We crossed into the Netherlands overnight and awoke in Arnhem, just a few hundred meters from the John Frost Bridge, the rebuilt “Bridge Too Far” from Operation Market Garden in World War II.

Arnhem was just a staging location for us today, though; our real goal was Paleis Het Loo, the former home of the Dutch Royal Family. The Palace was built for Statholder-King Willem III and Queen Mary in the late 17th Century; they were also King and Queen of England, Scotland, and Wales. In 1960, Queen Wilhelmina declared it would be donated to the nation when she died (which happened in 1962); the palace has been open as a state museum since 1984.

Our visit started with a walk through the gardens behind the building. They were designed by Daniel Marot, who emigrated from France for religious reasons. Symmetry is the overriding principle in the design.

There are many fountains in the gardens, each with a symbolic meaning. The Venus Fountain, for example, is a reference to Mary’s having crossed the ocean to marry Wilhelm.

We entered the Palace and took a look at Mary’s kitchen (she liked to make marmalade!) and her shell cave.

I really liked the ceiling of the shell cave, especially the way the decoration in the center had been subtly brought into the 21st Century.

The Palace itself was divided into two wings – Willem’s wing and Mary’s wing. Today, the tour of Willem’s wing shows you how the rooms and the furnishings in that wing reflect the politics of the day.

The tour also took us through the Great Hall, Mary’s bedchamber, Willem’s bedchamber, and his private closet, but I didn’t take any photos in those rooms.

The tour of Mary’s wing focuses on Queen Wilhelmina and her parents and descendants. We started with Queen Wilhelmina’s study.

Then we moved on to her daughter’s salon and bedroom, which Juliana furnished herself when she was 18, mostly from a catalog (palace furniture was usually custom-made).

Prince Hendrik became the Netherlands’ first Prince-Consort when he married Queen Wilhelmina. His drawing room includes some of his kills from a trip to India before he was married.

Eventually, Queen Wilhelmina gave Hendrik a “real job” – overseeing game and forest management at Het Loo. He still hunted, of course.

Wilhelmina’s father, Willem III, used this bedroom; in fact, he died here and then it became Wilhelmina’s official bedroom (though she was only 10 at the time).

Willem I (Wilhelmina’s great-grandfather) used this office; it had originally been decorated in Empire Style by Louis Bonaparte, who had been appointed King of Holland by his brother, Napoleon.

Our final stop brought us back to Queen Wilhelmina and her drawing room, which was her private space when she was Queen.

We sailed away from Arnhem soon after we returned from the tour, so I didn’t get to visit the bridge. The afternoon sailing took us through pleasant country, though I was taken aback by these Imperial Walkers attacking some poor innocent sheep!

This windmill seemed more appropriate, though.

The ship set up challah, wine, and Shabbat candles (well, electric ones) and invited anyone who was interested to join in Kiddish; we had about 30 people in the room, not all Jewish. It was a very nice gesture.

There were two tours offered in Cologne – a 90-minute walking tour (with treats) or a 4.5-hour Jewish Heritage Tour (no treats). There were only six of us on the Jewish Heritage Tour, which made for an intimate morning with our guide, Irena. She isn’t Jewish but is knowledgable about Jewish history in Cologne; she was also willing to say “I don’t know” when the questions got beyond her level of Jewish knowledge.

We began by dodging the crazy bicyclists on the Rhine Promenade as we walked to Fishmarkt Square, where we sat and listened to the story of the Jews of Cologne and their relationship to the Archbishops during the early part of the Second Millennium. We could see Great St. Martin Church behind the Fishmarkt Fountain.

We continued walking and talking, passing the Paolozzi Fountain before beginning our ascent towards the Cathedral.

Israeli artist Dani Caravan was commissioned to create an outdoor piece – Ma’alot – located where the final 6377 Jews living in Cologne in 1941 were loaded onto trains and sent to extermination camps. This blog post describes the work and some of its interpretations; I think it’s worth reading for yourself.

We finally got close enough for a clear view of the back half of the Cathedral (which was the first part that was built, starting in 1248 and pausing in 1473).

Irena pointed out that some of the gargoyles on the Cathedral were explicitly antisemitic; there was one showing a monstrous Jew wearing a tallit, and another one showing a “Judensau” (a pig with Jews suckling at her teats). There have been many recent controversies in Germany about removing such “art” – some even going to court, but it’s still there.

Work resumed on the Cathedral in 1842 and it was officially completed in 1880; Emperor Wilhelm I attended the ceremony. Leading families, including Jewish families like the von Oppenheimer family, donated stained glass windows for the Cathedral – I wonder if any other Christian churches have stained glass which shows a synagogue?

There’s a lot of other stained glass in the Cathedral, too, of course.

The Cathedral was originally built to house the Relics of the Three Kings; I didn’t see them, but I did see the Tomb of Gottfried IV.

We left the Cathedral and walked past the site of the old Jewish quarter; they are building a new Jewish museum, but there was nothing to see there today.

We boarded a bus to visit the Yavne Memorial and Educational Center, located on the site of the Jawne reform grammar school, whose headmaster, Erich Klibansky, helped to organize the Kindertransport and save dozens of German Jewish children from the Nazis. Klibansky and his family, along with at least 1100 children and young people, did not escape and were transported from Cologne and murdered by the Nazis.

We began by seeing the Lion’s Fountain Children’s Memorial, which has the names of the children murdered by the Nazis.

We heard about the history of the school and the work to preserve its memory; our guide showed us a couple of short videos about the visit of one of the survivors (whose family had escaped to the Netherlands and then to the US) and his grandson. And then we heard from Gabi, an Israeli-German activist, about his efforts to keep the mainstream media from normalizing antisemitism in today’s Germany.

I would have liked to have had time to see the exhibits at the school but we had to get back on the bus to return to the ship.

We drove past the Roonstrasse Synagogue, the only Cologne synagogue not to have been completely destroyed on Pogrom Night; it was saved because its neighbors were afraid it would take their houses with it if it burned, so they called the fire department! It is once more an active synagogue, and is under continuous police guard.

After lunch, we set forth to try the local beer, kölsch; Irena suggested we go to Delftes Haus, not far from the ship, so we did. Both of us thought it was too bitter (but not very hoppy), but I’m glad I tried it.

We took a short walk through Heumarkt (yet another major market and restaurant square) and paid our respects to King Wilhelm III.

We had just enough time before All Aboard to visit the store at the Chocolate Museum and stock up for our trip home.

And that was it for Cologne except for views from the river as we sailed away.