Eau de Cologne

Today was a tour through Cologne and it was definitely a tour! I walked more today than I think I have this entire trip. My feet are rejecting me and although it’s a tad to cold and I’m in need of a pedicure, I may just sport the flip flops tomorrow. My luck though I’ll run over my toes with my suitcase which seems to increase in weight each time I re-pack. It’s like I’m stealing lamps or something. Anyways, Cologne is still a city full of cobbled streets and old buildings surrounded by mega stores. The claim to fame here is the Dom, Germany’s greatest cathedral, high gothic style built over the course of six centuries. I think I took 10 pictures of the exterior and wasn’t satisfied with any of them because it looked fake. It looks fake staring at it. It’s amazing and absolutely enormous. The stone has blackened which only adds to its surrealness. I climbed 509 steps to the Sudturm tower and although the views weren’t as pretty as Wurzburg, the interior of the tower was amazing. You can stop by the bell tower while you are up there as well; it houses one main bell, and 5 smaller ones. The mechanisms to ring them all looked so intricate; however, I was glad they weren’t able to ring while staring at them. I believe I would have lost all hearing capabilities. I did stop by house #4711, which was the house of origin for Eau de Cologne, which earned the town worldwide recognition. Unfortunately it was closed, so I didn’t get to see the fountain flowing with scented water. Oh well. My final stop was the Schokoladenmuseum, which is “willy wonka made real.” It’s the Lindt chocolate factory/museum. It was actually very cool to see the production line in action, filling the square molds, shaking them into place, wrapping the squares, finishing off the truffles with the chocolate drizzle, and of course, how they make the hollow chocolate treats. Very enjoyable, and I was able to taste a sample from the chocolate fountain. It was an action packed day and very exhausting. I’m looking forward to sleeping tonight.

Since you all will be reading this on Monday—Happy birthday Megan! Welcome to your late 20’s. lol

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