They Can't All Be Winners

We decided to drive to Cologne on our beautiful sunny Saturday. We got there around noon (it's about an hour from here), and decided to try out a recommended Mexican restaurant that was not in the city center and across the bridge, which would turn out to spell doom for the rest of our day.

The Mexican restaurant was quite good. But, by the time we ate and fed Jackson, dark clouds and snow had started to swirl around the plans we had to see the city. We started driving back over the bridge toward the city center.

However, the whole rest of the city had too. We were headed toward the famous neo-Gothic Cologne cathedral and the parking garage located right beneath it. Ha ha. The bridge, drive, and search for parking took an entire hour before we finally found a space, not in the parking garage underneath the cathdral, but down the street.

Here are some pictures we took while stuck in traffic:



Anyways, by the time we got out of the car, snow was coming down a little harder. It was after 3:00, which meant that all the major sights in the cathedral, like the Shrine of the Magi, were closed for Saturday confession. So, we did what any American tourist would do. We headed to the Starbucks right around the corner.

Here's what the executives at Starbucks should know. Your business should turn a massive quarterly profit during these months based on what we have seen in Germany. When we went to Aachen last week, we headed to Starbucks, only for me to see the massive line and quit immediately. In Cologne, however, the line would not deter me. I needed some Starbucks on that cold day, if only because I could order nonfat milk in my fun-flavored latte. As much as I love European cafes, you really can't get the nonfat milk options.

Once I had my caffeine fix, I was ready for the cathedral - or, what we could see of the cathedral because of our poor timing.

I need to interject here that Olaf, from Barkenhof, told me the other day that he could "see in [my] face that [I am] a coffee drinker." I don't know if he really can or if he was just actually trying to sell me green tea. I wanted to ask him if my haggard face was due to the coffee or maybe that I have a baby. Either way, I need my caffeine.

We were pleased to see that we could still get in the cathedral, even if we couldn't see all the impressive shrines and important artwork. The sheer height of the ceilings and the stained glass windows were just amazing.

We also walked to the Roman-German museum nextdoor, and were able to peek into the window to see a Roman villa mosaic floor that was only discovered because of the massive bombing campaign by the Allies during World War II. We didn't go into the museum during the trip because of the late hour and the second tooth of Jackson's that chose to start poking through his gums right at that moment. Poor guy. He did an excellent job on that trip, only choosing to start screaming right at the end.

We decided that Cologne looks like a winner. Next time, we know exactly what we need to do to park and actually enjoy all the sights. To next time!

Next weekend we have a fun day-trip lined up. It's so exciting, I can't stand it. There is an antiques fair going on in the grand pilgrimmage city of all antique lovers: Tongeren, Belgium. Woohooo!