Day 24, September 16

Day 24, September 16, 2012 Bonn to Neuss, 46 miles, total mileage: 731.2

Big surprise! Some of our pictures from Bonn have reappeared.  Here is Bonn's most famous son.  During our tour, we passed by Beethoven's birth place.

 Leaving a city on a Sunday morning means no traffic and we were out of town in a flash.  The path led us through some woods close to the river.  This scene is very different from most of our ride along the Rhine.

The Rhine north of Koblenz is very industrialized.  The fast moving river makes shipping so easy that industry was inevitable.  Each time we came to an industrial center, the path left the river.  So not only is the river full of twists and turns, so is the bike route.

 The day began with clear blue skies and crisp air that warned us of fall.  This bike path on the bridge over an inlet in an industrial area made the trip so easy.  In no time we were in Cologne.  The promenade beside the river was jammed with people on foot and bike. 

 After losing our way, we finally located the Ludwig am Museum and met Rose for lunch.  Rose is an Oakley family friend and lives in Cologne.  Our time was limited so after lunch we went to the Dom.

This is the inside center of the Cathedral of St. Peter.  This view is front to back and gives no sense of the massiveness of this church.

 The Cathedral of St. Peter is the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe.  It was started in the 1200's and took about 600 years to complete.  Although most of Cologne was leveled during WW II, the cathedral was unharmed.

 We are just three of the nearly 20,000 people who visited the cathedral today!

 This our final view of the the cathedral from the back.  Just breathtaking.  Then we pedaled our way out of the city.  About five miles north of Cologne we decided to leave the river and travel 9B to Neuss.  Amazingly there was a bike path that traveled along the road.  For seventeen miles, we did not have to ride with traffic, just beside it.  What a great way to cycle.

So here we are in Germany at a great Greek restaurant down the road from our restaurant.  Although the setting is much like a biergarten, we are enjoying some feta and olives with our beer!