Morning walk to MacRitchie Reservoir

 Singapore - This morning we walked all the way to MacRitchie Reservoir.    It was quite a distance but worth the long walk.

Edmund and me at MacRitchie

MacRitchie Reservoir is Singapore's oldest reservoir.  We walked past Bosch office and was surprise to find out that they have been in Singapore for 100 years since 1923.

Leaving Cologne

Cologne - After 6 days in Cologne, I am going home.   Back to the way, I came and took the high speed train at 9.25am.  But you will always have to trust the overhead notice as the train tracks can change last minute and that happened to me.   I was waiting on track 4 and my arriving train in arriving on time but there is a train sitting on track 4.   I looked up and my departing train is now on track 5.

on my train - Cologne cathedral

arrived Frankfurt on time in 1hr.

smoking room

hydration drinks

Dinner @ Freddy Schilling burgers

 Cologne - Just a short walk to this popular German burger restaurant - Freddy Schilling - wow! had to wait for 20 min for my food to be served as the restaurant was crowded.   But it was worth the wait - very delicious and juicy.

Freddy's favourite

The burgers does not come cheap at 8.90euros.  This hamburger - Lettuce, tomato, fresh cucumber, caramelised red onion, & homemade ketchup on our classic bun.

Kolsch beer in bottle

this is a Kolsch beer from Gaffel.  There is so much gas built up when I took a sip and put it down, the foam flows out.

coleslaw

Eigelstein Gate Tower

Cologne - The Eigelstein gate tower dates back to the 12th century land is one of three medieval gates that remain from Cologne’s fortifications. It was the north-western tower of the Roman fortifications. This was during the time Cologne was surrounded by walls. 

In 1873, the gate was owned by the City of Cologne but has been in private ownership since 1983.

Eigelstein Gate Tower

Pretty impressive medieval gate that is still standing in this city.

St. Mariae Himmelfahrt (Cologne)

Cologne - I was walking back to my hotel and came across this beautiful church and the door was closed so i opened it.   It was beautiful and called St Mariae Himmelfahrt.

alter in the front of the pews

a very gothic architecture

Entrance of the church

I have to cross the street to take this picture as the church is too high and majestic.

NS documentation centre of the city of cologne

Cologne - This is a museum of the dark past of Germany - the Nazi regime.  This museum is Cologne’s National Socialism Documentation Center was founded by a resolution passed by the Cologne city council 1979 and has become the largest regional memorial site in all of Germany for the victims of the Nazis.

signboard to this Nazi museum

Entrance to this NS documentation centre

Grim reality of the Nazi documentation centre

The walls and floors are kept this way to make it look grim and a stark reality of how cruel the Gestapo were.   Cologne residents were documented, interrogated, tortured and murdered in this same building.

Photos of the protest

Map of cologne during the beginning of Nazi regime

Nazi symbol in churches

Religion and christianity are frown upon, and if christians do have to worship in churches, symbols of Nazi need to be alongside symbols of christianity.   Nazi indoctrinate the Aryan race as the most superior, and murder millions of other races like Jews.  Nazi put to death homosexuals, disabled and other non-pure elements of the Aryan race.

One of the small dark cells underground the building

In Germany, the Nazis promoted this false notion that glorified the German people as members of the "Aryan race," while denigrating Jews, Black people, and Gypsies as “non-Aryans.” 

Execution courtyard

There are all mirrors surrounding this courtyard, you can feel a sense of eerie-ness in the atmosphere in this place which I don't usually feel.   Further walking down the dark chamber gives you a creepy feeling and I quickly walked out.

One more underground to prison cells

Humans must live in peace and the cruelty of humanity must never be forgotten nor repeated. 

Basilica of St. Cunibert, Cologne

Cologne - I started an early walk to the old town and found this church.  The Basilica of St. Cunibert is the last of Cologne's twelve Romanesque churches to be built. It was consecrated 1247, one year before work on the Gothic Cologne Cathedral began. It was declared a minor basilica in 1998 by the then Pope John Paul II.

Entrance to the church

So beautiful and grandeur

the piped organ

pews leading up to the altar

the door was so thick and heavy

a beautiful church

Tünnes and Schäl

 Cologne - this funny character of Tunnes and Schal are the bronze monument stands opposite the Romanesque church Groß St. Martin. The thick nose of Tünnes is already rubbed very shiny, because it should bring luck to rub over it. Tünnes and Schäl belong to the city of Cologne as the carnival and the Kölsch beer.

Peter Brauhaus Cologne

Cologne - I googled this restaurant - Peter Brahaus and had a good rating of 4.2 and near my hotel.   I walked for dinner along the esplanade and the weather was nice and cool.

Peter Brahaus

It has beautiful interior decor and many patrons are already having their dinner and it's about 7:30pm.  I ordered the schnitzel pork.

salad

The salad came first as part of the schnitzel set.

Pork schnitzel

Schnitzel are thinly sliced ​​pieces of boneless meat that are usually additionally pounded flat with a meat mallet (flat iron) or pressed flat with a meat roller, which makes the meat more tender by breaking up the muscle fibers.  

The pork schnitzel breaded crust tasted crispy but the pork was not so tender.

Peter kolsch

Yummy and light and easy on the taste.

Sauerkraut soup

This soup was highly recommended so I ordered and to my surprise I liked it.  Tasted sour because of the sauerkraut and very delicious.  

Cologne Chocolate museum

Cologne -  This chocolate museum was a nice walking distance from the Wallraf Richartz Museum.  

The Schokoladenmuseum

entrance to the chocolate factory

There were many tourist in this chocolate factory, so I paid 14.50euros for the entrance and walked up to the 2nd floor to start the museum walk.  At the start of the museum walk, the front desk man will check your ticket and there was a bowl of chocolates - which he pointed go ahead but this German tourist lady gave me a stare when I took 2.   I am not sure why German women are so curt, rude and unfriendly.

a short history of this museum

Then you enter the exhibition of the rain forest where cacao are grown.  It was very humid and warm - like Singapore.

miniture rainforest

Then the cacao making process with the machinery.

mixing process

At the end there is a chocolate fountain and they will serve you one wafer dipped in the chocolate fountain.

Guarding the chocolate fountain

There is a timing when he give out the chocolate wafer.

chocolate fountain

The next exhibit is where you can purchase your own customised chocolates - made ready for you.

putting on the labels for the chocolates

weighting the ingredients for the process

the museum walking tour continues to this old cans used to store chocolates

after this is the souvenir shop where you can buy mostly Lindt chocolates

It is a good exhibition and very engaging, unfortunately the queue for the chocolates were too long.  I did not bother as there were many kids lining up.