Goodbye Germany and hello Amsterdam ….

Wednesday 21st September

It was a very early start today (7.30 am) as we had quite a long way to go and the driver was aware of a lot of roadworks along the route. Although we were passing through farming and forest countryside there was still much to see, with the different crops, the main one being corn probably followed by potatoes, but I also saw a crop of oats. One of the interesting things about farming in Germany is that there are very few fences as the farms don’t seem to have animals. The farmers tend to plant small plots of different crops at different times of the year which tend to create a kaleidoscope of different green colours, giving that postcard look.

We stopped off at Cologne mid morning,mainly to look at the Gothic Cathedral which is over 1,000 years old. The significance of this is that Cologne was 95 per cent destroyed in World War 2 but the bomber pilots were instructed not to destroy the Cathedral. The many beautiful stained glass windows were removed and safely stored underground and replaced again after the end of the war. The Cathedral was a very impressive building but I found it very similar inside to the style of the Norwich Cathedral. It is also said that the remains of the Three Wise Men are buried here in the Cathedral.

We resumed our journey and eventually left Germany and entered the Netherlands with no fanfare as there is no longer any border control due to the European union. Soon after this we passed the town of Arnheim, the place where there was an enormous battle between the Allies and Germany and has been made into a film called “A bridge too far” . (Craig you will have to watch out for that for me).

At last we reached Amsterdam. It is referred to as the Venice of the North because of the numerous canals that go around the city and it is also the city of the push bike. There are thousands of them and they have right of way even when they don’t!!! Here, you don’t worry so much about being run over by a motor car, it is the bikes you have to watch out for. We had passengers alighting from the coach on our arrival and almost immediately some of them were nearly run down by the bicycles! Even Jill nearly got run down. We were also told of the numerous coffee houses here – these are not your run of the mill coffee houses but rather places where you consume drugs!! Just as well we were warned about that!!! Amsterdam is a very free city in many ways!!

After we had settled into the hotel a small group of us walked and caught a tram (quite a feat!) to Anne Franks house and saw the actual house and museum that has been set up in her memory. Another very sad, but interesting outing.