Installment #1 - Cologne

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I imagine by now some of you probably think I’ve fallen off the edge of the earth, and while that might make a good story, I am glad to say that it is not true. As this post will prove, I am still alive and doing quite well. Four days ago I arrived back in Schwabisch Hall after my 10-day trip and just three days ago classes started! All of the new students arrived this week, as well, so numerous introductions have been made and time spent getting to know each other. Needless to say, I’ve been a very busy woman. I also needed time to sort through all of my pictures so that I could show you the very best in my posts! :-)


I have decided that trying to fit a week-and-a-half’s worth of travel into one entry just isn’t going to happen, so I will be writing a series of installments to catch you up on my journeys. As a summary, the cities I visited include Koln, Amsterdam, Brussels, Brugge, and Trier. Five cities in 10 days is not an easy feat to accomplish, but it was one that was well worth it. I was positively exhausted when I got back to school, but I had a smile on my face. :-)


If you are ever in Europe and don’t have a specific itinerary, but would like to travel by train, I highly recommend purchasing a Eurail Pass. I had purchased a Eurail Pass before my trip, which allowed me to travel on any 6 days (which I choose) within a 2 month period of time. They’re considerably cheaper than purchasing each train ticket individually and it gives you the flexibility to travel on whichever dates you choose. So, you can wake up in the morning, decide that you want to go to Frankfurt, head to the train station and find the first train out. It’s wonderful! My ticket only allowed me to travel in Germany and the Benelux area, which was fine for me during this trip because I wouldn’t have had the time to travel much farther outside of that area anyway.


The first stop on my trip was the fabulous city of Koln, Germany. I arrived on the 24th of August and spent two nights there. It was my first experience staying in a hostel. I had no idea what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised. I quickly learned that the bathroom one floor down was much nicer than on my floor, so you can guess where I went to shower every morning. :-)


When you arrive in Koln, the first sight you see when walking out of the train station is the Dom. The Dom is a magnificent church that’s laced with gargoyles on every corner and has been sculpted from the foundation on up. The beauty outside can only be matched by the Dom’s interior. Every window was stained-glass and of a very intricate designs. I’ve included a few pictures, which capture its beauty much better than my words ever could.


The Dom is comprised of many towers, but there is one that you can take all the way to the top and get a great view of the city. I paid the 1 euro for students and climbed all 509 stairs to the very tippy-top. The entire staircase is a spiral staircase and rather narrow, making it difficult when people going up meet the people who are on their way back down. Part-way up is a “resting point” where the bells hang. There’s limited seating there, but good for a quick catch of your breath. The bells themselves were impressive, too, as the largest one was at least 8 feet tall and then surrounded by several smaller ones.


The main reason I decided to go up the tower that afternoon was because I thought that the weather was going to be nice. The sky was blue when I started the ascent, but upon reaching the top, only half of the sky was still blue. The other half was grey and it was already starting to sprinkle, but it turned out to be alright. The view was still great and it was fun to watch the rain from a different perspective. After all, how often do you get to see raindrops falling away from you?


After exploring the Dom, I spoke with a little old lady sitting outside just enjoying the sunshine after the rain. She didn’t know a lick of English, which was an opportune time for me to practice my German. :-D She recommended a few places to eat and that I take a walk across the bridges to get a good view of the Dom. She was right. There was a spectacular view of the Dom and the city from the other side of the river. I then spent the rest of the evening just exploring the town. I found an ice cream shop with ‘Mozart’ ice cream, which was quite tasty. It tasted just like the candy that it is based on - “Mozart” chocolates. Yup, that’s right, there’s a chocolate named after that infamous musician. :-)


The next day, first thing in the morning, I headed straight to the Schokoladen Museum. The chocolate museum was wonderful and lived up to the description I had read in a review: “Willy Wonka made real.” I was very intrigued by the entire process and learned quite a bit. You start off with the history of the cocoa bean and then move on to the history of the production of chocolate. Cocoa beans can only be grown in the proper climatic conditions, primarily rainforests along the equator. To give you a realistic idea of what those conditions are like, the museum houses a small greenhouse through which you can tour, and it includes a few small cocoa trees. It was incredibly humid, and for me to say that should mean something, considering I grew up in the heartland of Nebraska! :-)


