Cologne

Maddie and I headed out into the unknown today and took the train to Cologne. We had not a clue as to what we were doing, but seemed to make out okay. Nothing like going to a large foreign city with your five-year-old for the day! Compared to Duesseldorf, Cologne isn't that pretty, but there were some really cool things to see and do.

The main train station in Cologne lets you off right in front of the Cologne Cathedral. The big claim to fame of this humongous church is that it holds the relics (or the bones) of the three Wisemen. The best part is that the reason these relics came to be in Germany is that somebody way back when STOLE them. Guess they're not going to be returned anytime soon. Maddie was more disturbed than impressed to find out that the bones of the three Wise Men were being housed at the church. Here's a link to find out more about the Cologne Cathedral.

Then from the Cathedral, we took the Shocko-Express to the Chocolate Museum. Wow! There was everything you ever needed to know about chocolate--including a walk in a created rainforest to experience the climate and the vegetation where cocoa beans grow. There was also a whole section that showed you how they make specialty chocolates today, and then of course a large chocolate gift store at the end of the tour.




Then back to the Cathedral where we caught the zoo express to go to the Cologne Zoo. Just a note on these very inexpensive little shuttles. They were the bumpiest rides I've ever experienced and I may need to seek chiropractic care. But anyway, the zoo was fabulous and it was worth the price of admission just for the zoo playground. Germany just has the BEST playgrounds. I'll include pics from the zoo in a separate post.

By the way, this was the year to come to Germany. Until Maddie turns six, almost everything is free to her--the train ticket, the cathedral tour, the chocolate museum--all free for kids under 6. I only had to pay for her a small amount for the jarring shuttle rides and zoo entrance. We need to all we can this year. Next year, she's going to be expensive!

When it was time to come home, we headed for the Cologne train station and as we were waiting for our train ran into Maddie's friend Meg with her Mom and Dad. They, too, had been in Cologne today and we rode the train back together and had dinner at an Italian place in Duesseldorf's Alstadt.

Big, long day. Please, please, let Maddie sleep late tomorrow.