Riemenschneider's Last Supper and Rothenburg

 It was a beautiful fall day on Halloween, so we made a day trip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

Galgentor (Gallows Gate)

We took the train and walked from the station to one of the city gates. The medieval town is surrounded by a city wall that you can climb and walk around the city on.

Walking the city wall

 

 

The city's history goes back to the Hohenstaufen dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire, which included Konrad III, who ruled from 1138 until his death in Bamberg in 1152. Holy Roman Emperors did not collectively have a permanent residence; instead each had a home base. Konrad did not have a home base large enough for someone of his position, so he decided to build one on a hill overlooking the Tauber river.

Pilgrimage route

Konrad built his castle in 1142, and of course a village grew up around it. Konrad built his castle at the crossing of two important pan-European routes. Of the three most important pilgrimage destinations in Christendom (Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago de Compostela) Rothenburg was along a north-south route to Rome, and also along one of the east-west routes called St. James' Way to Santiago de Compostela, where the tomb of St. James is located. The most important church in Rothenburg is St. Jakobskirche (St. James Church), built next to the north-south route. When the church was enlarged with an addition to its west end, the addition had to bridge over the pilgrimage route, because you know you don't change pilgrimage routes! 

Coat of Arms

Rothenburg obtained official market rights in 1172, which was a big deal because of the money that could be made. (Have you read Ken Follett's novel Pillars of the Earth?) Rothenburg gained in importance, and in 1274 the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf I, made Rothenburg a Free Imperial City, meaning that it did not belong to one of the Princes, Dukes, Counts or other rulers that made up the empire. Rather, it belonged to the emperor himself. As such, the city also obtained a Reichskammergericht, (Imperial Chamber of Justice), which is represented by the small building between the two towers in the city's coat of arms. By 1400, Rothenburg was second only to Cologne in size. The first fortress walls surrounding the city enclosed a relatively small area. Part of the original wall was made of a Spital, which was a combination hospital, old-folks home, and hotel for pilgrims. These people were associated with disease, and that is the reason for not letting them stay long inside the city. Monastic orders also put up pilgrims in the monasteries overnight, even though they were inside the city walls, but religious buildings were officially part of the Roman Church and did not fall under the jurisdiction of the city.  

Röderbogen (Markusturm in background)

One of the remaining towers from the old inner wall is the Markusturm (Markus tower), shown with its city gate (Röderbogen) in the photo. Another is the Weißer Turm (White tower). You can see some of the many business signs extending from the buildings and hanging over the street. They are very decorative, and original to the medieval situation when people were illiterate. So the signs had to show what business was located in the shops. A tour guide told us that the city fathers knew very well how important the signs were, and so imposed an "air tax" on the signs hanging over the street. The business people were clever, and they put the signs on hinges in order to bring them up against the buildings.

Weißer Turm

High Altar in the chancel of the church

 

 

 

 

 

Inside the first town wall is the Jakobskirche, mentioned earlier. The current church was started by the Teutonic Order of Knights in 1298. Only the chancel (the part occupied by the priest and monks) was built in the first of three stages. It was butted up against an older Romanesque church, and when the chancel was complete in 1322, the Romanesque church was torn down. 

The chancel contains a stone altar piece with an early depiction of the trinity as the Father, the Son, and a dove as the Holy Spirit all together. The beautiful colors must be older than 1544, because after the Reformation came to Rothenburg at the end of the Peasants' War, the church became protestant, and colored statues did not adhere to Martin Luther's ideas. One reference I read said that Friederich Herlin, the same person who made the altar, also painted the older stone altar. 

Early depiction of the trinity

Behind the high altar are scenes painted on the wood. There are several scenes of St. James, and in particular of the transport of his dead body to the church in Santiago de Compostela.  The painter of the scenes had never been there, so he used Rothenburg instead. The result is the first depiction of Rothenburg's market square and city hall and the first aerial view of a city to be achieved in southern Germany.

