Cologne, Germany

Had a fantastic "Family Fun Day" exploring the city of Cologne with the kiddos!

Cologne (Koln) is an amazing little city (well...actually, it is the largest city on the Rhine River but, whatevs).

Our first stop was the massive 13th-century Gothic cathedral.  They offer English tours twice a day (you'd have to check the time slots) but we didn't think the kids would make it through a guided tour (they were already getting antsy/hungry).  You can also climb the 500+ steps up the South Tower for what is probably an amazing view of Cologne...but we had a cable car adventure to get to!

However, we did learn some fun facts about the cathedral while we were there!  Not only is it the first place Christians assembled in Cologne, but it survived WWII (despite being hit by 14 aerial bombs) and is a UNESCO site.

(Also, in the square beside the cathedral is the 4711 House of Fragrances, where you can make your own personal Eau de Cologne.  This might be fun to go back and try too!)

After the church, we ate some lunch  and walked to the Rheinseilbahn for a cable car ride over the Rhine River.  You can buy combo tickets for the cable car and zoo, which is located right across the street from the cable cars, but we didn't have time for the zoo this trip.  We ended up buying return tickets for the cable car but after we crossed the river to the Rheinpark we realized that once we went across the whole park we'd be halfway to our next stop so it didn't make sense to go back.

The kids loved Rheinpark!  There is also a children's train ride you can take around the park but we had more fun running it...afterall, it's not a "Family Fun Day" without a game of tag!

Next, we headed back towards the cathedral (but on the opposite side of the river).  We wanted to cross back over on the Hohenzollern Bridge to see the Locks of Love. We didn't bring our own lock but we had fun trying to find our initials on ones already attached.    -- Tradition is to walk across the bridge with your love, affix a lock with your initials on it, then toss the key into the river.

Besides the whole lovey-dovey thing, the bridge is also the most heavily used railway bridge in Germany.  After being destroyed in WWII, it was rebuilt to be only accessible to rail and foot traffic.  Pretty cool.

You also get a great view of the cathedral from this side of the river!

Next on our itinerary was the Chocolate Museum!  It's the only museum to cover every aspect of chocolate-making (from cocoa cultivation to finished chocolate). The kids really enjoyed all the interactive exhibits and we liked the fact that everything was written in German and English!

Roll Tide, Cologne, Roll Tide

The only thing that disappointed me about the Chocolate Museum was that there is supposedly a 10 ft. high "Fountain of Chocolate" that you can dip waffles in for a taste-test.  We went all over that darn museum and couldn't find it!

Regardless of the fact that I am still bitter about the fountain of chocolate (come on, it's a FOUNTAIN OF CHOCOLATE), we still had an amazing day and made some fun memories...and that equals success!