Our penultimate day. But what a treat awaited us! We took the train to Cologne to see the cathedral. And it was absolutely massive. We were completely overwhelmed by the size. We tried, but we just couldn't get the whole thing in our camera frame. Once inside, it was the same story: you just looked up and up and up. Almost all of the places that we visited so far, were all about the ceilings. But this place was all about the floors. There were thousands and thousands (and THOUSANDS!) of tiny mosaic tiles, in beautiful designs. Talk about detailed. We asked someone about them, and they said it took hundreds of years to complete. There were mosaics of the names and coats of arms of bishops, and archbishops. Beyond impressive. My favorites (in addition to the gorgeous floors!) were the St. Christopher statue, and the Chapel of Mercy. Stunning!
We left the cathedral and had lunch at a nearby Thai place. The portions were good and the price was right. Afterward, we wandered around, then hopped on one of those little tourist trains for a quick overview of the city. It stopped and dropped us at a chocolate shop/factory and if you're a lover of chocolate, this is the place for you. When we were done there, we hopped back on that train to go back to where we began. We really didn't do much in Cologne besides the cathedral. I had REALLY wanted to continue on to Aachen to see the cathedral there too but it would have been too long of a day so we went back to Boppard early. We had dinner at Alte Schmiede, and enjoyed people watching while dining outside. The wine fest was gearing up and it was getting crowded. We checked out the stalls and shops and watched a band play. I simply enjoyed being in the mix, watching the people, checking out the wine tents, admiring the lights...
We just hung around in the center of town for awhile longer, then went back to the hotel. It was a lot slower of a day than normal, but very enjoyable nonetheless.