Christine in Koln, Germany

My one pet peeve--why, oh why, do we spell country and/or cities names different than the country does?  It makes zero sense to me.  It also makes it hard for me to initially figure out places.  Enough of my rant.

I visited Koln (Cologne), Germany for a very specific reason.  Not to climb to the top of the Dom.  I did try that though.  Based on my research, there are 509 steps to the top.   I probably climbed 400 of them.  Seriously.  At least.  I made one mistake that meant I did not make it to the top.  I stopped at the bell tower cause others were stopping.  Seemed like a good idea.  The bells are huge.  But then I could see through the windows to the ground.  It was just so high up there.  I should not have stopped.  I'm convinced I would have made it to the top then.  It didn't seem like it took a long time to walk the steps.  I think this is because the people in the front of me stopped occasionally to catch their breath.  This is generally not an activity I need to do.  But it made the trip seem shorter.  We must never have stopped by any windows for me to lookout of.  See the single window above the double windows?  Notice how high it is?  That's where the bell tower is.  The top is the above the 2nd single window.  Next time.  By the way, it took more than 600 years to complete the Dom.   It will probably take them 600 years to clean it as well.  They are in the process of doing so.  Also, no one walks down steps faster than me.  Just sayin'.  I haven't plowed anyone down.  Yet.  ha ha

My nemesis.  Sorry, I didn't check the picture up there to make sure it was good.  I was too busy trying to move along.  

View where I decided I needed to go back down.  

A better picture of how far up I went.  Still single window.

Steps in the tower up.  They remind me of steps up to the Pentagon I use to climb.  

I also visited the Museum Ludwig.  My favorite Picasso statue is Bust of a Woman.  I also enjoyed his paintings and pottery.  Their collection included some Andy Warhol paintings.  No pictures allowed though.  Interestingly, this does not stop people from actually taking pictures.  I don't get it.  But I observe the rules.

The real reason I visit Koln was to eat at Vendome.  This would be my first Michelin 3 star restaurant.  It also is in the world's 50 top restaurants, really the top 25, coming in at 23.  As you can guess, as soon as I found out such a list existed, I needed to eat at one of the restaurants.  http://www.theworlds50best.com/ 

I enjoyed my 2 1/2 hour meal.  That's the thing about rich people.  They get to eat longer than the rest of us.  But they also get smaller portions.  I still don't care for foie gras.  All fancy restaurants serve it to you.  Vendome had better than my other samplings.  The menu:

I will kindly translate the German.  The first course was scallops (though the menu says something else).  Then trout, venison, the not so good dessert, and the chocolate dessert.   Actually, I was served 4 desserts, 3 of them delicious chocolate ones.  I don't remember what the other one was.  It was good enough.  But not as wonderful as the other choices.  

Trout.  I'm not a fan of the foam on top.  But I enjoyed everything.

I would have liked more of this dessert.  I mean, you could fill up the whole cup.  

At Indiana University of Pennsylvania, one of my classes had a business etiquette dinner.  They did not show us what this utensil is for.  I wish they would have.  They always give me a fork and this spoon/knife with fish.  I'm not sure if I'm suppose to use it to help with the fish and eat off the fork, or use the fork to help with it and eat off of it.  That's all.

Christine