We started our day by catching the 10:48 train at the Rheydt-Odenkirchen train station. The train we took was like a fancy C-train – it had more comfortable seats and washrooms. We arrived in Cologne (which is Germany’s 4th largest city) at around 11:30.

As soon as you exit the train station, you see the Cologne Cathedral. I have never seen anything like it. The sheer size of it is completely overwhelming and the detailed architecture is amazing. When we went into the cathedral, mass was taking place, so we decided to climb the bell tower. It was 509 steps to the top. Most of those steps were in a stone spiral staircase that was about 3 feet wide. Which was not too bad until someone passed you going down. The climb was totally worth it for the view of Cologne.

After walking 509 steps down, we were a little hungry and thirsty so we went to sample the special beer – Frue Kolsch – that is only brewed in Cologne. Kolsch is the beer and Frue is one of the breweries in Cologne. Along with the Kolsch, we had “brotwurst mit pommes frites”. The thing I really liked about the brauhaus where we had lunch, is that the gruff waiters will continue to bring you more beer until you put your coaster on the top of your empty glass.

After lunch we went to the Schokoladen Museum – the Chocolate Museum, which is on the Rhine River. Excellent beer and chocolate all in the same day – it doesn’t get much better than that!

This evening we shared a couple of bottles of wine, but according to Herbert, the wine was strictly for preparation/education in advance of our trip to Ahr wine country tomorrow. Looks like that is going to be a good day as well!

Guten tag,

stace

p.s. We posted some pics and 2 videos. The guy unwittingly caught in Selena’s video outside the cathedral cracks me up.