Cologne, Germany - by Pieter de Jonge

This entry was written by Pieter. He also did most of the photos. I asked him to hold the Canon for awhile but he didn't return it to me. Instead he gave me the Sony cybershot and he used the big one. So he was the photographer of the day.

For our Germany trip, me and Alma had decided to visit the city of Cologne (or ‘Köln’ in German). Cologne is the 4th biggest city in Germany, after Berlin, Munich and Hamburg and has a population of about 2,5 million people.
We took the international train to Cologne, a ride that takes about 2,5 hours.
Just after we crossed the German border I noticed several undercover German policemen (dressed like civilians) starting to ask people for their ID. They were obviously looking for illegal immigrants trying to make their way to Germany. A black person was being escorted to another part of the train by one of the policemen, because something wasn’t right with his papers. We never saw this person return to his seat either…
While the policemen were coming closer and closer to our seats, I reached for my wallet to take out my ID. It was then that Alma said, she didn’t bring her passport with the visa. She was very worried and I felt nervous too, not knowing what would happen if they would ask for her ID only to find out she didn’t have any on her. Two cops passed our seat, without even looking at us. But another one asked the couple next to us for their passport. We felt so sure that we would be next.
We managed to reach Köln Hauptbahnhof (Cologne Central Station) without any further investigations. Guess we’ve been very lucky that day… Since Alma has taken quite an interest in the Anne Frank story, I joked that now we knew how the jews must have felt like during German persecution during World War 2.
Anyway, just before our train entered the station, it had to cross the famous Hohenzollern bridge, spanning the river Rhine, one of the longest (1320 km or 820 miles) and mightiest rivers in Europe.

The Cologne Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church The cathedral is a World Heritage Site, one of the best-known architectural monuments in Germany, and Cologne's most famous landmark. Construction of Cologne Cathedral began in 1248 and took, with interruptions, until 1880 to complete – a period of over 600 years. It is 144.5 metres long, 86.5 metres wide and its two towers are 157 metres tall. The cathedral is one of the world's largest churches and the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe (The largest cathedral in the world is in Seville, Spain by the way).

During World War 2 the city of Cologne was bombed into a barren wasteland by numerous allied air raids. The cathedral suffered seventy hits by aerial bombs, but it did not collapse and stood tall in an otherwise flattened city. After the war, the cathedral was repaired and restored to it’s original might and glory. Still the cathedral’s appearance is blackened and scorched by the firestorm that blazed over Cologne during World War 2, which actually only adds to it’s impressive and ominous appearance.

People, including tourists like us, are welcome to come inside the cathedral and take a look around.

We checked out some stores and several nice souvenir shops, where we bought more magnets, and also a couple of Germany t-shirts (Alma looks so good in her Germany t-shirt by the way!) and some eau de cologne, another thing the city is famous for. Cologne or eau de cologne is a toiletry, a spirit-citrus perfume launched in Cologne in 1709 by Giovanni Maria Farina (1685-1766), an Italian perfumer. Since then the perfume spread all over the world and became a household name.

Köln Hauptbahnhof

After we were done with out shopping spree, we decided to visit the famous chocolate museum (“Schokoladenmuseum”). I asked several people for directions and they were all very willing to explain us in detail in what direction to go. Fortunately, my German is quite good, so communication was easy (although the Germans didn’t mind to use English as well). The Germans may have been a little naughty in the past, but Alma and me agreed that all Germans we had encountered were very friendly and polite. Same as the people we got involved with in Brussels by the way. Only the French were, with a few exceptions, rude and snobbish people. I always thought that was just a prejudice, but we found out it’s actually true.

The chocolate museum is built on a island in the Rhine river, a huge and modern building with a lot of glass.

Inside you can see, hear and read all about chocolate. General information about cocoa, where it’s from, how it’s manufactured and turned into chocolate of course. The most interesting sight though is the chocolate factory section, where you can see how the cocoa beans are processed step by step into real gold wrapped chocolates ready to eat. A dozen interconnected machines and conveyor belts (with glass windows for a inside view on the process) were producing the tiny chocolates non stop – the same one as were handed to you after purchasing the ticket.

Also really old machines, presses and moulds were exhibited.

Alma though seemed to be most preoccupied with the 10 foot tall chocolate fountain, which used real liquid chocolate. We were not allowed to touch it or even come close, but you were offered a biscuit dipped in the chocolate – an offer we sure didn’t decline!

We checked out all the other floors and saw all you can think of related to cocoa and chocolate: old-fashioned vending machines, wrappers, posters, billboards, a candy as big as a boulder, the life size purple cow from the Milka brand chocolate bars, a chocolate shop from the past, chocolate tins and pottery, you name it… Guess you have to look for yourself to get the complete picture.

The chocolate museum in Cologne is much better, bigger and professional than the chocolate museum in Brussels, which was actually kind of a disappointment. We agreed though that the Brussels museum had one advantage: they had a real ‘chocolatier’ chef giving live demonstrations how hand made bonbons were made. The Cologne museum lacked that. The Cologne museum makes more than up for it though, by example because of the really huge museum shop where you can buy everything related to cocoa and chocolate. So many exclusive brands of chocolate and each brand so many flavors and varieties. Cocoa beans, chocolate liquor, chocolate flavored coffee or tea, they got it all! Also of course numerous chocolate bars with all kinds of fruits, berries, nuts you can think of, in all possible combinations.

Wait! is that MJ chocolate?

hmmm....chocolate beer.

Alma was especially interested in the Lindt brand chocolates, most of all the chocolates with chilli and pepper in it. I think we bought over 2 kilos of chocolate bars plus a bottle of chocolate flavored beer, which we finished together at home the very next day. We marvelled at the low rates for which these chocolates were sold, being very exclusive brands after all. In the Netherlands and Belgium, these chocs are so much more expensive.

The Cologne trip has been a success and it’s likely we will return there in the near future, only if it would be to buy more chocolates at the museum shop… We sure can recommend this city to everyone!