Day 16 Roll over Beethoven! Rolling with the punches

Because we're never fully sure where we'll end up at the end of the day, I often wait until the night before or even the day of to find our next night's accommodation. So when I finally looked for accommodations in Cologne, where we had hoped to stay two nights for a rest day, I was stunned to find prices of hotels around $500 per night  which I soon realized was due to the European cup is being held right now in Cologne. That sent me scrambling to find a warmshowers host and we were so fortunate to find Simon and Nina willing to take us in.   Now, it was just about getting there. Our day started out fine enough but we were across the river from the planned route & once again had to rely on Google maps to get us to a ferry to cross back over. A turn onto a dirt road seemed innocent enough as our trail has often been such throughout.  But the road soon turned into a trail that dropped down to the river. Once along the river we didn't want to climb back out but our trail was already a wash with debris from flooding. The more we went on the deeper in trouble we became. If we weren't climbing over logs, we were pushing our bikes through mud & thorny bushes. A highway was just above us, but the incline was too steep to attempt to walk up, let alone pull the bikes up so we had to trudge through on foot for a good mile and a half until we emerged into a small park and found our way back to paved roads. Caked in mud with battle scars from the bushes, we tried to regain our spirits about us as we crossed the river via ferry and we're back on course. Stopping in a small village for a snack, a tourist office employee came out and forewarned us of a possible storm and even tornado headed across our path in a few hours. I had seen a chance of rain in the forecast when I looked in the morning but nothing that seemed so ominous. When we arrived in the city of Bonn, former capital of West Berlin and birthplace of Beethoven, the weather was still mild and people were about. We snapped some photos with Beethoven and grabbed a bite for lunch. Then our phones started going off warning of the impending storm advertising  wind gusts of  up to 50 mph.  My purist, ride-or-die gumption  quickly went out the window as it began to rain.  So we opted to hop a train for the 18 miles we had planned to bike to Cologne where the forecast was just outside the path of danger and our hosts awaited our arrival. The train was our first experience of the madness that had overtaken the city.  Getting off the train, the station was so packed that we couldn't move for 20 minutes. Thousands of Scots dressed in kilts we're pouring into the city to support their team against the Swiss.  Every few minutes they would break out into chants and roaring laughter. They are certainly much more jovial than the Germans. The Swiss fans were also more subdued. Everywhere we went though, the streets and pubs were packed with fans from many countries. We made our way to our hosts who encouraged us to drop our bags and go back and check out the city since we would now only be there one day & revamp our rest day tomorrow in Dusseldorf.  So back to the madness we went.  We first stopped at the Cologne cathedral which took 632 years to build and houses the famed relics of the Magi. I've been to many cathedrals and this one was quite extraordinary.  So crazy to think how many people worked their whole lives on it knowing they would never see its completion. From there we rode through the old town, weaving through more rabid soccer fans before arriving at the Lindt chocolate factory. That was right up our alley as we got to see live production of chocolate as well as sample quite a few. Later we went shopping for a surprise baby gift for our host who is pregnant.  After dinner we cycled back and rejoined our awesome hosts who are big board game aficionados and they taught us a new game. It was so nice to have the afternoon and evening to just enjoy the city and ride bikes without gear. We probably made up the entire 18 mi train ride just riding around the city.   Although the day took lots of twists and turns, it was a good reminder that sometimes we just have to roll with the punches!

Hope he's not claustrophobic

You'd look annoyed too if pigeons kept landing on your head

This man is a genius.  Kids take note on how to make money with your chalk art

The only place the soccer fans were not being loud

Relics of the Maji.  What's in the box?

Marketing to your target audience