The next morning was interesting, to say the least. We had our window open and there was some kind of noise outside that woke me up. It was around 7:00, so it was an early start for us. Jeff used the bathroom first while I started packing up my luggage. We would be checking out of our hotel this morning. The guy at the hotel desk said we would be able to leave our luggage with him in the lobby while we spent the day in Cologne today. We were scheduled to take a train to Frankfurt later this afternoon.
Jeff finished up his initial trip to the bathroom so I took my turn. When I went in, I noticed the toilet appeared to not have flushed properly, so I gave it another try. Something was wrong! The water wasn't going down and I started hearing a gurgling noise somewhere. Oh, no! It was backing up into the bathtub! Ahhhhhhhhh! And I was planning to use that tub to take a shower, too! Scratch that idea! In case you're reading this while eating, I'll spare you the details of what came up into the bathtub, if you get my drift!
Since we were checking out this morning, I didn't bother contacting the hotel staff. I would tell them when we check out. I decided to wash my hair in the sink. I did a quick wash job, since I thought I heard noises coming from the sink drain, too! Jeff was smart, he used the shower in the Carney's room next door.
When I was ready to go, I lugged my suitcase down the steps and into the lobby. I went to have breakfast and met up with Harald. Harald said we had some time to wander around town on our own before we needed to go to the Dom Kölsch Brewery (formally Küppers Brewery) for a tour of their famous brewery museum of 19th century brewing equipment.
Jeff was still packing, so Marty and I decided to head out to do some shopping. Today was Friday and I hadn't done any shopping the entire trip. I promised the kids I would bring home some presents and I was feeling a little stressed about the situation.
So we took a walk down Hohe street, which was a pedestrian mall with a lot of stores. It was still a little early and most of the stores weren't open, yet. We walked down a few blocks to a large department store we were told about.
I went to the toy section of the store looking for a toy dragon for my son. I looked all over, but I didn't see anything I could get him. Marty was browsing around waiting for me. When I went back to where he was, I noticed he was staring with a child's fascination at a giant display of an Erector set toy built in the shape of a tower with airplanes hanging from both ends. I wanted to take a picture of him with that priceless look on his face, but I figured the store security people wouldn't care for that. There was another display of the same toy built in the shape of a large Ferris wheel. Marty studied that as well.
We wandered around the store for a while. I looked in the music section for the Ketchup Song, but didn't have any luck.
It was getting close to the time we had to meet Harald in front of the Dom, so we left the store and headed back. Just before we reached the Dom, I ducked into a gift shop and bought a small cuckoo clock for my wife. Still didn't have anything for the kids, though. That was starting to bother me. I just couldn't go home empty handed!
We made it back to the Dom. On our way past it, I almost walked across a sidewalk art painting of Goethe.
We found Harald, but of course, we were short a few people. Harald told us the Dom Brewery was farther away than he though and we had to take the subway. While we were shopping, Harald took a ride there to see how far away it was. He said it took a while and we had to catch the next train if we were going to be on time for our tour. While we were waiting for Jeff and the Carneys to arrive, Harald told Marty and I to buy our train tickets. There was a ticket machine at the bottom of the stairs at the entrance to the subway. Harald needed to keep an eye out for the others, so he told us what we need to buy. I tried to figure out how to use the machine, but I wasn't at my best, so I had to go back up to ask Harald some questions. Finally, I figured it out and bought my tickets. When the others arrived, we helped them buy their tickets and made a dash for the train.
We all got on the subway train and headed toward the museum. An interesting note about the subway was the fact that there was no turnstiles to go through to board the train. Once on the train, we had to put our tickets into a box that stamped a time onto the ticket. Harald explained the ticket needed to be stamped in order to ride train. Nobody checked our tickets, but Harald said they do that sometimes.
We made it to the brewery on time. Actually, we made it to the Dom Brauhaus, where the museum was. The Dom Brewery was across the street. We only had time for the museum tour, so unfortunately, we would not be touring the brewery itself.
The Dom Brewery
We were introduced to our tour guide and were led through the bar and into another room. The tour was in English and the tour guide led us down an old iron spiral staircase. When we got to the bottom, we were fascinated by all of the old brewing equipment. The guide led us to the far end of the cellar and started the tour there.
The Dom Brauhaus
The first thing he showed us was a statue of King Gambrinus who was known as the King of Beer.
Then he show us the equipment and explained the brewing process. He showed us a brew kettle and explained the wort was heated to 90 degrees Celsius. Oh no, they didn't boil the wort, either! Well, once again, we were hearing this from a tour guide, not a brewer, so we took it with a grain of salt. However, it might be possible that due to the nature of this old equipment, it might not have been possible to heat the wort hot enough to reach a boil. Who knows!
The brewing equipment was all hooked up with old pipes, wires and rigging. It looks like it was setup for actual brewing. However, the guide explained how a previous owner of the brewer was a collector and scavenged old breweries to add to his collection. The guide said it was alright to take pictures, so I photographed almost everything in the place. I don't think they would appreciate me posting everything on this page, so I'll keep the pictures to a minimum here.
After we were finished touring the equipment in the basement, we went to another room upstairs that contained a ton of old advertising posters and buttons. Some were painted on tin and some were on paper. It was an amazing collection! We were simply overwhelmed by it all.
Included in the price of the tour was a couple rounds of kölsch and a snack in the adjoining pub. It was early Friday afternoon and the pub was empty. We enjoyed our brief stay, but soon headed off to catch the train back.
A delicious snack!
When we made it back to the station at the Dom, we realized we had some time to kill before we needed to get out luggage and catch the train. So, to kill some time, you guessed it, we went to another pub! We stopped in the Alt Koln, which was located across the street from the Dom. It was an incredibly decorated pub with two floors of dining. There was a spiral staircase leading to the second level, which was open to see from the first level.
We only had time for a couple of rounds before we had to hurry on. The beer they served was Gilden Kölsch. I don't remember if we had Gilden Kölsch before or not. It was consistent with the taste of all the other kölsch we had in Cologne.
Then it was back to the hotel to get our luggage, which we had left sitting in a corner of the lobby.
We all pile out of our hotel with our luggage. Wait, let's get a picture! Ok, great! Let's go!
Next, Frankfurt!
