Chocolate, Cathedral and Cologne

Cologne is indeed a city of sweet scents. Eau de Cologne, a perfume that originated from the German city in 1709, is where we get the generic name for men's perfume. Since we weren't visiting the city of Axe, I asked my local friend Edna if I should take home a bottle of Cologne's namesake spray.

"Only if you want to smell like my grandfather," she replied. Not that ladies don't like their grandpas, but if a guy is going to flirt with them, I imagine the ideal scent shouldn't remind them of a Benny Goodman concert.

Since buying real cologne was out and we were saving the brew house for later, what else is there to do in Cologne? Well, there's the Dom cathedral and the Chocolate Museum. Sorry, but we're going to start with the church.

The Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, started construction in 1248 and took over 600 years to complete. Fortunately, it was largely untouched during World War II, so it stands today as the largest Gothic cathedral in all of Europe. In fact, for a time in the late 19th century, it was the tallest structure in the world, at least until the Washington Monument was erected in 1884. Without a doubt, it is one of the most beautiful cathedrals in all of Europe, rivaled only by St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna and St. Nicholas Cathedral in Prague, in my humble opinion. It's one black mark, however, is the claim to house the remains and relics of the gospels' Three Kings (or Wise Men), which is about as likely as Grant's Tomb housing Elvis.

From the holy pulpit to the wholly chocolate, we head over to Imhoff-Schokoladenmuseum … as if "Chocolate Museum" wouldn't be understood in any language. That's right, this beauty on the Rhine is one of Germany's Top 10 most visited museums and one of the few that operates purely on its own revenues.

So, what do you see and hear in this joint? Well, you learn the entire history of chocolate (bless you O fine Aztecs), you get to see cocoa trees and you can even check out a collection of historic vending machines. Okay, so that's what you see and hear, but what do you taste? How about a nine-foot-tall chocolate fountain from which chocolate is drawn on yummy wafers and distributed to visitors? I'll tell ya, it actually made me believe in God more than the Cathedral!

And naturally, no trip to a Germany city is complete without a visit to the local brauhaus (a word I believe needs no translation). We visited a famous one right across from the Cathedral, and it served its famed Kolsch beer in an interesting fashion. Rather than dishing out the golden refreshments in large mugs, they were poured into tall thin glasses, which apparently helps with the carbonation. Plus, you can drink more glasses of beer without feeling like a lush.

And fortunately for me, after stuffing myself with chocolate, beer and Bible, I had a riverboat ready to take me to my next destination.