Köln: church and chocolate!

[Jupiter]

One afternoon in Köln on the way to Lucerne: first stop, Köln Cathedral.

For various personal and academic reasons I was really excited to visit it, and fascinated by the history. They started building it in the 1200s, suspended construction in the 1400s, and it sat partially completed for THRRE HUNDRED YEARS before construction got jump started again in the 1700s, and it wasn’t finished until the late 1800s. It was the tallest building in the world when it was finished. Imagine being the architect and knowing you’d be dead for hundreds of years before it was finished.

The organ was massive (@getbent make of that what you will ). But seriously, when they hit the big cadence it shook the floor.

We climbed the south tower: 533 steps, almost all of it tiny steep spiral stairs.

Fascinating.

Second stop: Lindt Chocolate Museum!

 

[effzee]

Nice, glad you enjoyed it!

I have an anecdote from the Cologne cathedral.

My wife and I were in the area last October. We spent some time in the cathedral, there was a church service taking place, and we could stand in the back and just enjoy the music, which was immense.

But the anecdote starts when we went back outside.

There was a homeless guy/beggar right there at the exit, surrounded by cops. It was bitter cold and windy.

I only looked casually at the scene, but I realized pretty quickly that there was something weird going on. The cops were scrambling around looking for something on the ground. I watched a little longer and then I saw what they were doing.

The poor guys paper cup had blown over and the cops were picking up his change for him!

That left a lasting impression on me (especially coming originally from NYC).

I actually wrote an email to the Cologne police letting them know how much I appreciated this act of kindness. They thanked me profusely for the acknowledgement

 

[getbent]

One afternoon in Köln on the way to Lucerne: first stop, Köln Cathedral.
View attachment 1394737
For various personal and academic reasons I was really excited to visit it, and fascinated by the history. They started building it in the 1200s, suspended construction in the 1400s, and it sat partially completed for THRRE HUNDRED YEARS before construction got jump started again in the 1700s, and it wasn’t finished until the late 1800s. It was the tallest building in the world when it was finished. Imagine being the architect and knowing you’d be dead for hundreds of years before it was finished.
View attachment 1394741
The organ was massive (@getbent make of that what you will ). But seriously, when they hit the big cadence it shook the floor.
View attachment 1394739

We climbed the south tower: 533 steps, almost all of it tiny steep spiral stairs.
View attachment 1394745

View attachment 1394743

Fascinating.

Second stop: Lindt Chocolate Museum!

this gives me hope for the high speed rail project in California!

 

[Jupiter]

The Chocolate Museum starts out right, with a Lindt truffle as you walk in.

It’s an amazingly exhaustive historical and cultural exploration of chocolate. They talk a lot about the connection between chocolate and slavery… They walk you through the whole process, from picking the pods to wrapping the little squares of chocolate.

There’s a small factory in the museum (sealed off but fully visible) making the little squares. Very interesting to see how the equipment scans for defective pieces and plops them back into the melted chocolate, and there’s a button you push and a little robot arm picks up one of the chocolates off the belt and drops it into a little chute for you to sample.

I’m a fan of chocolate so I already knew a lot of the stuff but really, it’s a serious museum! Very well-curated and effectively presented, with plenty of interactivity.

And there’s a chocolate fountain where they dip wafers and hand em to you. And as you go out, they hand you a little stack of chocolates.

And of course there’s a cafe with a huge selection of chocolate-forward drinks and cakes and tarts and cups of fruit swimming in chocolate. I got a piece of New York cheesecake that came with a little pitcher of melted chocolate to pour over the top.

And THEN, there’s the gift shop, which is like a Willy Wonka fever dream. I didn’t even buy anything there because I could already feel my blood slowing and thickening like cooling gravy, but I took pictures:

I think I ruined my dinner, but totally worth it

 

[Jupiter]

this gives me hope for the high speed rail project in California!

As long as you don’t expect to live to see it

 

[Mjark]

What a great day! I’ve only been to the Hershey chocolate factory.

I found the spiral staircases in the Tower of London to be so tight that I felt claustrophobic and I’m not a big man.

 

[AAT65]

My aunt worked in museum education in Köln until retirement (she was a Museumspedagog as they say in Deutschland). As such she knew a lot of people in the arts-related world, including the then architect of the Cathedral. Yes, the building had been finished in the 19th century, but repair and restoration is a never-ending project (ironically a lot of the later stone wasn’t as good as the mediaeval stone and needed replaced much sooner). So when I was about 12 we had a guided tour over all of the Cathedral, not just up the stairs of the south tower but right across the roofs and up to the spire over the crossing.

(Between the Dom and the train station you can look down into the yard where the modern stonemasons are at work carving new stones - pinnacles, buttresses, gargoyles, the lot!)

 

[stxrus]

Nice, glad you enjoyed it!

I have an anecdote from the Cologne cathedral.

My wife and I were in the area last October. We spent some time in the cathedral, there a church service taking place, and we could stand in the back and just enjoy the music, which was immense.

But the anecdote starts when we went back outside.

There was a homeless guy/beggar right there at the exit, surrounded by cops. It was bitter cold and windy.

I only looked casually at the scene, but I realized pretty quickly that there was something weird going on. The cops were scrambling around looking for something on the ground. I watched a little longer and then I saw what they were doing.

