Koln Chocolate Factory/Museum

The chocolate museum in Koln was the next stop after the Dome. We started by all going up in a "Willy Wonka elevator". Looks like it, doesn't it? The first floor was all about the history of chocolate. Sarah and I are by the staue trying to be silly like her.

The second floor was all about how they make the chocolate. The assembly line and workers. We went from where they put the cocoa beans through a grinder, then through a series of adding things process. They mixed it up in an ginormous automatic mixer, which was fun to watch. This is where the chocolate was put into the trays.

After that, then the little chocolate bars go through the chilling chambers and come out to this point. Those 2 black rods twist each tray like you would an ice cube tray.

Then it's dumped into out of the trays down to get wrapped. Check out the video. It shows how it wraps the candy:

This is the machine that they put chocolate in when molding the chocolate into things:

Then it goes down a shoot to the ladies that put them in bags and sell them to us. And POOF chocolate! Mmm. So good.

They had a fantastic chocolate fountain. It was a tree made of cocoa pods and it drizzed chocolate out of 6 little tubes and also a big drain. We got free samples dipped in this fountain. The chocolate in Germany is the best. They don't add wax like they do in the states. Mmm.

They had blocks that you could pull up to see how much chocolate different countries eat compared to each other. Check out how much the states have vs. Germany. (and they say we are fat because of chocolate...pft)

After the chocolate museum, we walked around Koln and down the Rhine River for a bit. Check out their curbs:

This is my favorite picture of the trip. This picture says so much. Tristan and McCord have been best friends for years. They have both meant so much to each other and helped each other out in many indescribable ways. This picture of them walking tells it all. It was a candid shot and they can just talk forever together. Priceless!

Carnival season is here! Everybody dresses up in funny costumes even a week before the celebration day. "to get ready for carnival" is what they say. They also drink a lot to get their bodies ready for the huge carnival where there is more beer than ever. These are pictures of some fun costumes (above and below)

After walking around Koln after we visited the Dome and saw all the fun people all over, we went into a "cafe" for some REAL GERMAN CAKE! Here are some pictures of this "cafe". It looked like the inside of the Ritz hotel, and the cake in germany is heavenly, just amazingly delicious!

This "cafe" was simple gorgeous. It's how I imagine a plaza hotel to look like with crystal everywhere, white and felt chairs, mirrors all around reflecting the enchanting lights, gold lining everything. There was also a live piano and violin playing to set the mood even more. I managed to swipe some pictures casually, with no one noticing.

After the cafe, we started on the train ride home. Here's a picture of us on the train home:

This is random, but I thought I'd take a picture of the public trash cans in the train station. They all have the separate bins for the rubish (as the British would say)