I had heard of the Cologne chocolate museum quite a while before I arrived here, and I was very excited to visit it. I hoped it would be like the time I visited the Zotter chocolate factory, when everyone on the tour left absolutely stuffed with chocolate. On Saturday, our Station hostel group of Fulbrighters headed on over. We were given a piece of milk chocolate as we went in.
The first part of the museum dealt with the growth, economics, and history of chocolate. At least for my limited abilities, it didn't lend itself to being photographed. There was a greenhouse that I liked, but the rest of it wasn't very interesting to me. I was already familiar with most of the information, and it was so busy that I couldn't stand in front of the displays comfortably. I did get to try a roasted coffee bean. It was an intense experience, more like coffee grounds than sweetened chocolate, but pleasant at the same time.
And then...we went into my favorite room of the museum. It began with some beautiful chocolate molds. This was my favorite.
The whole process of preparing and packaging chocolate was shown in this room...in reality, making the chocolate we had been given as we went in! I took some video of the different steps of the process, which I may post later.
And at the end of the room, there was this beautiful chocolate fountain, from which we were given samples.
Upstairs, there was finished chocolate in fantastic shapes.
There were also more molds. This goat reminds me of an animal from a coat of arms.
Another interesting part of this room was the opportunity to make your own chocolate bar. There were cards with lists of things that could be added to dark, milk, or white chocolate. I was tempted to do it, but at 5 Euros for a bar, I didn't think it was worth it.
This one's for my mom, whose collection of chocolate whips is more impressive than the museum's!
I love Lindt truffles, so I was a big fan of this giant model.
In the store at the end, there was an absolutely incredible array of chocolates. I thought the cherry brandy truffles with the image of the Dom were the more visually impressive.
And that was my tour! It was less gluttonous than I had hoped, but still a lot of fun.
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