Cologne at Last!

I know this has been a long time in coming - sorry it took me so long to get around to posting.

My first day in Rommerskirchen (the town Vanessa lives in) was a success.   Vanessa picked me up at the train station and we went back to her house where I met Alba, the four year old that Vanessa and her mother watch in the afternoons.  They were in the process of filling up their pool, and I had a great time playing with the little girl.  Around 3pm Vanessa and I headed over to her friend Gina’s house to sit at her pool.  

Later in the evening we went back to Vanessa’s house and settled in for the evening.  Vanessa’s mother friended both of my parents as well as Jason and Sarah on facebook, and Vanessa and I watched Robin Hood.

Day two in Rommerskirchen was equally as successful.  We visited the historic sites of the area; these included three power stations, which Vanessa had pointed out to me earlier, a monastery, and a castle.  The monastery appeared to be closed, but we did take a peak in the chapel and in the gardens.  Not that we saw any monks, but there must be some sort of active community there because the gardens were quite large, and managed to sell some of their produce, and the chapel featured a fairly full daily mass schedule.  The castle was unusual in that there were people living in it.  The outer wall of the castle appears to contain town houses of sorts, and the inner castle contains rich people.  I was a little disappointed with the lack of historical context provided, and because of the occupation of the buildings Vanessa and I had to content ourselves with poking around the grounds where they appeared to be setting up a wedding of sorts.

Thursday was our designated day in Köln.  After we were up and situated Vanessa’s mother dropped us off at the train station.  Twenty minutes later we stepped out of Köln Hbf, and into the square surrounding the Kölner Dom.  Vanessa was surprised I had yet to see it as I spent almost an hour at the train station previously, and the Dom is literally just outside the doors.  The Dom is extremely ornate, both inside and out.  It is a huge Gothic Cathedral, and with the intricacy of each and every surface there must be almost constant restoration work.  All of the windows are stained glass, and there are several side chapels.  I made sure to stop at each and every one, and of course I went into the sacristy as well.  The only disappointment was that the main alter was under construction, and as such, we were unable to get too close to it.  After our tour around the inside of the church Vanessa and I decided to ascend the tower.  There are some 500 steps into the bell tower and above.  Generally all of the steps are in cramped, stone spiral staircases, and I can’t imagine what it would have been like to have to climb the stairs to ring those bells every hour.  I suppose before the invention of automated bells there were bell ringers who simply stayed in the belfry for shifts of time.  Up at the top of the tower, outside of the building, was a stunning view of the city.  More interesting than the city though was actually the close up of the church spires.  Every inch of the outside of the church has ornate stone work, and there are many statues positioned in such a way that one would never be able to see them from the ground!  It was really cool to be able to look down on the top of the church and see into the nooks and crannies of the outside of the building.  The view was well worth it, but my calves were certainly burning by the time we reached solid ground again. 

Back on the ground Vanessa and I headed toward the Chocolate museum!  Sponsored by Lindor, the museum is located on the riverside.  I must say it is much like the Hershey chocolate museum, but geared towards a much older crowd.  There are kid-friendly exhibits, and a garden with cocoa trees, but most of the material is pretty scientific.  The museum covers the history of cocoa, its uses and meanings, and the science of making and consuming chocolate.  There is also a walk-through of machines making chocolate, and a chocolate fountain where a woman in white was giving away cookies dipped in the molten chocolate.  The uppermost level contained a history of the advertising for chocolate. At the end was a chocolate store, where I actually managed not to purchase anything – mostly for fear of it melting in my backpack.  The museum contained a minimum of propaganda, and that mostly relating to its support of sustainable farming practices and free trade.

Outside again, Vanessa and I grabbed some fries and a sausage for “lunch” – or rather second meal.  It was about 3pm at this point.  From here we headed to the shopping district so Vanessa could pick up a birthday gift for her cousin.  I can’t say the shopping was any different than the traditional shopping district in any large city.  Catching the 4pm train home we were home by 4:30.  There was more hanging around and such until we left again at 8:30 for dinner.

For dinner I had a chili burger.  It was a little odd, I must admit, to be consuming tex-mex in Germany, but the food was actually pretty good; better than some tex-mex I’ve had at home.  From the restaurant Vanessa drove me back into Köln and brought be to the train station – she waited for a while with me before heading back home.  My train actually ended up being 15 minutes late, and as such I boarded the night train to Basel just past midnight.