Cologne and Rüdesheim: Avalon Waterways (Illumination)

So from Amsterdam we headed to Cologne overnight and the day was mostly spent on the boat.  We ate way too much food and hung out on the ship visiting the gym every so often.  At around three in the afternoon, we arrived in Cologne where we were greeted by a local tour guide.  The tour guide showed us around town and he w as hilarious!  He was German, and he was actually completely fluent in Chinese which was pretty awesome xD  .

After we got back on board and had a tasting dinner with small portions of different foods as the ship left the dock towards Rüdesheim overnight.

In the morning we continued along the river to Rüdesheim which was an incredibly scenic morning with castles, vineyards and statutes along the shore of the river.  Our guide provided commentary over the speaker system talking about the history of the area.  We arrived in Rüdesheim after lunch and went on a tour of a musical instrument museum and had a Rüdesheimer Kaffee tasting (aka a LOT of brandy with coffee).  We spent about two hours in the city before boarding the ship again...onwards to Miltenberg!

Cologne

On the way to Rüdesheim 

-M