Climbing a cathedral, eating chocolate and lots of walking....

yep...I climbed that! 

The day in Cologne begins with a fantastic buffet breakfast and an amazing amount of coffee to get me going!  Hanging with this family was being in full tourist mode which I love....I had been slacking off on my exploring and this brought me back to it.  After breakfast we met up with another couple of their friends who live in the area and headed over to the cathedral that I spoke about in the last post.  The goal was to climb the 500 or so stairs up to the top and take in the view.  Now we chose to do this on a sunday so there was mass going on inside when we arrived.  We did pop our head inside to see if it was in between services and we could walk around but there was a service going on.  For me it actually was quite a treat.  When I was there last year I got to walk through and see everything but it was quite beautiful to see it being used in the way it was intended for worship.  The organ was playing and it was quite moving.  We only stayed in a minute and then headed around the side to enter into our real goal of the morning...climbing the stairs to the top.  The group was divided on who was going to climb and who wasn't but in the end we persuaded the non climbers to take the risk and come so the whole big group of us took to the tiny

Tiny winding staircase

winding cement steps to begin the journey.  The kids took off first and you could hear them as they took the steps in stride as many others were getting winded after a few flights.  The staircase was so tiny at points you had to stop and turn to the side so others could pass going down.  Also there weren't many windows along the way so being claustrophobic would make this a bit challenging.   In the end we all made it up and it was truely worth it.  I didn't make the climb last year since we were kinda pressed for time but I am so happy I did this time.  From the top you could see out over the whole city from all the different angles which was

View through top window in Cologne Cathedral 

beautiful.  There were also points where you could see out into the city but also down into different parts of the cathedral.  I think one of my favorite spots along the climb was when we got to the level just below the top and you could see out down through the windows into the other parts of the Cathedral.  This place really is a marvel.  You look at it and just think how in the world did they make this at that point in time with the crude tools and resources they had.  Everything is so beautiful and intricate.  I really am in constant awe of it all.  The view from the top was every bit as beautiful at expected.  After wandering around for a bit and soaking it all in we started the climb down.  Truth be told going down was worse then going up.  You would think the reverse however it was not.  The stairs were so small that stepping on them was not possible using your whole foot.  This means the front part hangs off and then your balance is thrown off.  Now add in jelly legs from climbing up and you are in big trouble.  No...I didn't fall but there were some mis-steps that could have ended badly if I wasn't quick about my recovery.  Fortunately we all made it down safely and were

City view from the top!

  ready for the next part of the day....Lunch!  Marcus who had been with us for our castle tour joined us again for our second half of the day.  We wandered around town a bit headed towards an area near the Rhine River to have lunch.  Along the walk we stopped at a few fun things.  There were these 2 statues you had to rub for good luck.  Funny part about them was that they had hands placed in strategic locations so that when you stood in between them with out really thinking about where you were standing it could look like they were trying to get a bit "handsy" with the person.  It was pretty funny to watch unexpecting

Cute little old town

ladies walk up, stand in-between and all of a sudden she had a hand on her in an inappropriate location.  It really was super funny.  Also along the way we walked through all sorts of squares that has fountains or water features in them.  There was one really beautiful one and the kids ran directly over to it and started playing in it.  Dante the youngest call out to me "Hey Sara, you gotta come look in here!"  Of course being the kind person that I am I started to make my way over so he can show me whatever it is that is so exciting.  As I get closer he says "Look real close....there's a fish in there!"  That's the moment I knew it was all a trick.  I slowly started to back away and both kids knew they had been found out so the quickly recovered by saying " It's a spitting fish!" and started flinging water at me.  Cheeky little guys...almost had me.  This "spitting fish"  made an appearance at just about every water spot the rest of the time and totally made me laugh.  When we arrived at our spot for lunch it was smack dab in the middle of old town.  Might be the cutest spot in the city.  If you haven't already picked up on this I love old towns in cities.  They are always so lively and cute.  This one did not disappoint fortunately.  The colorful buildings

Designing chocolate wrappers.

with a lovely church in the back ground set along side the river.  What's not to love!  It was a lovely spot to enjoy some lunch and a pint of the local beer.  After we were full and happy we headed to the next stop of the day which was a sweet one...literally.  One of the main attractions in Cologne is the chocolate museum.  We of course had to check it out.  The building was beautiful but super hot inside.  I know, you wouldn't think a chocolate museum would be but it was.  The weather outside was really hot too so it was a double downer.  The museum was pretty interesting though.  We got to see how all the little mini wrapped

Local beer on the River....perfect night! 

chocolates were made.  There also was a huge chocolate fountain that we got to taste dipped wafer cookies from.  Might have been the best chocolate I have ever had.  I also kinda nerded out on the molds and packaging design.  It was really interesting how they created the patterns and final product for the chocolate wrappers.  All in all it was pretty interesting but not as exciting as it was hyped up to be.  After stopping at the giftt shop for some to-go items we headed back to the hotel for a snack then out for an evening walk along the river.  It was a gorgeous night.  I enjoyed a local beer while strolling...yep that's legal in Germany.  It was a

Everything is better with good friends!

lovely day of touring and walking.  There were so many moments I was just overwhelmed with joy thinking about how lucky I am to be on this journey and that I have so many wonderful friends all over that I get to spend time with and want to be a part the adventure I am continuing on.  If you would have asked me 2 years ago would I be touring Germany with a family from San Diego and their German friends I might have said that would be nice but not likely.  Well here it is happening!  Life is amazing if you open your self up to the things that seem far fetched or not likely.  I will never shut down anyones dreams or ideas ever...anything is possible if you just go for it.
As we walked home that evening I was so grateful for true genuine life long friends.

One more germany day to come....Stay tuned!