Rothenburg's market square above

 

Nave of St.Jakobskirche

 

 

The second part of the church was then constructed from 1372 until 1436: the part of the nave extending almost to the organ. Construction had to stop there, because the pilgrimage route was just outside. The third part of the church was constructed from 1453 until 1471, and it is the part that contains the organ and that bridges the pilgrimage route. It is also the part that contains Tilman Riemenschneider's Holy Blood Altar.

Riemenschneider carved the scenes in the altar from 1501 until 1504, and the main scene depicts the last supper. This is in keeping with the reliquary, which contains a piece of cloth with three drops of consecrated wine (hence, the blood of Christ). The reliquary is a piece of rock crystal mounted at the center of the crucifix.

The depiction of the last supper is unusual, because it depicts Judas in the center rather than Jesus, who is slightly to the left and higher. Judas is depicted with a back of money in his left hand. Notice that next to the bag is the face of the apostle John, who has collapsed onto Jesus's lap in distress.

 

Holy blood reliquary

 

 

Last supper by Riemenschneider

 

We had a wonderful day in Rothenburg, and we sat outdoors for a meal of venison cubes in a dark wine gravy with spaetzle and batter-fried carp, two traditional Frankonian dishes. The restaurant's outdoor seating was on the site of the former cemetery of St. Jakobskirche, and the former chapel building is still next door.

former cemetery chapel

The reason Rothenburg is so well preserved is that its significance waned after the destruction suffered from the Thirty Years' War (1618 to 1648) that left 2/3 of its inhabitants dead. The city never recovered from this era. The medieval architecture remained frozen in time. That anything at all survived  the war is, according to folklore, due to the mayor Georg Nusch (Nu-sh). In 1631, the troops of Catholic General Tilly with his army of 40,000 troops laid siege to the protestant town. The town was therefore threatened with starvation, and so the town sent out women and children to plead for the town, but the General was not deterred. Finally, the mayor made a wager with the general. The mayor claimed to be able to drink over 3 liters of Franconian wine in one gulp, known as the Meistertrunk (Master Draught). A recreation can be seen every day in the glockenspiel next to the city hall at noon, and also every year the Meistertrunk is reenacted during the town festival.

What survived until the 1940s was seen even by the Germans as the ideal German town and for the Nazis it came to represent the ideal German home town. So it was occupied by German forces when the Allies bombed it on March 31, 1945. Because the U.S. Assistant secretary of war, John McCloy, was told of the town's beauty by his mother, he ordered that no artillery be used when the Americans took the town. Luckily, the American forces were able to convince the Germans to surrender without a fight (contrary to Hitler's orders), and the town was spared further damage. 

However, 40% of the town's buildings had already been damaged, mostly on the city's east side. To retain its charm, the damaged buildings were rebuilt in a style as close to the original medieval style as possible. McCloy was later made an honorary citizen.

Besides the charming lanes and streets and towers and houses in the old town, one of the most famous attractions is the Christmas museum associated with the Wohlfahrt family. Their famous store is called Käthe Wohlfahrt; open year round, it offers Christmas ornaments made in Germany and it is so crowded with tourists that in the store itself, visitors are guided through the store on one-way only paths. But you don't have to go to Rothenburg to see a Käthe Wohlfahrt Christmas store. There's one in Nuremberg, a 20 minute train ride away from us. 

Another attraction is the "Criminal Museum", which includes shudder-inducing authentic examples of common medieval torture devices, all instruments of what passed for justice in those years. Kathy remembers how disturbing her first visit to this museum was, and does not want to go back there. However, the museum has since added exhibits about how justice was perceived in the middle ages up through today, and there is information about the witch persecutions of the 1600s and 1700s. 

Today, Rothenburg is indeed charming. It is well worth visiting in the off-season, when busloads of tourists from all over the world no longer throng the streets.

Marburg: a University Town, Saint Elisabeth's Final Resting Place and the Brothers Grimm

Before we went to Marburg, its appeal for us was two attractions:

• as the place where the Brothers Grimm were professors at the university and,
• the Elisabethkirche, the church built on the grave of St. Elizabeth.

