Cologne and Amsterdam

Cologne

Finally, the sun came out! Noonish on Saturday the sun appeared and we rejoiced. If was a glorious thing. Our hearts jumped with delight at its radiance.

I walked the shopping district near the Dom and reveled in the sunshine soaking up the vitamin D. Soon after it appeared... it disappeared. Good thing we boarded our train for Amsterdam. 

cologne is a Beautiful city, lots of history and places to see. However, without benefit of sun and warmer temperatures it is just not a thing one would like to do at the end of a long trip. We did get to Hard Rock in cologne. We walked a little in the area around the train station and walked a bridge over the Rhine. enough!

Our trains from Berlin to Cologne and from Cologne to Amsterdam were the German High speed trains called ICE. During the Berlin-cologne leg we reached a speed of 249km, around 150mph. The trip from Cologne-Amsterdam topped out at 133km that i noticed. Very comfortable trains, quiet and smooth riding. A very pleasant way to travel.

We arrived in Amsterdam ready to get to our room and wait for the next day's travel to the airport. However, we found that the Hard Rock Cafe in Amsterdam was only a short tram ride away. "second Wind" kicked in and off we rode.

We had our picture taken in the hard Rock and left due to shoulder to shoulder people. Next door was an Irish pub where we settled in for beer and a celebratory Paddy's. Amsterdam's energy and lights and youth brought us back for one more crack at walking the streets. We passed some sex shops, ( i dragged Deb out several times), past some hash houses, (i dragged Deb out several times), and just walked and watched... still too damn cold.

At this moment the fog has set in and we can hardly see the other side of the canal from our 6th floor room. We won't see sun today until we reach flight deck 25 or 30. We will walk for breakfast this Sunday but we are done and done. 

Next post... Traverse City.