Day 23--Germany (Cologne)

June 21, 2025

On Thursday night, we decided to spend Friday in Cologne. I spent the evening researching and furiously purchasing tickets. Cologne was a short, pleasant 20 minute train ride away. We started at the incredible cathedral (the Dom to locals). Honestly it rivals Westminster and Notre Dame for me. Comparatively, the experience was much more accessible and reverent. There were fewer people, no lines, no claustrophobia. I was able to actually sit, take in the atmosphere, and even pray a bit. The outside of the building is spectacular. Throughout the day, I couldn’t stop looking up at it from wherever we were in the city.

After lunch, we had tickets for the Lindt chocolate museum. This was fun for some of us and boring for others (ie it was boring for me but the rest of my family loved it). There were free samples throughout, and loads of excited little kids, which made it fun. The building itself is lovely.

After eating way too much chocolate ( and getting some on my shirt), we got to go to the Cologne museum and perfumery. This is something Gracelyn really wanted to do, and I was so happy we were able to get tickets for the English speaking tour. I don’t think we took many pictures, but this was a memorable experience for sure. We learned a lot about hygiene during the time of Napolean and the merits of sperm whale vomit. We got also free samples of the cologne. What more could anyone want from a tour?

After the perfumery, we went to the Ludwig museum for some amazing modern art. We saw all kinds of pop art, including Warhols, which we had never seen in person. The museum had an extensive collection of Picasso pieces, and it was inspiring to see how he was unafraid to experiment with different mediums. Even the pieces that were less than perfect seemed joyful. He was really into fawns. Who knew?

Our train tickets home were for 8:15pm and very inexpensive. We were all exhausted by 5pm, but going home early would have cost us an extra $100, so we stuck it out. We got dinner at a busy German restaurant, followed by a long walk to a dessert cafe. We were finally able to get onto the train, totally drained from the long day. En route, the driver announced that our stop had been closed, and we would need to transfer to a different train that was at a station much further away. So a ride home that should have taken 20 minutes took about 90. We were so very relieved to get home at the end of a very fun, but very tiring day.