Day 16 - Cologne

We were up and out quite early today – gone by 7am and caught the 7:42am train to Cologne (or Koeln, as the Germans spell it). Our train followed the Rhine River north, and Ken had lots of opportunities to take pictures of many of the castles. We even saw the famous Loreley, the well-known spot in the Rhine where the mermaids would hang out to distract and entice sailors and when their ships would crash, the mermaids would drown the sailors and steal their cargo. Not a “nice” story, but it is the legend of the Loreley, as least as how I remember it from German Class 100-some years ago.

The Chocolate Museum is one Germany’s Top Ten Most Visited Museums in the whole country! The first part of the site takes you through the history of the cocoa bean – where it comes from, who harvests it, who used it before Europeans discovered it, etc. Quite interesting! Alexander von Humboldt, a 19th century ecologist and the one for whom my alma mater in CA is named, was one of chocolate’s biggest fans, calling it “the food of the gods.” From there we went to the processing room where we saw the equipment and how they crush and hull the beans, combine them with sugar, vanilla, and other ingredients, and mix them all together to make chocolate. We saw the molds for Easter Bunnies and just about any other shape you might imagine. The assembly line of truffles just made me laugh. I named the worker “Lucy Ricardo” (she actually looked like her just a bit) and thought to myself, “Speed it up a little!”

On the far end of the mixing exhibit is a gynormous chocolate fountain. It is about 10 feet tall with golden leaves and maybe 10 spouts sticking out dribbling chocolate into a reservoir. An attendant is there with vanilla wafer cookies and dips them in for a taste. What a piece of heaven!

Hard Rock Café was next on the agenda. Food was good, as always, but looking through the museum is the best part. Upstairs we saw Bono’s signed guitar from U2, The Traveling Wilburys guitar that all four of them signed, and Madonna’s golden bustier from one of her tours. Downstairs in the bar, they had one of Garth Brook’s guitars, also signed of course. Another t-shirt for me, and we were off to the Cathedral.

The Koeln Cathedral is MASSIVE – biggest one I’ve been in yet. It’s arches are a whopping 140 feet tall. It has several smaller chapels, as most cathedrals do, and catacombs where the Archbishops are laid to rest. The stained glass indows were the most breath-taking. Amazingly beautiful. The Cathedral has stood for more than 750 years; although it sustained significant damage during WWII, it never went to the ground but held up after 15 bombs were dropped on it or near it. Even some of the stained glass survived – the oldest pane is behind the altar and was created in the 11th century. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, the nave was closed for confession, so we did not get to see all the really neat stuff that is back there. Too bad – maybe next time around!

Now the chore is to unpack the bags and repack to distribute the weight evenly. I bought some really neat books here, and while they will serve me well in parish ministry, they are also heavy. Ken is on it, though. He is an excellent packer!

We have both so enjoyed our time here, but we are also both looking forward to returning to the States tomorrow. We head for the airport on the 6:31am train to board our 9:30am flight to Atlanta and then to KCI.

Thanks for following me along my trip through Germany. It really has been a wonderful journey and a dream come true. Now for the next big dream and adventure…