Before we left, we had added a third attraction:

• the picturesque town on the hill
  

We started by getting an overview of the town by going to a look-out point on the hill on the opposite side of the Lahn river. On the hill is a tower built during Germany's Romantic period by a guy of the name Spiegel. The locals call the tower the Spiegelslustturm (literally, Spiegel's passion tower, where "passion" is used in the sense of enjoyment).  From here you can see both the Elisabethkirche and the Landgrave's Palace looking over the town.

We rode a bus up the hill to the Landgrave's Palace.  The ride was a bit nerve-racking, even as as the driver slowly  drove up the steep and narrow streets. Sometimes it seemed like the bus was going to start slipping backwards down the hill!

 The Landgrave's Palace was built in many stages. It started as a castle in the late 800s, and in 911 it belonged to Konrad I, the first Frankish king of East Francia (i.e., Germany) not a member of Charlemagne's descendants.

 It was expanded in four phases over the centuries until it was converted to a palace during the Renaissance period (when castles were becoming obsolete).

It was expanded in two more phases since then, and today it is a museum.

We walked down the hill through the old town below the palace. This was the nicest surprise of the trip. The old town is the site of the old city hall, the old university, and many half-timbered buildings. We started with Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake) at Bückingsgarten, which is perched just below the castle and looks out over the town.

Terrace of the Bückingsgarten

Half-timbered buildings in the old town

Old City Hall

Impressive building on the old city market square

We found a building with a plaque stating that Martin Luther stayed here. He must have been very influential, because the university is the oldest protestant university in the world, founded in 1527 during Luther's lifetime. We also found the building where Jacob Grimm lived. The brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm also studied and were professors at the university here, making the city a popular stop on the German Fairy Tale Road. The first ever winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine also studied here. The current university buildings were built between 1873 and 1891.

On our second day in Marburg we visited the Elisabethkirche. Who was Elizabeth? We have written about Elisabeth of Hungary in earlier blog posts. To recap, at the age of four, Elizabeth was brought to the court of the rulers of Thuringia in Wartburg, Germany, to be betrothed to Ludwg IV, Landgrave of Thuringia. She was raised by the Thuringian court, surrounded by the local language and culture. In 1221, at the age of fourteen, Elizabeth married Ludwig. In the spring of 1226, when Thuringia suffered floods, famine, and plague, Ludwig went to Italy to represent the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, at the Imperial Diet. Elizabeth, now nineteen years old, assumed control of affairs at home. When Elizabeth was 20, Ludwig died on his way to the sixth crusade, leaving their son Hermann ruler. Ludwig's brother, Heinrich Raspe, assumed regency, and Elizabeth left the Wartburg for Marburg.

the Elisabethkirche

Around 1223, when Elizabeth was sixteen, the priest and later inquisitor, Konrad von Marburg, was appointed as her confessor, and he had great influence over Elizabeth. She began doing good works, such as distributing alms in all parts of their territory, even giving away state robes and ornaments to the poor. Below Wartburg Castle, she built a hospital with twenty-eight beds and visited the inmates daily to attend to them. After moving to Marburg, Elizabeth built another hospital. When she died, she was buried in the chapel of the hospital.

Grave of St. Elizabeth

Very soon after the death of Elizabeth in 1231, miracles were reported that happened at her grave, especially those of healing.  It was here in 1235, the year Elizabeth was canonized, that construction was started on the church by the Order of the Teutonic Knights. Although there were earlier Gothic churches in Germany, such as the one in Trier with a circular plan, the Elisabethkirche is the first Gothic hall church with a nave and two side aisles. The ceiling of the side aisles is the same height as the nave, which characteristic of German Gothic. Another characteristic is the height of the steeples, which took until 1340 to complete. At the crossing of the choirs is a beautiful rood screen.