As you’re making your way through the museum, you start to get a whiff of chocolate being made. The museum has an in-house production facility that you’re allowed to walk through and see every step along the way. The chocolates being made are Lindt chocolates, as a matter of fact. The primary chocolates made were bite-size pieces that are given as a sample upon purchase of your entry ticket, and then are also for sale in the shop. There were also displays where you could watch molds being filled and then placed on a machine that constantly rotates them until they are completely cooled. At another line, truffles were being coated and then gently rolled to give them a rough texture on the outside. It was all quite fascinating! In the production room stands a chocolate fountain manned by one person. The chocolate is constantly running and the employee dunks cookies in it to give out as a free sample to each customer. Freshly-made chocolate has no comparison…it was delicious!


After having spent a couple of hours in the Chocolate Museum, I grabbed some lunch and then made my way to the Ludwig Museum. The Ludwig Museum is a museum of art, and I didn’t expect to spend as much time in there as I did, but there turned out to be several very interesting displays. The one of primary interest to me was the Pop Art. An entire floor was designated just to pop art and I noticed that there were numerous pieces by American artists. They came from North Dakota, Texas, Georgia, New York, Idaho, and there was even one from Omaha, Nebraska! Sometimes I guess you have to go out of your home country to see pieces by local artists. :-) Other artists included Claes Oldenberg and Andy Warhol. If you’re familiar with the statue “Torn Notebook” in Lincoln, then you’re familiar with Claes Oldenberg’s work. The statue is located in a park between the university and downtown Lincoln, and is based upon the image of a spiral notebook ripped in half, its pages scattered by the wind.


The Ludwig Museum is also home to several pieces by Pablo Picasso and one by Salvador Dali. Several displays were by local artists, which was nice to see mixed in among the classics. All total I spent four hours in the museum, which would be about 1 hour per floor, so I think it worked out about right. I don’t think I could have managed to spend that much time had I been traveling with someone else, though. It takes a certain type of person to be willing to spend half a day in one museum. :-)


For supper, I ate at a brewery which was serving a local specialty: Reibekuchen. I was told that before I left Koln, that was one meal I had to try. It consists of what I would call hashbrowns, but formed into patties about the size of your hand…well, my hand anyway. They are then served with what you and I would call applesauce, but a bit thicker and perhaps not quite as sweet. It was not a combination I would have ever thought of on my own, but I would probably eat it again.


Well, I think that’s plenty for one post. I have four more cities to go, so I will have to continue writing and you will have to continue anxiously waiting. :-)


Take care,
Annie

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Photos

Dom Cathedral 2
I have a feeling this place is always crowded. It was the middle of the week when I went and there were still many people, as you can see here.

Chocolate!!!
Here is the most popular lady in the entire Schokoladen Museum...

Lindt Lady
This lady was packaging the candies at the end of the production line. You could buy these very bags in the chocolate shop on your way out.

City of Cologne
This picture was also taken from the tower in the Dom. What a beautiful view!

Skyline from the riverside
The two towers you see are part of the Dom. It was the focus of many of my photos. :-)

That's me!!!
And that would be the Dom in the background.

Comments

[Kathee]

New Career for you
Annie, you should be a travel writer. I feel like I'm there with you every moment. Thank you. I can't wait for the other cities.

[deleted_21480]

Wow!
That's pretty cool kiddo! I don't know much about the places your visiting, but I'm quite jealous! Do you think you're going to be able to stay in Germany/Austria past your schooling? I hope so, as it would give me a chance to come and see you! Take care, I'll write more later. Jon

[Karen]

latkes
The Reibekuchen looks like potato latkes, which are eaten with applesauce. I made them once, years ago. Yummy. LOVE the photographs! XO, Karen