Today we went to Cologne or Köln, Germany to celebrate our three year wedding anniversary. Cologne is about 2 hours from our house and our plan was to get there around lunch so we could grab lunch at Hard Rock Cafe. We ate at Hard Rock in Niagara Falls for our honeymoon so we decided to eat there again.
We had a bit of an issue getting to the parking garage but nothing major. I was trying to get to Hard Rock around when it opened so we wouldn't have to wait but we ended up leaving the house late and with having difficulties finding the parking garage we got there about 30 minutes later then i had planned for. We were told it was a 25 minute wait but we only waited about 15 minutes. Bill and I both go the twisted mac and cheese which is the only thing I ever get from Hard Rock. It is so good. We also got a souvenir cup. We've decided that Hard Rcok is going to be our thing at least while we are here. So far we've been to one in Brussels and now the one in Cologne.
After lunch we went back to the cathedral where we parked and checked it out. The Cologne cathedral or Kölner Dom in German was first constructed in 1248 but was left unfinished and then finally finished in 1880. It is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and has the second largest spires.
The Cathedral is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and is a world heritage site. It is Germany's most visited landmark.
After we made our way to the Imhoff- Schokoladenmuseum or Imhoff Chocolate museum. It was about a 20 minute walk to the museum from the cathedral so we decided to walk instead of driving. When walking around new cities we use the walk function on our iPhones. Well after we crossed a road the gps on our phone went haywire and we went the wrong direction and almost walked across a huge bridge. We realized we were going the wrong direction and managed to find our way to the museum. Inside the museum they had chocolate boxes from all over the world and from different decades. We also got to see how chocolate was on production line. We got a few samples while walking around.
We walked through a mini rainforest setting like where cocoa beans are grown. We learned the history of chocolate and about the harvesting process of cocoa beans. After walking around the museum we stopped in the chocolate shop and picked up some chocolate to bring home. After the Chocolate museum we decided to head hack to the car and make our way home. On our way out of the city we saw a huge group of people marching down the street shouting and holding signs and flags. We're not positive what it was but we think it might have been a protest of some sort and with that we knew it was definitely time to get out of there. We had a great time and lunch while in Cologne. We did everything we wanted to do and it was a great day trip and way to spend our anniversary.