Nave of the Elisabethkirche

 

The construction of a golden shrine was started in 1235 and ended in 1249 when the bones were moved from the grave to the shrine. The shrine is a masterpiece of the goldsmiths’ art, and it is still the greatest treasure of the Church. The shrine was decorated with over 850 pearls and precious stones, of which three dozen precious stones from the Mediterranean region and the near east were had carved reliefs. (Under Napoleon, 117 stones, a crucifix, and various parts of figures went missing.) The shrine also has exceptionally fine filigree figures and scenes.The long sides show the 12 apostles, and the roof shows 8 reliefs from the life of Elizabeth. Each side has a gable roof with either Jesus, Mary, or Elizabeth. Elizabeth's shrine became one of the main German centers of pilgrimage of the 14th century and early 15th century. It seems to be as large as the shrine of the three kings in the Cologne cathedral!

Elizabeth's shrine

The cult around the relics of Elisabeth was outlawed by her descendant Landgrave Philipp during the Reformation. However, the church was able to keep its relics because it belonged to the Order of Teutonic Knights, which was in turn answerable to the Holy Roman Emperor. In order to drive the pilgrims out of Marburg, the Landgrave allowed the shrine to be broken open on the 18th May 1539 and the bones to be removed. The chief of the Teutonic Knights protested against this, and he insisted that the Statthalter (Governor for the Landgrave) scatter the remains in the Pilgrims’ Cemetery of the Michelchen Church near the Elisabeth Church. But the Governor hid them in his moated fort in Wommen. In 1547, Philipp was arrested by the Emperor after a defeat in the Schmalkalden war. Philipp was able to use the bones of Elisabeth as a ‘bargaining chip’ to secure his release. He ordered that the bones be transferred to Marburg where, after a short stay, they were transported in 1558 to the chapel of the Elisabethine in Vienna.

There is also some beautiful medieval stained glass in the choir of the church. The Elisabeth window is among them. It represents scenes from the legend of St. Elisabeth. One of the best-known legends says that she used to go down the hill to the town bringing bread from the castle to give to the poor. She would hide the basket of bread under her cloak. Once, her husband, who in this version of the story did not approve of her sharing the wealth, demanded to know what was under her cloak. When she opened her cloak, the basket was filled with roses. 

In another legend, she cared for the poor and sick in the castle, even caring for a leper in her own bed. When her husband heard of this, he was upset, running to her bedroom to throw the poor leper out. When he got there, there was only a crucifix in the bed, and he was forced to admit, "Such a guest is always welcome". 

Elisabeth's story and legends are what make the local history interesting. You might remember the story of Empress Kunigunde, the wife of Emperor Heinrich II, who reigned around 1000 AD, who founded the Bishopric of Bamberg and had the Bamberg Cathedral built, just a half-hour's train ride north of us. Empress Kunigunde was also said to have performed miracles during her lifetime. She was worshiped as a saint, and her relics and a tomb depicting her miracles are displayed in the Bamberg Cathedral.

Americans in the US might have folk-tales and tall tales, but there are very few legends about historic women who were so revered as to have generated stories about their supposed sainthood. It is the centuries of recorded history that make the culture so rich here in Europe. The way Christianity formed layers that built on the pagan traditions that existed in Europe prior to 600 AD, gradually becoming more and more orthodox as time went on, is fascinating to learn about. 

Surrounding the Elisabethkirche are other buildings that belonged to the Order of Teutonic Knights.

Deutsches Haus

 

Mineralogy Museum

The oldest university building was impressive. It was actually built in the Gothic style in the 1500s. You know how many American universities have neo-Gothic architecture? They all want to look like this building.

One last mention of the Brothers Grimm. Throughout the city, there is a trail with stations presenting sculptures that represent the stories that the Brothers Grimm collected. As we took a short cut through the old botanical garden, we stopped by a pond that had a fountain merrily splashing away. The picturesque pond had lily pads, and on the lily pads, small fuzzy birds with long legs were skipping from one to the other, peeping as they went. It turned out that the mommy and daddy birds were on shore, while the kids amused themselves in the water. Floating on the pond was a silver fish. The fish represents the Grimms' tale of the fisherman and his wife. The fisherman caught the fish, who granted wishes for the fisherman's wife. She wished herself into a palace because she wanted to live like the emperor, and then decided that it would be better to live like the pope, made the wish, and ended up back in the fisherman's hut. 

