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| The Cathedral |
The Hotel Branderburger Hof is no more than five minutes
from the train station, which in Cologne is a prime spot for sight seeing. I booked into a single room with shared
bathroom/shower for under $60US.
The room is tiny but more than adequate for my needs. It has a comfy bed with super soft
pillows, a closet, mirror and sink, as well as a flat screen TV, blow-dryer and
baby soaps and the whatnot. In my
three days here I never had to wait for the shared toilet or shower.
The Branderburger Hof is a family run joint. Nice old building just like I
prefer. The breakfast (included)
is outstanding. It will be the
best I have in Europe over my six weeks.
The buffet included eggs, bacon, 5 plus meat, 5 plus cheeses, 5 plus types
of bread, several juices, milk, fruits, yogurts, vegetables and pots of fresh brewed
coffee delivered to your table in silver pots. The eating room was lovely as well or you could opt to eat
outside and an equally charming spot.
Grabbed a map from the front desk and was off on my first
day of touring around Europe.
After all the delays I was super stoked.
I decided to do the Hop On Hop Off Bus (2 days plus cruise
for 23 Euro). I always love the
hop on hop off deals. It’s the
best way to get familiar with a new city.
I typically do the full tour before starting to hop on and off. The full tour is under two hours and
gives great insight into the history of Cologne.
As the next round began the driver told me it was going to
rain later and very likely tomorrow so I decide to hop off at the third stop
and do the river cruise first.
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| Old Vending Machine |
After the cruise I headed to the Chocolate Museum (8 Euro);
included in the price in a lovely piece of Lindts chocolate to start you off
right. This museum is an absolute
must if you visit Cologne. It is
very detailed and full of fun and interesting facts especially if you are into collocate…and
by the way who isn’t.
It covers everything for the history, culture and impact of chocolate on
this world. There is even a small Lindt factory inside the museum.
There was a section of the museum dedicated to old chocolate
vending machines. One of them was
a working model and I spent 1 Euro on a bar of Lindt White Chocolate.
Interesting chocolate tidbit: Mr. Lindt invented milky, creamy chocolate by accident. He left the couching machine on over
the long weekend. A couching
machine scrapes the surface and agitates chocolate while distributing cocoa
butter into the chocolate. When he
came back two days later to see his mistake it was discovered that by agitating
the chocolate much longer it gave it a creamy texture…and modern chocolate was
born.
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| Chocolate Museum Store |
The mini factory was super cool. Watching the chocolate process all the way to
completion. There of course is a
killer chocolate store attached to the museum. I perused for quite sometime before deciding on a rose
infused truffle. I knew it was a
mistake to buy it with the heat the way it was but…by they time I got back to
the hotel hours later my chocolate bar and truffle were a soupy mess at the
bottom of my bag…yes, I licked the bag clean…judge me, I dare you.
The chocolate theme does not end here. I completed this journey at the
Chocolate Museum Café…. what do you think I had for lunch? Dessert for lunch, you are
correct. The café overlooks the
Rhine River and is a brilliant place to enjoy a lunch or chocolate lunch. I partook of the Chocolate Noir (a
chocolate mousse covered in a dark chocolate layer and garnished with a yellow,
cherry tomato).
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| Chocolate Noir at Chocolate Museum Cafe |
I had to burn some of this sugar out of my system so I
walked the city for a while in the crazy heat. I eventually jump back on a Hop on Hop off to rest my
body…it started to pour and I decided to just stay on board and enjoy the cool
off. I was at the back of the bus
with a British couple who where wicked hot too and loved the rain. It must have dropped 20 degrees.
It was about seven when I got back to my area and I grabbed
a baguette with Camembert, cucumber and tomato for dinner. I was totally done by the time I got
back…love days like that.
I got a txt from The Family that they had arrived in
Frankfurt. I will meet up with
them in Nuremberg the day after tomorrow.
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