Lipinski's in Germany: Day trip to Cologne, Germany

Today was an unexpected, fun day! Cologne was great. I have been a bit leary of coming here since it is such a large city. But everything we wanted to do was clustered in one area and there were plenty of park houses. We even parked right below the cathedral.

Cologne is Germany's 4th largest city. It is situated along the Rhine river. It is one of the oldest cities in Germany, having been founded by the Romans in the year 38BC. Cologne was granted the status of a Roman "city" in the year 50 AD. It took a big hit in WWII and 95% of the city was destroyed.

The Cathedral in the city is amazing. It is one of the best churches I have seen (and we have seen tons in Europe) I read it is one of the top 10 sights to see in Germany and is a World Heritage Sight. The cathedral is HUGE and really awesome inside. We did get kicked out of the altar area because a mass was starting in 20 minutes. I could have stayed inside studying everything for hours. The stained glass was so neat. The outside of the church is very Gothic. Our pictures don't give it justice.

We ate lunch at KFC.

We walked around the pedestrian shopping district.

Then we headed to the Schokolade Museum. We learned about the cocoa bean and then how it is made into the yummy chocolate bars that we eat. It was a Lindt chocolate factory. It was a good museum to visit and everything was also in English.

Chocolate art!!

Lia liked this piece of "art".

Lily said this was the biggest chocolate fountain she had ever seen. They were giving samples with wafer cookies too. yummy!

Little chocolates in the molding trays going down the line.

On our way home we stopped in Remagen. This is the city along the Rhine River where an American brigade found the last bridge over the river during WW2. The remains of the bridge serve as a monument. There is an American flag on top of one of the bridge towers. Remember you can click on the pictures for a larger view.