Naumburg Cathedral: Mysterious Master Sculptor

There is a new World Heritage Site north of us in Thuringen (Thuringia). Last year, UNESCO added the Cathedral at Naumburg to its list of World Heritage sites.

Naumburg Cathedral is known for its architecture, sculptures and images, and according to the supporting scientists, it is "a unique testimony to medieval art and liturgy. The harmonic connection between architecture,
sculpture and stained glass windows in the west choir of the cathedral counts among
the most impressive creations of human creativity in the Middle Ages at large.″

East Choir Screen

When Naumburg was nominated to the UNESCO list, the documents said that the choir screens were especially worth preserving.

West Choir Screen

"It is the only Cathedral illustrating in two almost completely preserved choir screen structures from the first half of the 13th century the profound changes in religious practice, perception, and in the reflection of nature and in science observation in the figurative arts. The workshop organization of sculptors and stonemasons which was likely established in the early 13th century and is known under the name of the “Naumburg Master” constitutes one of the decisive conveyors and pioneers of the ground-breaking innovations in architecture and sculpture of the Late Hohenstaufen period in the 2nd half of the 13th century that were first developed at Reims Cathedral and have been lost in other places. The quality of the Naumburg Master’s work has since justified Naumburg’s reputation far beyond its region."

The screen of the east choir is late  Romanesque, and the screen of the west choir is Gothic. The interior of the west choir and its screen were the work of the Naumburg Master, so-called because nobody today knows his name. But his artwork is among the most important of the European Middle Ages. He and his workshop traveled across Europe from Reims around 1225, to Metz in the Holy Roman Empire, and around 1230 he was in Mainz to work on the Cathedral. From there he traveled to Naumburg and worked from about 1245-1250 until construction was finished in 1257. Everywhere the Naumburg Master worked he left behind recognizable art. Other famous Gothic artists, like Tilman Riemenschneider, who lived later and worked around 1500, produced wonderful, but stylized, figures (see our blog). His wooden statue of St. Elisabeth in the Neuenburg Castle (see our blog) is very beautiful and also stylized.  But the Master of Naumburg made very realistic sculptures in the mid 1200s.

 The reliefs along the top of the west screen are more like statues; they are carved from one piece of stone. They depict scenes from the passion of Christ. At the passage through the west screen is a statue of Christ crucified.  On the sides of the passage are statues of Mary and John. The statue of St. John is especially expressive, as you can see in the photo.

Scenes from the passion of Christ

 

St. John on right side of passage

Entrance to west choir

Inside the west choir are the twelve monumental donor portraits that are considered his masterpieces. The most famous are the statues of Uta and her husband Ekkehard II of Meissen (today the city where the first porcelain was produced in Germany). Legend has it that the figure of Uta, with her high collar and medieval head covering, was an inspiration for the Disney portrayal of the evil queen in Snow White.

West choir screen from inside the choir 

Ekkehard II and Uta

Most churches, however old they are, no longer have choir, or "rood", screens. The "rood" refers to the cross that was typically depicted on the congregation side of the screen. Choir screens were meant to hide the altar from the lay person's view, making the ceremony of the mass even more mysterious. After the council of Trent ended in 1563, they were removed from Catholic churches as part of the Counter-Reformation. It is amazing that these screens survived. It is probably due in part to the neglect that churches suffered under the East German communist regime that such architecture survived.

Underneath the late-Romanesque nave is a high-Romanesque crypt, which
"is characterised by its high-quality architectural decoration. The palmette cushion capitals rank among the most beautiful examples of their kind in the Central European area. With the High Romanesque crucifix placed on the well preserved Godehard altar of the crypt (3rd quarter of the 12th century) an impressive furnishing piece complements the built Romanesque structure".
The crypt represents the oldest stone structure on the site.

Cologne: Roman Luxury, Three Kings, and Toilette Water

Warning: contains descriptions of food that might not be suitable for dieters.

