Taste and smell of Cologne
Mar. 26th, 2013 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luckykaaWoke up ludicrously early on Sunday morning and found myself a delightfully unhealthy breakfast of coffee, donut and something similar to pain au chocolate, Found a chunk of city wall which is an aspect of old cities that always appeals, then strolled into the city.
Decided I'd do tour #5. Half way there I realised that the start of the tour is actually quite a way away and perhaps I should get a tram there. Sadly foreign public translport systems are always confusing. I did see that I had the option of a "welcome pass" from the machine though, with no actual detail. Picked one up at the tourist office, and was also given a handy tram map and a guide book telling me where I can get discounted entry. I don't think I got my money's worth but probably would have done had I planned in advance.
So, walked along the river. Saw a bit of the old city wall, various sights of moderate interest and saw many a container barge amble past. Walking tour seemed a lot more interested in the modern architecture and less interested in the actual cranehouses (as opposed to the new cranehouse inspired office buildings). Key point and reason for choosing this particular walk was the Schokoladenmuseum. Museum of chocolate. There was much chocolatey goodness, covering the history of chocolate, the biology of chocolate, the manufacture and the marketing. I now know more about chocolate than I ever expected. Bought myself a couple of bottles of chocolate beer at the shop. And a bag of chocolates which didn't last the rest of the day.
Caught the tram to the last part of the walk. The walk actually took me over the Hohenzollern bridge, but I'd walked across the previous day. Lots of padlocks, commemorating lovers apparently. I have to wonder how that tradition got started. It seems it became popular in 2008. I did want to go and see the view from Köln Triangle. Not a particularly tall building - at 103m it's not even as tall as the cathedral - but the city is very flat so it doesn't need to be.
Next stop was the Cologne perfume museum. I missed the last English language tour though.
So I decided I'd have a look at the EL-DE building, which was once a Gestapo prison and now the National Socialism Documentation Centre. Grim and chilling but fascinating. Basement was preserved largely intact, with scratchings on the wall from prisoners still visible. Upstairs was more about he history of the Third Reich. All the information upstairs was in German though. Got the gist, I guess.
Headed towards the pop art museum, and then found the entrance to the cathedral's belfry. Went for that instead. It was a tough choice. The thing is, I'm not keen on squeezing through narrow gaps. The jostling past people on the way down is not fun. On the plus side, it was good to make it to the top, I had a fantastic view. Should have taken a better photo but only thought about that on the way down and didn't want to go back up again. Took a detour to look at the bells, walked down to the ground and had a final look around at the handful of items displayed in the museum.
And then it was time to go home. A much less fraught journey, apart from the chaos of a school party boarding at Aachen. About 50 kids got on, entered the carriage, and then after considerable time, were herded into whichever carriage they were meant to be in.
But free wi-fi (with a semi-flex ticket)! Something to be said for that.
Decided I'd do tour #5. Half way there I realised that the start of the tour is actually quite a way away and perhaps I should get a tram there. Sadly foreign public translport systems are always confusing. I did see that I had the option of a "welcome pass" from the machine though, with no actual detail. Picked one up at the tourist office, and was also given a handy tram map and a guide book telling me where I can get discounted entry. I don't think I got my money's worth but probably would have done had I planned in advance.
So, walked along the river. Saw a bit of the old city wall, various sights of moderate interest and saw many a container barge amble past. Walking tour seemed a lot more interested in the modern architecture and less interested in the actual cranehouses (as opposed to the new cranehouse inspired office buildings). Key point and reason for choosing this particular walk was the Schokoladenmuseum. Museum of chocolate. There was much chocolatey goodness, covering the history of chocolate, the biology of chocolate, the manufacture and the marketing. I now know more about chocolate than I ever expected. Bought myself a couple of bottles of chocolate beer at the shop. And a bag of chocolates which didn't last the rest of the day.
Caught the tram to the last part of the walk. The walk actually took me over the Hohenzollern bridge, but I'd walked across the previous day. Lots of padlocks, commemorating lovers apparently. I have to wonder how that tradition got started. It seems it became popular in 2008. I did want to go and see the view from Köln Triangle. Not a particularly tall building - at 103m it's not even as tall as the cathedral - but the city is very flat so it doesn't need to be.
Next stop was the Cologne perfume museum. I missed the last English language tour though.
So I decided I'd have a look at the EL-DE building, which was once a Gestapo prison and now the National Socialism Documentation Centre. Grim and chilling but fascinating. Basement was preserved largely intact, with scratchings on the wall from prisoners still visible. Upstairs was more about he history of the Third Reich. All the information upstairs was in German though. Got the gist, I guess.
Headed towards the pop art museum, and then found the entrance to the cathedral's belfry. Went for that instead. It was a tough choice. The thing is, I'm not keen on squeezing through narrow gaps. The jostling past people on the way down is not fun. On the plus side, it was good to make it to the top, I had a fantastic view. Should have taken a better photo but only thought about that on the way down and didn't want to go back up again. Took a detour to look at the bells, walked down to the ground and had a final look around at the handful of items displayed in the museum.
And then it was time to go home. A much less fraught journey, apart from the chaos of a school party boarding at Aachen. About 50 kids got on, entered the carriage, and then after considerable time, were herded into whichever carriage they were meant to be in.
But free wi-fi (with a semi-flex ticket)! Something to be said for that.
