Day #14: Köln and the Rhine River

Monday dawned bright and clear and it was off to see Köln's main attraction, its amazing Gothic cathedral. Construction started in the 13th century, but after the Reformation and moving trade routes, funds dried up and building halted. The cathedral wasn't completely finished until the late 19th century. The cathedral is famous not only for its size, but also for housing the bones of the Magi. The bodies were "discovered" in Jerusalem by Helen, mother of Constantine the Great in the 300s. From there, the relics lasted almost 1000 years in Milan, until Barbarrosa of Germany invaded Italy and the Archbishop of Köln transferred (to use the tour guide's word for it) the bones to Köln.

After the cathedral tour, it was off to catch a train down the Rhine River to tour Rheinfells Castle. Built high above the river and the scenic town of St. Goar, Rheinfells Castle protected this stretch of the river for hundreds of years, until the French Revolutionary Army came through and partially destroyed it. Still, what is left is an impressive sight.

After traipsing through the castle, I caught a boat for a cruise down the Rhine. The scenery, idyllic villages, and numerous castles (built to extract tolls from river floating commerce) all combined to let the river live up to its knickname of the "Romantic Rhine."

My boat tour ended in the town of Bacharach where I stayed the night at a small B&B. After a delicious meal of jaegerschnitzel, I headed for an evening stroll. Bacharach is world famous as a wine making town, especially for its Reisling wine. So, I at the end of my walk, I ended up at a wine garded. There, I shared a table with a retired Swedish couple. We had a great conversation (well, the wife spoke English well and translated for her husband). One interesting item she mentioned was that more and more Swedish people were buying private health insurance. It turns out that the waiting list for the government provided health care was too long, so they are turning to private sources. I thought it was interesting given the health care debate back home.