One weekend in June, we met our friends from Switzerland for a weekend of historical churches, good food and drink in Cologne. We had a good time in spite of the hot, humid and overcast weather, visited the biggest Cathedral in Europe next to St. Peter's in Rome, and several smaller, older churches from before 800AD. There were museums galore, but we could only visit a couple.

Roman(tic) Cologne
The Rhein (Rhine) river flows through Cologne, and the train ride along the Rhein is very romantic. Castle ruins overlook terraced vineyards, while boats float by the little towns that hug the shore.

The city got its name not because the French were looking for something to tack onto “Eau de”, but from its history as an outpost of the Roman empire, a "colonia," thus the French name Cologne. It was declared a city of the Roman empire in 50 AD, having been settled first by Germanic tribes in 38 BC. Its beginnings as a Colonia are connected with the fascinating intra-dynasty politics of the Roman imperial family.

The woman responsible for its designation as a proper Roman colony was local girl Agrippina the Younger, mother of Nero and wife and niece of Emperor Claudius (ruled 41-54). If you have ever seen or read "I, Claudius," then you know what a knotty situation beset the Roman Imperial family in the first decades AD. Ambitious and cunning, Agrippina Junior was the daughter of Agrippina the elder and Germanicus, son of Emp. Tiberius. She was sister to Caligula, also known as the Nut Case. After she was called back from a Caligula-imposed exile, she married her uncle Claudius after he succeeded Caligula. Always scheming to put a better emperor on the throne, she eventually poisoned her husband. In her turn she was exiled and murdered by her son, Emperor Nero.

So Cologne has a rich Roman history, and a museum to go with it, which we visited. One of the most spectacular pieces of the collection is the Dionysus floor mosaic which is the size of a very large Oriental carpet. The mosaic was found in 1941 during the digging of an air-raid shelter and in 1974 the museum was built around it.

Roman life in Cologne had all the comforts of the time. After their retirement from the army some former soldiers established themselves as public leaders and became regular middle-class residents. They even built elaborate 2-story-high grave monuments for themselves and their families. Lamps (some with erotic designs), makeup kits, surgeon's tools, grave markers, wall paintings, beautiful glassware, many beautiful pieces of jewelry and a reconstructed wooden wagon display what a rich, comfortable life the Roman citizens led. The museum also maintains artifacts from prehistoric and post-Roman times. Below is an example of the achievements of Roman glass craftsmanship.


After the Roman period, Cologne became a wealthy city as a result of its participation in the Hanseatic League. Its status grew and it became a medieval pilgrimage destination. In order to enhance its status and secure more power for Friedrich Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor of the time, the archbishop in 1164 secured (read: stole from Milan) the relics of the Three Kings (the magi of the Bible account) and housed them in the Cathedral in Cologne. These legendary kings were thought to exemplify the best of kingly power on earth and so lent legitimacy to whomever possessed their relics. The upshot is, that these relics are still the centerpiece of the Cathedral, housed in a large gold box in a place of honor behind the altar. Precious stones adorn its edges. Once a year, on January 6, the reliquary is opened and pushed out from behind the altar for display to the faithful. The bones and skulls, which were embellished with gold and jewels, still draw a crowd.

The Cathedral itself is no slouch when it comes to splendor and economy of size. The builders got maximum impact with maximum space. In the 12th century they achieved the feat of minimizing the stone structural mass of the walls and maximizing the space for glorious windows. The view from the back to the front of the church is awesome. The ceiling keeps its incredible height (four times its width) all the way, and at far end is a small, brilliant golden glow, which is the reliquary of the Three Kings.





This gothic marvel draws the crowds, but the older Romanesque churches are beautiful too. We visited St. Gereon's Church, named after a Roman officer who was martyred around 350 a.d. This church started out as a 4th(!) century chapel on a Roman graveyard, and the Roman masonry can still be seen in the lower 50 feet. Later, the Kings of Germanic tribes, including the Franks while the Merovingians were in power, used it as a burial site. Between 1151 and 1227, the decagon dome, which is unique north of the Alps, was added. A couple of us agreed on having had strange sensations while inside this church. Kathy felt her heart beating a little more quickly and put it down to the lunch she had just eaten, but Sereena confirmed that she, too, felt "something." To Kathy, it seemed as if the decagon dome imposed its weight in a metaphysical way.

