The Dom, the Rhine . . . and bachelor parties??

Keith and I were able to spend the weekend in Germany to celebrate our 5 year anniversary (we have no belongings in our house, so we thought we might as well get out of town!) . . . we drove a little over an hour to Cologne (or Koln) and spent a drizzly afternoon enjoying the city, stopping in cafes, and walking next to the Rhine River. What follows are some highlights from our day . . .

Driving into the city

Not the same Maggiano's we're used to!

The Dom Cathedral

Koln is most known for the famous Dom Cathedral in the center of the city. It is one of the most breathtaking and incredible sights I've ever seen -- absolutely amazing -- massive and full of incredible history -- I can't say enough about it. I've included some pictures below, but they really don't do it justice. This is the second time I have visited the Dom, and both times have reminded me of this excerpt from the book, The Invisible Woman. If you have time, take a minute to read it. If you're a mom, you will most likely identify with Nicole Johnson. If you have a mom, maybe it will make you understand her a little better. Just looking at the Dom Cathedral makes me appreciate my mom a little more, and also makes me look at becoming a mother a little differently.

Absolutely breathtaking . . .

It is so massive! (and the church is big too!)

You know how Keith is . . .

Dom Cathedral at night

Coming up on the Dom while on the cruise

It looks like the Magic Kingdom! 

Our hotel was across the street from the Dom -- so cool!

Bachelor Parties

Apparently, if you're German (and maybe even if you're not), Koln is THE place to have your bachelor or bachelorette party! I am not exaggerating when I say that we saw about 15 bachelor / bachelorette parties today. And the reason we saw them is because they ALL dress up in crazy costumes, get-ups, matching t-shirts, you name it. We saw everything from a fleet of flight attendants to a Spanish bull fighter to a bachelor in a bunny suit (think Ralphie from A Christmas Story). I tried to capture as many as I could on film, but there were some I couldn't get . . .

This bachelor wore a bunny suit, but I couldn't catch him

Tennis players AND a reggae band??

These guys wanted to be classy . . .

This bachelor had to be a bull fighter

Bachelorette party

Bachelorette flight attendants 

Orange t-shirt crowd -- about 20 guys altogether

Dinner Cruise on the Rhine River

As evening approached, we weren't sure what we wanted to do for dinner until we were walking along the Rhine and discovered they had a dinner cruise that left at 8:00 pm. That sounded like the perfect way to end the day so we purchased our tickets and walked around a bit before having to leave for the cruise. We really enjoyed sitting on the top deck in this little cabana seat and watching the river sights pass by. Here are some pictures from the cruise . . .

In front of the Koln-Dusseldorfer, our cruise ship

 

On the top deck, sitting in a cabana

Goofballs : )

 

 

 

Other pictures from the day . . .

Headed to the Rhine, we came across this . . .

Beautiful hotels and restaurants on the Rhine River

The cruise line also offered an 80s Party!

Enjoying a mid-afternoon cappuccino at this cafe

 


Update

So luckily I started this post Saturday night, because there's no way I would have been able to write this much on Sunday. It is now Monday and we are just starting to feel back to normal. Saturday night Keith wasn't feeling great before we left on the dinner cruise, and thought it might have to do with the lunch he and I split earlier that day. But I felt fine, so we weren't sure what it was. He went to bed still not feeling well, and in the morning we found out why:  the food poisoning hit him about 6:30 am, and finally got me around 9:30 am. We then had to make the drive back to the NL with both of us still sick in order to check into our hotel and lay around all day. (BTW, we DID call my midwife twice and were assured that based on my symptoms and that Liam was acting like his normal self, the food poisoning would not affect him--thank God). Another huge blessing was that our American friend Deena literally made us chicken soup the second she found out we were sick, and brought it to our hotel for us to have something to eat. So after sleeping on and off for about 20 hours, we had a real meal this morning and, besides being a little weak and achy, we're back in business. : )

~Jessi