Guess what the first stop was?
That's right, the chocolate museum.
We were actually quite surprised to discover the real size of cacao beans. Did anyone else think they were the size of coffee beans like me?
They had a little tropical rainforest area. We couldn't spend too long in there because it was so hot and humid, but I was delighted by the little baby pineapple growing.
They had some traditional little toys from the chocolate-growing communities. How cute is this zebra?
This strange-looking thing is a boat made out of a hollowed out tree. They actually had a video showing how the natives would make these from scratch, with just axes and mattocks. Very impressive.
They had a little mini factory set up in the museum, so we could see the process of chocolate being made.
Tom had a close call. Actually his expression looks kind of real. Don't worry kids, he was just teasing.
Liquid chocolate, on its way through the process. Drool.
The view from the factory.
Yes, that is a chocolate fountain. Cleverly, they marked off the area of the fountain so us chocaholic visitors couldn't reach it.
They did let us have a little taste though...
This is machine that puts the little tiny blocks of chocolate in their individual wrappers.
The white container at the bottom here shows the discards. I really really wanted them!
They had an area showing all of the different chocolate packaging over time.
The original vending machines!
The actual wrapping for a Lindt bunny.
We couldn't resist buying some of the little packaged choccies. Can't come out of a chocolate museum empty-handed, right?
Down in the gift shop, we weren't really tempted by these dentistry-themed chocolates.
A Cologne cathedral shaped chocolate!
When we emerged from the museum, the weather had changed for the worse. In fact, a storm broke almost the minute we got outside, so we ended up dashing straight for the olympic museum we had seen yesterday for cover.
We kept ourselves amused fairly well.
When the rain eased, we decided to go for some non-chocolatey refreshment (and some Internet time), and
Afterward, we met up with a German friend that we had met on our Bosphorus river cruise back in Istanbul, to show us a bit of Cologne from a local perspective.
We met at the cathedral.
And actually went inside this time.
We went for a little wander around the town. Don't you think this guy on the left looks a bit like Lord Farquaard from Shrek?
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| Image sourced from Being Covered in Saws |
Eventually we stopped in a Beer hall somewhere for dinner. Even the chandeliers were beer keg themed.
We enjoyed some very German fare.
No comment.
The boys (Tom and Mike) got beers for the road...
We found a place playing salsa music, and we tried to remember our salsa class moves.
And we rounded off the evening with the best kebab in Germany, we're told. It was very good, I can tell you that.
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