Saturday June 28, 2014
Over 2 months ago Jackie made
plans for take a Saturday daytrip to Cologne, Germany on June 29. The reason: her
good friend and co-worker, Todd, from GGLO in Seattle was going to be there
with his boyfriend who is touring Germany with the Seattle Men’s Choir! Cologne
was their last leg of their trip. They started out their trip in Prague, where
Jackie dispensed all her knowledge and recommendations for the city she loves
and studied in for 4 months in 2005. It’s hard to believe it’s almost been 10 years
since her architecture studio days there! Todd & Ken seemed to have a great
time with their stops for performances in Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, and Krefeld.
On Sunday the two finished off their European vacation in Paris.
We drove over to Cologne from
Eindhoven, just under a 2 hour drive. We parked and met up with Todd & Ken
at their hotel, Maritim Hotel Kӧln. We walked some of Cologne, which the guys
had a tour of the day before. It was great to hear some of what they had
already learned. We walked by this area, which reminded Joe & I of rainbow row in
Charleston.
Cool old door
Groß Sankt Martin (Great St. Martin
Church), a Romanesque Catholic Church that was later transformed into a Benedictine
monastery. The original tower was erected between 1150-1250.
It was badly damaged during WWII
but restored by 1985, opening 40 years later. A photo from 1946:
The interior of Groß Sankt Martin today
Vine-covered church walls
Cologne City Hall on Alter Markt
Jackie had Joe buy her some
coffee gelato which she happily savored.
What Papa Joe has a biersalon in
Cologne? We just may have to come back for this. Right Jason, Emily, Wes &
Lauren ;)
Kӧln Cathedral exterior
Seattleite sight-seers
Kӧln Cathedral interior
There was a mass going on so we
didn’t stick around to try and see the full interior and details of the
cathedral. We can always come back another time.
The weather was really crummy so
we took Todd and Ken’s tour guide advice and went to the Roman-Germanic Museum
(Rӧmisch-Germanisches Museum) that has ancient Roman antiquities and artifacts,
including ornate jewelry and mosaics.
Julius Caesar
Wallraf Medusa from the 1st
century
This museum was built over the
remains of the Roman villa. This world-famous Dionysus floor mosaic once
decorated the floor of an elegant dining room from circa AD 230.
Roman stone carvings
Roman stone remains, which Joe
and I were joking that this museum feels like going to a zoo, viewing the
remains in captivity instead of out there in the wild where the remains originally
lived.
god of wind & sea
The tomb of the veteran legionary
Lucius Poblicius circa AD 40.
As we were walking through the
museum, it started to downpour outside. We made the right call making it a museum
day due to the weather.
Another floor mosaic
Lots of ancient ceramic pottery
Lots of glass jars, the largest
collection of Roman glass in the world
Ancient compass
Emperor Commodus head
Erotic ceramic lamps
Phallic jewelry
We went to grab a true German
lunch at Haxenhaus
Joe’s grilled knuckle leg, mashed potatoes and
red cabbage
Jackie’s gratin
“Colonia” with potatoes, sausages, slices of pork knuckles with a cheese au
gratin sauce
Todd’s sausage, pan-fried potatoes and
sauerkraut
Ken’s casserole dish and potatoes
The Dutch travelers at lunch
Next we went to the Cologne Chocolate
Museum (Schokoladenmuseum Kӧln).
The coolest part was the
chocolate factory where we could observe the cocoa bean production process.
In 1879, Rodolphe Lindt pioneered
the conching process in which a special mixer causes liquid chocolate to be
ground, heated and aerated over a period of several days. The chocolate is kept
in constant motion with controlled warming, giving it its smooth, melting
texture.
The chocolate fountain stands 3m
tall and decorated with 40 golden cocoa fruits and is constantly filled with
200 kilograms of fresh Lindt chocolate.
In the chocolate studio, they make
all kinds of hollow chocolate molds, like these soccer balls.
It was so great to see Todd and
Ken in Cologne.
