Sadly the weather report for today turned out correct, it was a cool day that started rainy and ended the same way. The blessing was the middle, it was dry when we really needed it to be dry.

Let me start at the beginning. We are slowly getting to know each other on the trip, including our tour director. Ellen is native to the Netherlands, so her first language is Dutch. Her husband is Italian, so she speaks Italian. She also is fluent in English and in German, and is a little bit fluent in French. It was a great reminder of how much better we could do in teaching our students foreign languages.

We climbed onto our motor coach for a ride out of Frankfort and towards the Rhine River valley. We made a short stop in a little village and got to have a very pleasant walk around. Later in the morning we left the bus for a one hour cruise on the Rhine. We saw more than a few castles from the boat, plus a great deal of river traffic…river cruise ships, barges, you name it. Greg enjoyed seeing all the train traffic as well.

Lunch was spent in a castle that dates back to the 13th century. The view from up there was wonderful, the meal was great, and we continued to get to know our fellow travelers better. It’s amazing that people without the tools we have now could build structures so far above the river valley, structures that endure 700-800 years later.

Back on the bus to drive to Cologne…but, things got more than a little wet at that point. We arrived in Cologne to find the rain falling steadily. Leila broke out our umbrellas and away we went to visit the Cologne Cathedral. It really was amazing in more than one way. The building took so long to complete that its structure changed as technology changed, including flying buttresses that were no longer needed later. The twin spires were not completed until the 1800’s. The building mostly survived WW2, but some of the stained glass is contemporary.

We arrived at our hotel fairly late in the day, and Tuesday will be an early start…we ride a high-speed train into Berlin. More then…