We left Berlin and headed for Holland. The Germans had just won the World Cup and everywhere was a sea of Black, Red and Yellow. I stayed up to watch the entire game which was a battle of defences that went to extra time. The goal by Mario Göetze that won the game was sheer brilliance.
We stopped overnight at Hannover but didn't spend any time there. We left early the following morning and travelled all day to get to Amsterdam. We gave the Aire a miss, as it was €22 a night with no showers or toilets, and with great difficulty we found the Vliegenbos campground just north of the city. From here it is a short bus ride to the main station or a short bike ride to a free ferry that land you at the same place as the bus.
The place is full of foreign twenty something wankers with tats and toilet brush haircuts - the guys are even worse. All here on the Ian Drury Tour - Sex and Drugs and STDs. They don't call it Dope for nothing. Despite the throngs of able bodied intellectually handicapped we managed to enjoy our time here. We rode almost everywhere on our bikes.
The visit to the Rijksmuseum was brilliant. The Rembrants are outstanding and the Night Watch doubly so now it has been totally restored to its almost original glory. It's name was derived from the darkened patina that had obscured most of the detail over several centuries. The scene is not the night but early morning with the civil guard about to begin their daily march through the city. The colours now are vivid and the painting had the eerie feeling of motion as if the figures are about to walk out of the frame. The rest of the museum is outstanding with the works of other Dutch artist just as impressive. The detail is almost photographic.
We rode the busses, ferries and the trams and walked the streets along the canals as well. Our last night we spent wandering the Red Light District. The hookers aren't nearly as good looking as those of the 70s or maybe I was looking through beer glasses back then. Listening to a group of guys bargaining for a blowjob was hilarious. We finished the night just sitting in a Bar right on the canal just watching the procession of touristas and locals pass by on land and water. We have had a great time here but now it's time to head south to Cologne.
Sunlight flickers through the windows, like a pulsing spotlight, as the tram speeds along the riverside between rows of tall trees that stand like silent ever vigilant Roman soldiers protecting the western shore. The early morning sun shimmers and sparkles on the surface of the Rhine like liquid gold and across the river a thin white shroud of mist hovers above the grassy shore. It's shadowy presence there momentary before the rising sun's rays find it. Another beautiful day begins in Cologne.
This is another city like Malaga, Barcelona and Munich that has managed to blend the ancient with the modern without detracting from former or overstating the latter. Cologne is a jewel of a city built on the remains of Ancient Rome's northern most outpost of civilisation in Europe. Here on the western side of the Rhine and in this city in particular is where we derive our modern concept of "WESTERN" Civilisation. This was the "coal face" where Rome kept the barbarian world to the east at bay. With its sister river, the Rhone, in the south it formed the natural border that would become the infant France under that countries most famous son. Charlemagne.
Cologne has History and quite a bit of it still remains. Though much of its Roman past is hidden below as the bedrock that latter architects built their memorials upon. None of these grand designs is more lasting and more imposing than Cologne Cathedral. This is by far the greatest Gothic monument that we have seen so far. The design, both exterior and interior, surpasses that of Metz, Amiens, Paris or Barcelona. Though the exterior is in need of a good clean (a process that is slowly being done) the interior is magnificent. It's sheer size is astounding and the stained glass windows are beyond adjectives that I can find to describe their vividness and beauty. The fact that this monument was built a thousand years ago with hand tools and wooden scaffolding is beyond belief. Modern architecture pales into insignificance before structures like this. In its day, pristine and white, it would have stood out like a beacon in sunlight or moonlight for miles.
All this time the river flowed, endlessly, to the sea. If I had my way. I'd take a boat from the river...(Yes I know. They're Sting lyrics but they seem appropriate). The Rhine dominates the landscape here as the Tyne did in Sting's lyrics for another Ancient Roman city on the edge of civilisation - Newcastle. We couldn't leave without taking a cruise on this liquid highway that was, and still is, the life blood of so much of Central and Eastern European commerce. Getting Margie up that early for the three kilometre bike ride to the station, twenty minute tram ride to town and ten minute walk to the dock for the 9:30 departure was no easy task. But I accepted the challenge.
The trip was an all day affair and there is only one ferry departure each day. It took four hours to reach our destination, Konigswinter, and two and a half to get back. Konigswinter is a charming little riverside town on the eastern bank or the Rhine and despite having two two outstanding attractions (The Sea Life Aquarium and the Drakenfels summit) it is suffering badly from the economic downturn. The once thriving town centre is almost deserted and many of the once thriving business along the picturesque high street are empty. Drakenfels is mountain ridge that over look the Rhine. A cog railway take you from the riverside to the top station a thousand feet above the river. Atop this ridge sits the ruin of Drakenfel Castle. From the balcony just below the ruins you can view the spectacular panorama of the Rhine as it winds it's way from south to north. We walked back down through the forested hillside, past the middle station with it quaint little Schloss Drakenfel palace and eventually found our way back to the town and river.
The trip back to Cologne was under a brooding sky but the next day dawned bright and clear so we spent one last day in the city just wandering around. The next morning we left for the long sad trip back to Calais. We revisited the Mosel as it was on our way to France. We stopped in Cochem again and restocked our supply of wine from one of the town's Weinguts. It was then off to Trier and the riverside Aire we stayed at last year. We stayed two nights and wandered around the Ancient town with its Roman Gate and Baths then headed off to Luxembourg just a few kilometres down river. We do filled up here with the essentials - diesel, booze and ciggies.
Our last stop before Calais was our first stop Tournai. We only spent the night here before leaving for the Ferry Terminal the next day. I can't believe out European trip is over. It seemed to go so fast but we enjoyed it none the less - the good and the bad.
It's now off to the Kent and Sussex Coast for a few weeks before returning to London.