The poor guys paper cup had blown over and the cops were picking up his change for him!

That left a lasting impression on me (especially coming originally from NYC).

I actually wrote an email to the Cologne police letting them know how much I appreciated this act of kindness. They thanked me profusely for the acknowledgement

What a great heartwarming story. Picked my day up

 

[getbent]

As long as you don’t expect to live to see it

I grew up a teacher, I know better than to expect to see the fruits of my labor.

 

[Jupiter]

I grew up a teacher, I know better than to expect to see the fruits of my labor.

It does happen sometimes though; I’ve seen em grow up and have kids and then their kids are in my class.

 

[black_doug]

What a great day! I’ve only been to the Hershey chocolate factory.

I found the spiral staircases in the Tower of London to be so tight that I felt claustrophobic and I’m not a big man.

I’ve been to The Tower of London. My nephew felt an ungodly chill climbing those stairs. An evil place.

 

[Toto'sDad]

One afternoon in Köln on the way to Lucerne: first stop, Köln Cathedral.
View attachment 1394737
For various personal and academic reasons I was really excited to visit it, and fascinated by the history. They started building it in the 1200s, suspended construction in the 1400s, and it sat partially completed for THRRE HUNDRED YEARS before construction got jump started again in the 1700s, and it wasn’t finished until the late 1800s. It was the tallest building in the world when it was finished. Imagine being the architect and knowing you’d be dead for hundreds of years before it was finished.
View attachment 1394741
The organ was massive (@getbent make of that what you will ). But seriously, when they hit the big cadence it shook the floor.
View attachment 1394739

We climbed the south tower: 533 steps, almost all of it tiny steep spiral stairs.
View attachment 1394745

View attachment 1394743

Fascinating.

Second stop: Lindt Chocolate Museum!

I both envious and entertained by the beautiful photos you managed to take of the wonderous structure you are seeing in person. Lifetime trip you are undergoing. Cheers for doing it.

 

[archetype]

One afternoon in Köln on the way to Lucerne: first stop, Köln Cathedral.
View attachment 1394737
For various personal and academic reasons I was really excited to visit it, and fascinated by the history. They started building it in the 1200s, suspended construction in the 1400s, and it sat partially completed for THRRE HUNDRED YEARS before construction got jump started again in the 1700s, and it wasn’t finished until the late 1800s. It was the tallest building in the world when it was finished. Imagine being the architect and knowing you’d be dead for hundreds of years before it was finished.
View attachment 1394741
The organ was massive (@getbent make of that what you will ). But seriously, when they hit the big cadence it shook the floor.
View attachment 1394739

We climbed the south tower: 533 steps, almost all of it tiny steep spiral stairs.
View attachment 1394745

View attachment 1394743

Fascinating.

Second stop: Lindt Chocolate Museum!

Been there and done that. A most impressive building with a fascinating history.

 

[AAT65]

There is also a Sports & Olympics Museum in Köln. I remember seeing there a 3-D reconstruction of Geoff Hurst’s goal which gave England the lead in extra time of the 1966 World Cup Final: the point of the reconstruction of course is to prove that the ball did not cross the line and the goal should not have been given. We all know that the English are obsessed with their 1966 World Cup win: interesting to see that it seems to have made a permanent impact on the (West) German psyche too!

 

[Jupiter]

There is also a Sports & Olympics Museum in Köln. I remember seeing there a 3-D reconstruction of Geoff Hurst’s goal which gave England the lead in extra time of the 1966 World Cup Final: the point of the reconstruction of course is to prove that the ball did not cross the line and the goal should not have been given. We all know that the English are obsessed with their 1966 World Cup win: interesting to see that it seems to have made a permanent impact on the (West) German psyche too!

Actually I think I saw that video somewhere yesterday! Didn’t really know what I was looking at, and can’t remember where it was, but it did show a “goal” that didn’t really go in, and looked like the 60s…

 

[Piggy Stu]

It does happen sometimes though; I’ve seen em grow up and have kids and then their kids are in my class.

this makes me think of the Homer Simpson line

'I believe the children are our future.... unless we stop them first'

 

[Jupiter]

this makes me think of the Homer Simpson line

'I believe the children are our future.... unless we stop them first'

Nah, let em have it, and good luck, I say.

Nothing makes ya feel older than teaching the high-school-age kids of ex-students tho

 

[Piggy Stu]

Nah, let em have it, and good luck, I say.

Nothing makes ya feel older than teaching the high-school-age kids of ex-students tho

I had a primary school teacher who taught my father. She looked a million years old, and he said that's how she looked when she taught him

My great grandmother/grandmother/father/me/my niece all went to the same school. I never got to ask all 5 generations if Mrs Knight taught us all - only now do I realise she might have been a g-g-g-ghost

 

[Jupiter]

I had a primary school teacher who taught my father. She looked a million years old, and he said that's how she looked when she taught him

My great grandmother/grandmother/father/me/my niece all went to the same school. I never got to ask all 5 generations if Mrs Knight taught us all - only now do I realise she might have been a g-g-g-ghost

I’m pretty sure that one of the best perks of being a ghost is not having to mark homework

 

[Lonn]

Pictures do not do that cathedral justice by any means. I’ve been there many times and have a nephew that lives there. It is an absolutely massive structure.