAD WE SAW YOU CRUISE BY

After this we looked for an umbrella for Elise, got pretzels and had some Koelsch in the beer hall. We also returned to the cathedral to have a look inside and Elise was v impressed with the mosaics on the floor.

Pixel stained glass mixing things up

We headed back out into the rain and walked over the bridge ‘Hohenzollernbrucke’ with the many, many, many love locks (as is the trend in major cities now). It actually looked amazing though. On the other side of the river we took a lift to the top of a building, which has a really great 360-degree lookout over the river, bridge and city beyond.

ALL THE LOCKS

Elise looking at the Dom/ (not actually but it looks like she is right?!)

Ash had a little too much fun matching the picture to the structure (see below)

On the way home we picked up a sweet spiced pretzel and ‘beesting’ which we took back to our laundry (room) to eat. We cooked pasta for dinner and, obviously, watched more OITNB.

Love, A&E