Another interesting church in St. Pantaleon's basilica. It was originally built in 866, but was enlarged in 984 by Theophanu, who was the Greek wife of the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto II. The church was part of a monastery, and the upper floors of the west end (see photos of balcony and ceiling) were the Emperor's residence for his visits to the monastery.

Eau de Quoi?

We visited the source of the famous Eau de Cologne, the 4711 house on Glockengasse. Have you ever heard the number 4711 in connection with "cologne"? I hadn't until I got to Germany. Napoleon, in his passion for making everything orderly in the French fashion, had his soldiers number all the houses in Cologne, and this particular house, which was the factory for "Kölnisch Wasser," received this number. Inside the shop on the ground floor was a fountain continuously dispensing the fragrant product. I promptly ran my fingers under the stream. Suddenly I smelled like my grandmother's bathroom! A broad variety of products were for sale, including soap and other types of perfume made by the same manufacturer. We went a little nuts sampling the wares, and I, remembering the unpleasant consequences of a combination of a woodsy summer camp, my first perfume behind the ears and black flies, doused my hands in the first fountain we came to after leaving the store.

And now for the food portion of our program...

We sampled just one other of the many museums: the chocolate museum. Chocolate lovers would have hated it. No need to visit us to get the real scoop, it was terrible! ;-> The whole museum was about chocolate growing and processing and history. With the admission ticket came a piece of Lindt milk chocolate. After describing the growing, harvesting (still done by hand!), and processing of chocolate beans, the exhibits related how the Spanish learned about chocolate from the Aztecs. Then in order to ensure a chocolate supply for European generations to come, those enterprising Spanish soldiers killed or enslaved the Indians and made them work on chocolate plantations*. Was chocolate, not gold, the driving force for colonization of the New World? The things they don't teach you in school!

Naturally there was a Lindt production line in operation and free samples at the end. There was also a café where they sold several kinds of chocolate drinks, and several kinds of chocolate cake. We sat on the riverside terrace and indulged. I suffered through their own "house" chocolate cake, called the Three Kings Torte. On offer were also a four-layer chocolate cake, and a simple single-layer chocolate cake. No one else ordered any cake, so I don't know how they would have tasted. The Three Kings Torte had three layers separated by dark chocolate ganache, and covered with a generous dusting of cocoa powder. The lighter umm, chocolate color of the powder made a good contrast with the darker ganache. And together the textures complemented each other perfectly, as the creamy ganache melted in your mouth and the grainy powder and the cake contrasted with the creamy stuff. None of it was too sweet, and the cake had not one hint of the disagreeable metallic flavor one finds in some chocolate cake.

Of course there was a gift shop! But the only one who braved it was Sereena, who graciously bought us each a sample of milk-chocolate made with sea-salt. At first it tastes like regular milk chocolate, but as it melts on your tongue the salt subtly comes through: just enough to let you know it's there. It's nowhere near as salty as chocolate-covered pretzels. I could see where it would be doubly addictive. To the right is the chocolate fountain where at the end of the tour a staff member handed out waffle cookies that had been dipped in the basin.

I know, it's somewhat cruel, telling you all about this good chocolate, but you'll just have to come here and experience it for yourselves!

In other recent chocolate experiences, Richard's brother Paul is somewhat of a chocoholic. We introduced him to the Lindt dark chocolate bars made with chili, and he wanted more! Brittany (18), on the other hand found it disgusting, "and it's dark chocolate, " she said and wrinkled her nose. Her palette will mature, I'm sure. 'Til then, there's more for us.

Our first night there, we visited a local eating establishment where we were assured we could get some typical local dishes and beer. The beer made in Köln is called Kölsch. Kölsch happens to be the name of the local dialect. So the saying goes, Kölsch is the only language you can drink. The beer came in 0.20 l glasses instead of the usual half-liter quantities, but it kept coming, borne by cocky, briskly efficient waiters who presumed to know what you wanted before you even asked for it. At one long-established restaurant-brewery, one of us asked for a glass of wine, and was told, "You don't want that. I don't know if it's good or not. This is a brewery, not a winery." By the way, the beer was good. Light and without too much hops to make it bitter. It was served cool and went down well in the humid weather.

