The last days whenever my streetcar drove over the Rhine I looked very closely at the water level. It's high water time again.
Last week the water came close to the edge of the walls that keep the river in its course. There was about one meter between the water level and the riverside walk. From what I read a few camping grounds were flooded, but no major damage was done. I also read that according to forecasts the water level is going to lower again and Cologne's old town won't be flooded like it has been so many times.
Today I took another route to go to work. I got off the train a station earlier and took a different streetcar that goes over Mülheimer Brücke instead of Severinsbrücke. The riverside there isn't limited by concrete walls, but at least to the one side there are meadows stretching out. So I could still see that the Rhine has indeed risen a lot, since a lot of trees were halfway underwater. I wish I had my camera with me, so I could show you. It looks odd, strange, but also fascinating.
It reminds me of the time when we were living in Cologne and my school was really close to the Rhine. The one year when the water rose so high that a lot of people who lived close to the river had to move to the second floor of their houses because the water was flowing through the first floor I kind of hoped it would rise so high that the school had to be closed. That never happened. I still remember that year, though.
My grandfather remembers the year when it was so cold in winter that the Rhine froze over and you could go ice-skating on the river. Then again, my grandfather was born in 1911.
