This post is a continuation from Gamescom 2011: Friday and the thief

The Chocolate Museum

The Chocolate Museum

Let no one say conventions are not exhausting.  Not only is there hours of standing, sitting, waiting and walking to do but there’s also the evening parties.  Friday night saw the beginning of the Gamescom Festival, where the streets of Cologne were blocked off with live musical entertainment and gaming demonstrations in the city for everyone to enjoy.  Sounds great!  Except our hotel was next to said location and little sleep was had.  Ooops.

Since Saturdays at conventions are always horribly crowded we had already opted to have a lazy morning and explore the cultural delights of our host city in the afternoon.

Mmm chocolate...

First stop was the chocolate museum on the west bank of the Rhein.  Inside was a history of chocolate, games on the economics of chocolate buying and selling as well as advertising through the ages. The highlight for me though was the room containing the various machinery used to make the chocolate.  Watching moulds being filled, cooled, emptied, wrapped and boxed is strangely hypnotic.  But then I’m a sucker for museums at the best of times.

After having a sit down and a drink at a local pub we wandered up the river towards the cathedral, an imposing gothic building a little north of us.  Luckily the weather was beautifully warm with a nice breeze and the riverside was filled with people enjoying the sunshine.  Snapping a quick picture of “Viking River Cruises” in honour of our Swedish guild mates who couldn’t make it on this meetup we headed inland up a well groomed and busy area… and spotted the following on the base of a statue:

Classic

Yes we’re an immature bunch.  But this was an obscure sight against the throng of families around the area.  Huzzah for German liberties.

Stained glass in Cologne cathedral

The cathedral itself is beautiful.  Its undergoing some renovation at the moment but is covered in gargoyles and grotesques on the outside and some of the most unique examples of stained glass on the inside, including this modern offering on the left. The publically open crypt is a little on the small side but this cathedral has an open, relaxed and friendly feel.  I highly recommend a visit to this cathedral if you get the opportunity – I enjoyed it more than I did St Paul’s in London even without ascending its towers to view the surrounding area.  There’s also some archaeological work going on inside the cathedral which was of additional interest.

Before leaving the cathedral area, we went looking for a brewhouse that was marked as a must see in one of the tourist guides we had.  It took us a while to find it and when we did the place was heaving.  We opted for the ice cream parlour instead which oddly served spaghetti ice cream with fruit.  I’m told it was lovely but opted for something doused in coffee and liqueur instead.

That evening we met up with some more friends, this time it was the guild leader and her boyfriend of an allied guild.  Mystic Spiral has been allied with The Legendary Survivors for over 4 years now but we’ve never had the opportunity to meet any of their number. Katya and Zerk are from Slovenia and had been offered a deal they couldn’t refuse from ESL Slovenia.  The 10 of us slipped through Cologne’s backroads to find a suitable restaurant that we could chat at and found a nice Italian place off the beaten track.  It was a delight to spend the evening with the both of them, the food was great (if a little more expensive than other nights) and the conversation better.  After dinner some of the group went back to the hotel while the rest of us went out for cocktails.  If you ever find yourself in All Bar One in Freisenplatz, order the Zombie cocktail.

L to R: Molly, Jareth, Somnium, Tasha, Master_Chill, TeamFuzzock, Sevenforce

Ps: Thanks to Zeflakey for use of her pictures!