Oct. 27 -- Start the Drive to Munich: Cologne

When I took German classes in college, one thing I learned about was the "Kolner Dom" -- the Cologne Cathedral, the largest in Europe. When we started to plan where we would drive during our two weeks with our new car, and decided to head north in October instead of south (which would have meant Alps and snow), trying to fit in the Kolner Dom (the real spelling uses an umlaut on the o in Koln) was on my list of to-dos.

But first things first. We had purchased a double museum ticket yesterday and learned about chocolate, and today we had to use the french fry part of the ticket. The museum format was quite similar to the Choco-Story Museum -- lots of plaques in 3 languages, a movie, historical information and samples of 20th century containers. I did learn a few things: the original potatoes in Peru were very small -- ranging in size from peas to crab apples -- and were probably investigated by the natives when they saw their domesticated llamas and alpacas digging for them. Fast forward a couple centuries or more and the Spanish connection to/rule of Belgium that gave them early access to chocolate also gave them potatoes. In theory, some Belgium person did the first French fry which got called that because an American in WWI (or was it WWII?) got some from a French-speaking Belgian and was too hungry to notice that he was not talking to a Frenchman. So when Congress castigated French Fries several years ago, they were castigating the wrong people/rejecting the wrong food. But then who would intentionally refuse to eat hollandaise or Bearnaise sauce. I mean, really.

Our next mission was to  finalize our chocolate decisions AND to buy the day's ration of heavenly eclairs. The eclair shop was nearby -- and very busy -- but we had to retrace our steps to re-locate the chocolate shop. Once there, we verified they took credit cards, and then starting working toward their minimum credit purchase. Let's just say this was not that difficult.  Loaded up with chocolates and eclairs, we departed Brugge on our way to Koln (Cologne). As we headed east, the countryside gradually developed hills, but still the freeways were passing through largely pastoral scenery -- lots of cows, horses, and sheep.

I got a really cheap rate at a 'basic' but 3-star Koln hotel near the Kolner Dom, and started to worry that maybe I had booked in the equivalent of San Francisco's Tenderloin -- close to downtown but terminally seedy. It didn't look TOO bad, except for the Gay Sex Center next door. The interior looks really old and interesting with lots of stained glass, but I was prepared to cancel and head back to the freeway to locate an alternative. We had to park on the street when we checked in and Jim went back to get the luggage. Based on the folks he saw on the street, he was totally okay with it, so we paid and headed to our room in one of the smallest elevators I've seen. The back wall is mirrored and I about busted my nose on the mirror before I clued in on how small it was: just barely room for the bags and us, rated for 3 people or 660 lbs -- and all three would be close personal friends by the top. We were lucky to be no higher than floor 3 -- there were 2 more floors above, but the elevator stops at 3.

Cologne Catheral (Kolner Dom) front

Cathedral side view

Old City Hall (Rathaus) Tower

The next challenge was finding the public overnight parking lot. The hotel had a map and we had Liesel, so we set off. We have found a couple situations where Liesel appears to get confused and tell you to turn in 200 yards when she really means RIGHT NOW or vice versa. Looking at the map, I contradicted Liesel's instructions and goofed big time. We finally found our way in, but it was more of an adventure than anticipated. At the hotel, we washed a couple shirts for tomorrow (still haven't found a laundromat that's actually open) and then headed out to find the Dom and dinner. The cathedral is totally massive. The travel guide I have says that 20,000 people a day visit, and based on the number there this afternoon, I think they're right. We are basically in the middle of a major tourist area.

Finding dinner was another challenge: one restaurant with a very interesting menu didn't take credit cards. We found a Subway, Maggiano's, and a Chicago Steakhouse. Lots of places were offering local specialities: black pudding and potatoes, sauerbraten, or schnitzel --- no no no! We were close to choosing Italian (the guide book called Koln the 'northernmost Italian city') but found something German that was interesting and didn't involve pudding or schnitzel or sauerbraten. Yay!

The Rhine as sunset approached