The morning bells were ringing when Zac and I finally woke at 8am. Abbey and Nathan had apparently been awake since 7am but were kind enough to let us be. It was great to see, once again, that I was able to make use of a powerpoint in a bathroom. It is the little things! We enjoyed what now seems a ‘standard’ German hotel breakfast. Just how many pork products do you really need? It was then time to enjoy our last full day in Germany.
Our first stop, and really how could you possibly miss it, was the Cathedral. Cologne Cathedral stands on the site of a 4th century Roman temple. Construction of the present Gothic church began in the 13th century and took, with interruptions, more than 600 years to complete. The new structure was built to house the relics of the Three Magi, taken from Milan by Holy Roman Emperor Fredrick Barbarossa and given to the Archbishop of Cologne in 1164.
The Roman north gate built when the colony was founded in 50 AD
The foundation stone of Cologne Cathedral was laid on August 15, 1248, and the choir was consecrated in 1322. After this initial rapid progress, construction work gradually came to a standstill, and by the year 1560, only a torso had been built. Only with the 19th century Romantic enthusiasm for the Middle Ages and the commitment of the Prussian Court did construction work resume. 1824 saw the addition of the towers and other substantial parts of the cathedral, mostly according to surviving medieval plans and drawings. The completion of Germany's largest cathedral was celebrated as a national event in 1880, 632 years after construction had began.
The cathedral suffered 14 hits by World War II aerial bombs but did not collapse and reconstruction was completed in 1956. In 1996, the cathedral was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List of culturally important sites and in 2004, it was placed on the "World Heritage in Danger" list.
The outside of the Cathedral was very reminiscent of the Cathedrals in Reims and Amiens and did look like it needed a good going over with a karcher. There were some, though far to few, gargolyles in evidence at first glance. The inside of the church was suitably gothic and it was quite evident which of the stained glass windows had been replaced over the years due to the significant damage in WWII when the Cathedral was used as a navigation beacon by bomber pilots. We wandered throughout the Cathedral then took the tour of the treasury where there was a golden reliquary meant to contain the remains of the Three Magi of Christmas story fame. These relics and other treasures have made Cologne Cathedral a major pilgrimage destination for centuries.
What was truly impressive, but not really in a good way, was how the rest of the city has built up to literally surround the massive cathedral. Someone should have done away with all architects from the 70s and the train station is literally across the road. Not a very pretty sight at all. There were however more prominent gargoyles at the rear of the Cathedral that kind of made up for the surrounding sights. Particularly striking were the gargoyles whose water spouts had frozen in midstream leaving spurts of ice coming from their grotesque mouths.
Having finished with the Cathedral we walked down towards the river and happened upon what can only be described as an adult dress up shop. There were dress ups of every description from pirates and princesses to sailors, Indians and outfits from every decade imaginable. What followed was a lot of fun with Nathan and I selecting his and hers 70s flower power outfits.
It was a short walk from here to the banks of the Rhine which was extremely wide and fast flowing. Following the river path we located our next port of call, the Museum of Chocolate. As it was by now right on noon we treated ourselves to lunch at the Chocolate Café. Ironically this was probably the healthiest meal of our holiday with Abbey declaring her soup her ‘best meal ever’. We ate with views of the river and took our time over the side salads that came with each meal.
The museum itself was surprisingly worthwhile. It was made even better as Zac had been studying the chocolate trade at school so was able to explain to us about the industry as we looked around. The exhibits ranged from cocoa cultivation to the finished chocolate, from its origins in America to its use in industrial products and the way our use of chocolate has changed over the 19th and 20th centuries. Part of the museum was set up as a factory line dealing with the making and packaging of some of the Lindt chocolate range. Best of all was the giant chocolate fountain from which the kind chocolate worker handed out wafers dipped in chocolate. This was only topped by the chocolate shop itself from which we each got to painstakingly choose one item to take away – yes, the chocolate god does exist!
My wishes come true - and they say size doesn't matter!
On our way back to the hotel we took a slight detour into the shopping district to simply ‘have a look around’. Unfortunately we, I mean I, happened to pick up a few extra items to add to our bags. We then found a supermarket and stocked up on water and snacks for our long journey tomorrow.
We were back at the hotel by 4pm for a well deserved rest and bag packing. We also managed to polish off most of our purchases from the chocolate factory. Dinner this evening ended up being at some sort of hybrid Mexican/Italian place, Maggiano’s Ristorante. The boys ate Mexican, Abbey and I had Italian and we drank German Beer. It’s a small world after all. After dinner we took a stroll around the still open shops in a pleasant 2 degrees then it was back to the hotel for bed. It was lucky this was to be our last night as we have reached the end of “The Big Book of Tashi”.
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