Saturday night was about the food. We started with an "Aperol," Swiss for a pre-dinner drink (white wine) at a swanky, hip bar near the Cathedral: The Ice Bar. The surface of the bar was covered with a puffy white batting that turned out to be ice! We sipped a Riesling, and a buttery Chardonnay, and Richard ordered a Perfect Martini that was generous with the olives. Other specialty drinks, and there were many original concoctions, were displayed on small computer screens mounted on the walls. Slick. Snacks consisted of an upscale mixture of wasabi-covered peanuts, plain peanuts, and other spicy Japanese crackers, including the red ones that look like miniature chilis. Surprise, the prices of the drinks were upscale, too.

For dinner that night, we searched in the Latin Quarter for a vegetarian restaurant mentioned in the guide book. At the same address we found instead a Basque restaurant! Basque food, who'd have thought? What is Basque food? Well, it's strongly similar to Spanish food and embellished with extra X's. Pintxos, for example: Tapas. The waiter had greeted us with "Hola!" as we sat down on benches in the courtyard, and asked in Spanish what he could bring us to drink. Prompted by the Spanish greeting, I pulled some half-remembered Spanish-by-osmosis out of the mists of college experiences and asked for "uno litro agua minerale, Per Favore-- uh, Por Favor." (Pretty pleased with myself, there). Stefan asked for a wine recommendation, was recommended a hearty red from the Iberian peninsula, followed by recommendations for jamón Ibérico ( air-cured ham from acorn-fed pigs, deeper-colored, stronger and nuttier than Serrano and Parma) and a cheese sampler to accompany this hearty Spanish red. The wine was velvety and looked it too, without being sweet and without unpleasant tannins. It came with flat bottom tumblers for glasses. Stefan said you could tell it had been aged in oak barrels. The cheese and ham came on separate wooden disks with a basket of bread. Tasty little green olives were strewn over the ham. (These weren't your bland grocery store green olives stuffed with pimento!) This was totally finger food, man. Forget the German compunctions of knife and fork, we were eating Mediterranean-style. By then, 9 pm, we were eating at a Mediterranean hour, too. The cheeses were on the hard side, but crumbly and pleasantly tangy with a contrasting creamy/buttery background.

The orders around the table consisted of: Gambas con ajillo (shrimp with garlic sauce); Brocheta de verdura (grilled vegetables on skewers); Gazpacho (gazpacho); and Txipirones a lo Pelayo (Calamari marinated in garlic, olive oil and parsley with poached julienned vegetables and salad). All were pronounced very tasty. The dishes were either sturdy ceramic shallow dishes or translucent orange plates. Almost forgot about dessert! We had room for Créma Catalana, a sort of crème brûlée, which was creamy and cool. The thin layer of burnt sugar on top made my mouth water while reminding me of the best part of roasting marshmallows.

Basque digestifs followed. "Pacharán°", a sloe-based, anise-flavored reddish liqueur and a clear fire-water called "Orujo," similar to grappa, provided after-dinner refreshment. Then, through an apparent miscommunication, we topped it all off with a glass of Port each. Miscommunication can sometimes be successful.

On our last afternoon, we stopped for some well-deserved ice cream at a cafe in front of the cathedral. Group photo below.

And that's the news from Cologne, where the water smells, the chocolate flows, the beer is a language, and the good eats are Basque.

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*Caution: this statement contains wild misstatement of the facts and speculation about motives of the Conquistadors.

° Of Pacharan, Wikipedia says,"The liqueur is made by soaking sloe berries, collected from the blackthorn, in an anise-flavored spirit (anisette) with a small number of coffee beans and a vanilla pod for several months. It results in a light reddish-brown sweet liquid, around 25-30% alcohol by volume. It is served cold or on ice as a digestif."

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