As millions of posts on millions of websites have already mentioned before me, the Cologne Cathedral is not only the preeminent landmark of Cologne, but also a guaranteed guide or indicator for the tourist whenever he gets lost in town. And if that doesn't do the trick, Cologne has an even bigger signpost (that would be the Rhein River) for GPS challenged visitors. Piece of jackass cake, right?

The Dom, officially St. Peter, is the most visited site in all of Germany. This became a little tricky with Corona playing havoc with Cologne, but with the Germans maintaining (and politely insisting on) social distancing, we were lucky to see the cathedral in its full glory. 

Curiously enough, work on the cathedral started in the 13th century and was not completed until 1880. Supposedly, the cathedral was to become the final resting place for the remains of the Three Wise Men after they had been brought to the region from Milan, when the Italian city was conquered in the 12th century. Nothing short of a fortress would be suitable for the task, although the construction of the cathedral was halted for three centuries when money was scarce and interest in Gothic architecture low.

During WWII, Cologne was devastated by British air raids, beginning in 1942. Here, 1,000 aircraft teamed up to destroy more than 13,000 buildings, for the most part civilian homes. The cathedral took a few hits, but still stood tall when all was said and bombed, a testimony to the skill that went into its elaborate construction. Outside of the cathedral, there are plenty of old black and white photographs to remind tourists just what had happened here in Cologne and how the war had scarred the city. One of Cologne's most famous sons, Nobel laureate Heinrich Böll (one of my favorites), writes about it extensively in his novels. 

From the Cathedral, we use the Hohenzollernbrücke, Cologne's largest bridge, to cross the Rhein. Predictably, the bridge is gigantic, not only serving pedestrian and bike traffic but more than 1,000 trains per day. There are also an estimated 500,000 love padlocks attached to the bridge. That's a lot of metal, and I almost wonder what that would do to the stability of such a big bridge. Anyway, when you reach the other side, this is where the smartphones come out and you can make the best shots of the city.

An absolute must for kids would be the Lindt Chocolate Factory. From the Hohenzollernbrücke, we double back south until we cross the Deutzer Brücke. When we reach the Chocolate Factory along the Rhein, the kids do jumping jacks with excitement. Predictably, it is all chocolate: chocolate rabbits, elephants, people, windmills, the Cologne Cathedral, no stone or chocolate bar goes unturned here. There is a miniature production site that shows the robotic creation of chocolate forms (with a little help from lowly human beings). 1,000 pounds of chocolate are produced daily, probably just enough to meet the demand for the city.

There are old chocolate vending machines, which were extremely popular in Germany before the war. There are posters of old advertisements that go back 100 years, including some I remember from the late 1970s. The pictures will change, the slogans will, but quality chocolate will still always sell in Germany, even if you pack it in toilet paper. Each German consumes 19 pounds of chocolate per year, trailing only their neighbors to the south in Austria and Switzerland. There's a chocolate fountain that has been closed due to COVID, much to the kids' chagrin. So, parents: include the Chocolate Factory in your tour of Cologne if you want to avoid whiny tweens or teenagers. 

Next to the factory is a giant Ferris Wheel, which is part of the admission to the Chocolate Factory. Here we go, the smartphones come out, click, click, and we have some more phenomenal pictures of Cologne along the Rhein. For dinner, we go to a restaurant in the Heumarkt (hay market) district, where you have dozens of good dining possibilities, most of them quite reasonably priced. GREAT day in Cologne. Liebi and I celebrate with a good bottle of the local beer, Kölsch. And I still need to remind myself that it took me more than three years to take my family here.