jumarem

13th May 2012

Hi all

We left Calais on Friday morning and headed for Cologne (Koln) in Germany. We drove via Belgium and stopped in a picturesque little town, called Nevele, for lunch. When we arrived it was like a little ghost town and we couldn't figure out what was going on until we realised that almost everything in town closed for lunch between 12 and 2!!! Fortunately it was close to two and within about 15 mins the whole town came to life. The town itself is built around a beautiful church and a very old cemetery....one of my favourite things so we had lunch and took a stroll.

After arriving in Cologne we went for dinner in a restaurant called The Gilder Brauhaus. Mark had two very large Kolche beers, the first since we've been away, so it was a good thing we had walked down town. We decided on a traditional German meal....grilled pork knuckle and sauerkraut....which was really very nice.

Saturday we spent taking a tour around Cologne, the original home of "4711 Ice Cologne" for those who remember that, so I had to buy some. Afterwards we took a tour through the famous Cologne Cathedral. The Cathedral was commenced in 1248 and left unfinished in 1473. It was completely finished to plan til 1880. How they ever built this kind of thing back then just blows my mind. It was breathtaking inside.

Today we decided to drive up into The Netherlands to a town called Venlo. Venlo is hosting a huge horticultural show called Floriade. Floriade only takes place every ten years so apparently its considered a "must see" so that's what is on the agenda for tomorrow.

We arrived after lunch and spent the day just driving around the countryside and walking through the little villages surrounding the main town. I got to see my first proper windmill today...hope to see some tulips tomorrow!!!

Well, that's about all for now. I hope all you ladies had a lovely Mothers Day. My apologies for all the photos on their side.....Im working on it!!