Cologne

Location: Cologne (Koln), Germany
Weather: partly cloudy, about 50

Hate this jet lag. Have some trouble keeping my eyes open in the daytime, but then can't sleep a wink at night. Only when I'm so exhausted close to dawn am I able to fall a sleep. DH is sleeping well, darn him! Last night I listened to several podcasts I'd downloaded at home onto my ipod. Music perks me up, but listening to a radio program about high tech innovations puts me to sleep, sort of.

Scenery: pleasant pastoral scenes on both sides of the Rhine. We passed Dusseldorf at 6 am (thankfully I was finally asleep) and docked here at Cologne about 30 minutes ago. It's 1:30 pm. About to leave for a walking tour of Cologne, including the magnificent cathedral. Over the years of European travel I've been through the Cologne train station many times, but never had time to visit the cathedral. It's very striking looking on the city skyline. The tour will also include a beer tasting. And I can visit a chocolate factory if I want to. There are about 125 people on this cruise. Everyone is English speaking (interesting). And the nicest thing, they have both 115 volt plugs in the staterooms, as well as the usual 220 that is standard here. I'm able to charge my laptop and ipod and camera battery without having to use the converter, just using the plug extension.

Maybe later today I'll have some photos to post. It was quite dark and dreary yesterday, and nothing at all worthy of photographing. I'm reading Portrait in Sepia, by Isabel Allende. Interesting story. The ship has a small library, which is good!