We traveled further along the Rhine this morning to commence a cruise down the river. Germany is known to be quite strict with its numerous regulations, and this stretch of the Rhine river bordered by old castles have been regulated as well, to keep with the old traditions. The dawn sky looked fabulous on the way to the Rhine. A nice hour long cruise was started amidst light snowfall which was very pleasant. I took a cup of Denmark ice cream to complement the chill weather outside. The ice cream with nuts and whipped cream was a treat, and nothing like anything I ever tasted before. The dairy products over here in Europe are so pure and creamy and it just melts in your mouth. There are quite a few castles over the Rhine, built to protect the kings and knights against the invading armies. We leant about the ways how they built the fortresses, how they lived inside and how the invading armies usually go about destroying it. There are some nice stories surrounding the castles themselves and the forests nearby. The river itself was greenish in keeping with the surrounding rocks. The Rhine seems to be the heart line of goods transport in this area with many cargo liners going past us during our short trip.
Once we were done with the cruise, we took a 2 hour trip to Cologne, to visit the famous Cathedral, which has been classified as a world heritage site by UNESCO. This cathedral took over 600 years to complete and houses the relic of the 3 kings who offered geese to Jesus. The cathedral is huge with the dome rising more than 160 meters. It has a very flimsy look, but from inside it is quite sturdy. The 10000 sq m of stained glasses that adorn this cathedral inspires awe. The clarity of the paintings on glass is astonishing. We looked around the cathedral, which is based on the trinity concept of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. The relic itself is placed in a golden casket at the altar. We had a quick lunch at McDonalds. There were a few Chinese staff, which was no surprise now. However, they couldn’t understand simple English like “no meat”, and I struggled to explain to them that I am a vegetarian and I needed something to eat. Finally, her German superior made sense out of it, and I got myself a burger and salad. In Europe, we need to pay extra for the sauce, and I got a couple of chilli sauce packets to go with it. In keeping with the quality of food in Europe, both items tasted fresh and delicious and very different from what I am used to in Singapore.
It was a long 4 hour drive to Amsterdam, so I slept most of the way. We stopped for a quick halt along the highway inside Holland. Netherlands is a very liberal country and it was no surprise finding porn magazines on the shelf, which guys were very eager to browse through while their wives, girlfriends and moms were desperate to drag them away. What was funny though was to see a teen guy beg his mom to get a copy of playboy. You can travel in your parents’ company and get them to pay for your trip, but at least you need to have some money in your pocket to buy what you want: P Of course the poor guy never got what he wanted. The Singaporean customs officials won’t be too liberal even if he had managed to convince his mom! We went to the city centre in Amsterdam where there were a few restaurants, including Indian and Chinese. While waiting for our seats in the crowded Chinese restaurant, we had a glimpse into the equally packed Indian restaurant next door and a souvenir shop. Most of the souvenirs made it obvious the city’s status as the sex capital of the world. There should be something in the air, as adult jokes were in free flow all of a sudden amongst the guys. Once the food was ready though, the priority changed and we gobbled up the not so great Chinese vegetarian dinner before heading back to the hotel near the airport. Tomorrow, we will get to know what this city is all about.
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