Germany: 17 Dezember 2009

We started our day today by traveling via train along the Rhine from Frankfurt to Cologne (that’s Köln if you’re German, or Jackson if your nasty...don't worry if you don't get this joke and are over 45). Thanks to a great suggestion by the locals, we opted for the longer and more scenic “IC” train versus the speedy (but underground) “ICE” option. The extra “E” is for “Express”.

The view along the Rhine was nothing short of spectacular. While I could add hundreds of pictures of the beautiful castles, romantic towns and lazy river boats, I will opt to add only a couple. (You know, just any old day's sights if you live in Europe.)One friend suggested I add “more pictures” to my blog, so if this starts to seem more like a picture-book narrative and less like a piece of substantial literature, you can thank Mr. Jay Isenberg for that. (Hello Jay! Stay out of trouble.)

We arrived in Cologne and headed immediately for the Hotel Cristall. I have added a few photos here of the room so you can enjoy them. (We loved this room by the way and wished we could have stayed here our entire trip. It was wonderful.) The first photo is of me in the bureau – you just have to try and see if you can fit in these small spaces when you’re a paltry 5’1” off the ground. (I'm just saying...you have to. It's part of the "Little People" birth right.)

Our first stop in Cologne was at the magnificent gothic Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom), the largest in Germany and one of the largest in the world. I have included a few photos here so you can appreciate its size and splendor. We headed straight for the top – 500+ steps later we were winded, but appreciated the belfry and view. This first shot shows the actual size of one of the peaks....so we are talking absolutely HUGE.

No bats in this belfry so far as we could tell. The bells are attached to mechanical motors now. They keep a person at the top just to make sure you don't consider any shananigans. (Because who wouldn't want to ring that bell just for fun if they could?)A view from inside the top. (tippy, tippy top where they don't want you jumping out so they put up this annoying fence to ruin your photos)We stopped for a brief retreat at Café Eigel and saw this amazing gingerbread house. The house was about 4’ wide x 3’ tall. It certainly seemed photograph worthy. Our next stop was at the Cologne Chocolate Museum (Schokoladenmuseum Köln). We ended up missing the actual indoor tour, but as it turns out these outdoor windows along with a set of stairs allowed us to see most of what the paid tour included. This demonstrated manufacturing techniques for various chocolates and molds. We did enjoy the gift shop that included all sorts of European chocolates and new incarnations of chocolate treats like hot chocolate on a stick!
After we visited the chocolate museum we headed back over to the cathedral to try and see the treasury, but unfortunately it was closed for the day and we had old (outdated) information about the end time. Like I told you, these sorts of things happen quite a bit in the world of travel. So, we gladly considered that admission fee as a church donation.

On our way to the cathedral we passed the Romano-Germanic Museum (The Römisch-Germanisches Museum). The present building was opened in 1974 and is situated in the immediate vicinity of the cathedral. It was built on the walls of a Roman villa which was discovered in 1941 and which contained the world-famous Dionysos mosaic. The museum was actually built around the mosaic to help keep it intact.
We stopped and had a yummy sausage and wanted to share a photo of the sausage grilling tub with you. (How often do you get to see such a thing?)
To top off the sausage we stopped for an apple streusel (Apfelstrusse) with vanilla sauce. This was so good that Chad didn’t want to stop eating it after we paused for the photo opportunity.

We also enjoyed the Christmas Market in Cologne as well and wanted to share a few photos with you. Check out these lights. We also wanted to show you a couple of fun individual Market photos too. Check out this window with cheeses. This was constructed (window pane and all) on the side of an open-air stall.
Directly across the aisle was another cheese shop with this oversized rat head. (Really creepy and entirely photo worthy.)
After the Market we stopped at Papa Joe’s Biersalon for some traditional Germany cuisine – Köstliche Suppen and Mälzer-Teller (pork with sauerkraut, rye and mustard). After this we visited Eiscafé Marco Polo for Eis (ice cream) - today's German word!

Auf Wiedersehen!