Cologne

Em & Saif at the Rhein

Cologne was lovely. Jane and Marlin (our friends from MD); Marlin's daughter, Andria; and Andria's son, Saif, were originally scheduled to get in after us, but they ended up being there a bit before. I was a bit stressed, but it worked out OK. They met us at the train station, and we headed out for the day. The first thing we did was head towards the Dom (Cathedral). It's right near the train station, so it makes a nice central place. We saw several guys out front pretending to be statutes, and Em got her picture taken with a Centurion. One of the things we had planned was the Lindt Chocolate Museum, so we headed that way next. It was a bit of a walk, but right along the Rhein.

Chocolate museum

The Chocolate Museum is a large building on a little (at least partially man-made) peninsula jutting into the river. It was cold outside, but toasty warm inside, so we all put our coats into the coat check and headed in. It was pretty neat in there. It isn't a factory, but they do have a little sort of mini-factory in there after the more museum-ish stuff. The kids weren't all that keen on the museum part, but they did enjoy the factory part. They make little miniatures there that they give everybody upon entering, and they give you wafer cookies dipped in melted chocolate while you're inside. Upstairs, they have a kid area that the kids enjoyed. Saif is just a bit older than Em, and they knew each other from when Saif had visited Jane & Marlin in MD, and so they were thick as thieves the whole day. The candy shop at the end was the biggest hit. They had soooo many different things. It wasn't long until Easter, so lots of Easter candy in the shop. There were also some more exotic flavors of chocolate. Ketchup & peanuts, anyone?

Mmm... mustard

Then we headed across the street to the Mustard Museum, because it was there and it was free. How can you pass up a mustard museum? It ended up really just being a mustard shop, but still. We were then starving, so we walked back towards the center of town. By then, it was like 2, so many of the restaurants were closed. But, we found a Spanish place that was quite yummy. There, I discovered quark. I had seen it in the stores, but I didn't know what it was. It is a dairy product, rather between sour cream and cream cheese in consistency, and it has almost a cottage-cheesy tang to it. I haven't tried it sweet (they sell it sweet in little cups like yogurt in the stores), but with herbs, it makes a wonderful bread spread. I now have it all the time on a warm baguette for lunch. Mmmm....

After that, Marlin, Jane & I went back up to see the Dom. The kids weren't terribly interested in that, so Andria took them to a park to play. The Dom is gorgeous. It has some of the most amazing mosaic floors I've ever seen. Beautiful. The Dom in Cologne was started in 1248 to house the reliquary of the Three Kings, and was eventually completed in 1880.

After that, it was about time to head back. We just missed a train to Mainz, and Andria's train to Nuremberg wasn't scheduled to leave for another hour, so we popped into the Hard Rock for drinks. Em got a huge berry concoction that was probably enough sugar to last a week. I got a "milkshake" since I love love love milkshakes. I discovered that a German milkshake is the same as a British milkshake. That is, chocolate milk that has been shaken to make it bubbly. So sad. :( But, fun nonetheless.

Andria & Saif are both fluent in German, so (as I said in the last entry) Andria looked at our train ticket for us. She said that we were allowed to take any train, and she confirmed that with a stationmaster. It turned out that taking a train with a connection would actually get us home to Mianz faster than waiting for the next non-stop, so we did that. So, we all rode as far as the Frankfurt Airport together, where Jane, Marlin, Em & I said goodbye and boarded another train to Mainz. It was a trek to get from the inter-city train terminal to the regional train terminal, and we actually ran down the stairs and hopped on our train just before it left the station.

We got back to the house about 9pm. Max had stayed up to say hi, but he had to get to bed, since he had to get up early for work the next morning. Em also hopped off to bed. Marlin, Jane & I stayed up and chatted and worked on a puzzle for a little while. It hadn't really been that long since we had seen them, but it seemed like longer. Pretty soon, we were all tired and went to bed. The next day was to be another long one. :)

Em says: Saif was a bit distant at first, but then we couldn't be separated.