Day 2 in Cologne

The word of the day for December 28, when Helen and Mauritz came to visit us in Köln was pleasure.  We spent time going through the gorgeous cathedral, drank plenty of beer, and enjoyed the Schokoladenmuseum.  I have to admit, I was the one pushing to go to the Chocolate Museum.  When Helen and I were discussing the trip, I had asked here is they were interested in the museum, and all around everyone seemed interested in chocolate, so why not?  Of course, the night before Jason and I left for Cologne, my fingers did their thang and I found the website... complete with museum opening hours, and a big fat: Closed on Monday sign.  I was bummed.  Jason and I could still go, but Helen and Mauritz were only going to be in Cologne on Monday, so they would miss it.  And then I saw something flashing on the left sign of the screen: Open Mondays in December!  SCORE!!

But I'm ahead of myself.  When Helen and Mauritz arrived, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that they were staying overnight, so we would have the opportunity to spend more time together.  We were all hungry, so we set off in search of lunch.  The first place had no empty tables, so we wandered around looking for something else.  We stumbled across another place, which upon inspection of the menu posted outside, we determined to carry German cuisine.  Not wonderful for Jason's not so happy stomach, but we thought he could find something, so in we went.  This place was packed, but it was also HUGE.  Mauritz found us the only empty table left in the place, though I think we could have sat down at one of the larger tables that was not filled and it wouldn't have been frowned upon.  Our waiter came up and asked how many beers we wanted.  And it suddenly began to dawn on me that we had entered one of Köln's famous breweries.  We were in Früh, established in 1904.  As long as we kept finishing the beer, more would be brought without us really having to ask. Helen and I both ordered traditional German cuisine, and I was pleasantly surprised to see Klöße on the menu, despite the fact that it's a traditional food from the state Jason and I live in.  Helen insisted I take pictures for the blog, so Jason let me play the tourist and I took some pics for your enjoyment!  

My small goose dish in gravy, with Klöße and red cabbage sauerkraut with apple and spices.

Helen's bratwurst and potatoes.

Bellies filled, we wandered around the Dom, and then headed over to the Chocolate Museum.  We arrived about an hour before it closed, so we didn't have much time, but we were promised samples, so in we went.  At the desk, we paid for our tickets and received a Lindt chocolate truffle each!  The entire museum smelled like chocolate!  We went through the first room, and I was afraid we had wasted our money.  It was like a really bad children's museum on the history of chocolate, and we could not figure out why it was located in Cologne instead of Berlin, where one of the main chocolate dudes had lived.  We moved on, and found the small, completely working, chocolate factory!  No wonder the entire place smelled of chocolate!

Jason and Helen checking out the machinery.

   

Our first glimpse of chocolate in progress!

Talk about a chocolate fountain!  This thing was huge (and we all got samples!).  In the background you can see the lights from the other side of the Rhein.  The museum is in a beautiful spot.

One floor up from the factory was a room filled with beautiful chocolate creations.  This guy is actually quite large, probably two and a half feet tall!

Since Helen and Mauritz went as Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf for Halloween, I just had to get a picture of this one too!

The last exhibit had lots of old chocolate boxes.  We eventually discovered that the museum is in Cologne because a factory was once located here.  It employed women (or should I say girls) from 14-16 year old.  If I remember correctly, they worked seven days a week (80+ hours), with only Sunday afternoon off.  Yikes.

On our way to the chocolate museum, we passed the beer museum!  Since the chocolate would be closing, we stopped by the beer museum afterwards to check it out.  Turns out, it was only a bar!  But we weren't too disappointed!  I had an urbock, Helen had a Leffe, and Jason and Mauritz had a smoked beer that literally tasted like bacon.  It was weird.

To familiar faces in strange places.

Many thanks to Helen and Mauritz to coming out to visit us!