Chapter 3: Lost in the Media Center

       After an early morning breakfast, Molly found Maggie waiting for her outside on the dock. The friends had planned to go on the walking tour, while Ashby said he wanted to join the leisure tour.
      Cologne is the fourth largest city in Germany, and is also referred to as the "Media Center of Germany". The city is home to many of Germany's largest television and radio stations.
       Molly and Maggie joined their tour group, and headed for the heart of this large city. Their main stop was the magnificent Cologne Cathedral. Once everyone was gathered just inside of the cathedral, the tour guide began to speak.
      "Welcome to the Kölner Dom, or better known as, the Cologne Cathedral," he pronounced! "Construction on this marvelous gothic masterpiece began in 1248, but wasn't completed until 1880. The total cost to build this archetictural giant was 7.6 billion euro's, or 1 billion U.S. dollars in the present day. At the heighest point, the building towers at 515 feet. The building is a total of 85,186 square feet and is visited by more than 30,000 people each day."
    He began to walk down the aisle towards the altar, motioning to the ceiling.
       "During world war two, the cathedral was it by more than seventy aerial bombs, and the two twin spires were used by pilots as navigational landmarks. After the war, it wasn't until 1956 that the repairs were completed."
        The guide went on to tell the tourist of the eleven great bells that hung in the bell towers of cathedral, four of which were from the medieval era; and the cathedrals greatest treasure, the Shrine of the Three Kings. This golden sarcophagus is believed to contain the remains of the Three Wise Men, and is nearly 2,000 years old.
      After several more intersting facts about the cathedral, the tour was over and the guest had the rest of the day to explore the city on their own! That only meant one thing for Maggie and Molly, shopping! They headed to the bustling area of town to find the boutiques and restaurants that they had been longing for. In one, and out the other, stop for a drink here, sit and rest there; pictures, picutres and more pictures . The two friends absolutely enjoyed their afternoon in the age old town, but dinner time was drawing near. They decieded it was time to make their way back to their carriage on the water.
       Once aboard the boat, Molly went to her room to retrieve her laptop. She returned to the lounge and her and Maggie began to sort through the hundreds of picutres that she taken. Engulfed in their photo heaven, dinner quickly came upon the hour. Molly removed her SD card, closed her computer and grabbed her camera, and swiftly head to put them back into her room, and then meet Ashby for dinner in the dinning room.
      At the conclusion of dinner, Molly told Maggie that they could meet back in the lounge to finish going through the pictures of their exciting afternoon. When Molly went to retrieve her laptop from their cabin, her SD card was nowhere in sight! It wasn't in her camera, it wasn't in her laptop, and it wasn't on the desk. She rushed back to the lounge to look were they had been seated before dinner, but no sign of the SD card. By the frantic look about Molly's face, Maggie could tell something was wrong.
     "What is it? Did you lose something?" she asked.
     "Well I can't find my SD card for my camera. Do you remember seeing it?"
     "No, not that I can remember," Maggie said.
     "Ugh, I can't believe I can't find it. I just had it before dinner, there is no way I've lost it!"
   Molly sat down in disgust, the SD card was gone.
     "Well before you go and buy another one maybe we could go and see if the boat has a lost and found center," Maggie suggested.
     "Ok," replied Molly," but what are the chances of someone turning it in?"
    Molly spotted a memeber of the crew and asked," Excuse me, but is there a lost and found on the boat?" "Well yes ma'am there is," he quickly replied, " have you lost something?"
     "Well I can't find my SD card for my camera, its blue, and I was just going to see if someone has turned it in," Molly informed.
      He reached into his pocket and said," This doesn't happen to be it, is it?"
      Molly was ecstatic! " Yes!" she replied. "Thank you so so sooo much."
      "No problem," he exclaimed," I found it sitting over there on the table just before dinner," as he pointed across the lounge. "I was going to turn it in to lost and found this evening as a matter of fact, but I'm glad I was able to come across the rightful owner."
     "Well thank you so much, you have no idea how happy I am that found it," Molly said. "I didn't want to have to run back to town and buy another one."
     "No problem, I'm glad I could help," he said delightfully. "Well, you two have a great evening, I must get going."
     "Ok," Molly smiled,"thank you again!"
     "No problem."he said as he walked away.
     Maggie and Molly returned to their seats in the lounge, and entranced themselves in the pictures of their eventful day. It was only day three of their fifteen day excursion, but if the evening was any indication of how the rest of their trip would be, then there was sure to be more excitment in store.