We had an early start with our local guide for a walking tour of the city. “Tall” Piet, there were 3 Piets guiding hence the nickname, proved a knowledgeable man with a lively sense of humour. I think some locals were startled when 20 tourists burst into laughter simultaneously, with our headphones being connected to the guides commentary.

Cologne is dominated by the twin towers of its Cathedral, started in Medieval times, it took 600 years to complete, and was the highest building in the world, for a while.

As it was still early we had plenty of room to stroll around, whilst absorbing all the facts and figures Piet gave us. To a medieval pilgrim it would have a miraculous sight.

The gargoyles were an amusing feature on an otherwise formal building. The golden shrine inside, housing relics of the three wise men, was equally impressive, along with the stained glass windows.

A most impressive building, bound to struck awe into pilgrams and their purses ! I had signed up for another Cathedral tour later in the afternoon…….to the top of the crossover spire, an interesting choice as I’m not great with heights, and a definite no from H ! On the way back to the ship Piet showed us 2 other essentials, a Bakery and Brewery…..we tried a pretzel, but skipped the beer.

I walked into the city that afternoon for my “top of Cologne tour”. Allowing plenty of time for the 20 minute walk, with the meeting point next to a camera shop 😳

Sure enough the shop was directly attached to the Cathedral! With a spare half hour a Voightlander VSL1 35mm film camera and 2 lenses somehow found their way into my backpack….

There were 7 other victims, participants for the tour, and after a nondescript door we started climbing. This was via a stone spiral staircase, barely wide enough for one person, and dimly lit. H had made a wise decision!

Emerging out on the first level balcony we discovered we had barely started…….this was going to be interesting! For the next level we went via a balcony looking over the exterior at first, then the interior.

Onto the next level, more spiral stairs and scarier balconies.

More stair climbing, then out onto that scary platform…..optional but I did it, hanging onto the handrails. Not for the faint hearted !

Our final ascent took us above the vault ceiling, a tangled mass of iron beams held together giant nuts and bolts. This was a real suprise, being the first such iron structure, and was much admired by a Mr Eiffel…..of tower fame.

Then onto a slightly incongruous steel spiral staircase into the cross over tower.

Where we emerged into the sunshine, and spectacular views of the city, and surrounding spires of the Cathedral.

It had taken us over an hour to ascend, but was throughly worth it, and I had enough energy to walk back to the ship as well. Desert with tonight’s dinner had been earned, and was eaten guilt free.