Chocoloate!! What could be better?

Today, we left the quiet country side of Trier allowing life to return to normal for the locals. No more loud fun crazy Americans! We are off to the bustling urban area of Cologne. I will say I wasn't as excited as that. It was early morning and we were back on the bus of 2.5 to 3 hours.

The itinerary for the day was as follows:

1) a tour of the Chocolate museum

2) a visit to the Roman-German museum

3) a visit to a German style department store

The chocolate museum (Imhoff-schokoladenmuseum) was fun and educational. Who knew? The museum and chocolate is cooperative effort of Hans Imhoff and Lindt ( the Swiss chocolate company). Imhoff was infatuated by the aroma of chocolate from a nearby factory. He spent almost his whole life with and for chocolate. There a four levels to the museum. The first level housed a tropical forest and a small production line. The cool thing was that it was a functioning production line. It was set-up that we could wander though and watch the process from start to finish without interfering with the workers. I know I would park under a spout of chocolate or put my backpack under the area where the wrapped chocolate was dropped.  It was very Willy Wonka! The remaining levels detailed the history as a drink of the gods in aztec tribes, a luxury item in euope, the advertisement of chocolate thru history, and the cult culture of chocolate. The best part was the cafe and the gift shop!! Gift shop? No it was a supply depot!!  A supply depot of chocolate!!!! 

Lunch of a Donner, pommes frites, and a beer were enjoyed. The photo below is the BeerBike. Next time....

We wandered over to the Dom area to visit the Roman-German Museum. The museum has a large collection of artifiacts from the Roman settlement of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium. Cologne was.is built over this sight. The impressive stuff to see where the collections of jewelry, clasps, and glassware. Yea, they had lots of grave markers, statues, and shrines. But, seeing how the aritisians improved the detail in the jewelry and clasps was impressive given the tools available to them. Also, seeing the changes in materials used to construct these. Impressive.

We wandered through one of the pedestrian zone in Cologne. The Schildergasse connects the Neumarkt plaza and Hohe Stasse. It has been named the busiest shopping street in Europe. It is estimated that 13000 people pass through every hour. A pedestrian zone is a car free outdoor walking mall. Kaurhof  Galleria is Cologne´s biggest department store (think Kolh’s on steroids). Sure the usual items: shoes, clothing, jewlery, watches, perfume, household goods, and books can be found there along with  an outstanding grocery area with the fresh produce, baked goods, wines and spirits as well as a upscale deli.It was fun.

We had our first "stress" of the trip while in the pedestrian zone. We had roughly an hour before our scheduled pick-up by the bus. One of the members got separated from her usual "handlers." People were sent to search. Others to occupy strategic spots. Mine was from above. I was asked to climb a light pole to get a better vantage. Eventually, she stepped out of a store and stood in the open where she could be seen. A member of our group was then given a job with a title...Assman. The bike company used this in Munich. A designated person was always last. And, when they came in the group leader knew we were all in. We decided to employ that for the remainder of the trip.... I am the Assman and my name is Dan!  Thanks Dan! Much appreciation for a job well done.