One attraction that I knew about in Cologne, aside from the Christmas markets, was the Chocolate museum. Coincidentally, the Harbour market is located adjacent to it and theres the ferris wheel
Right on the banks of the Rhine but just south of the HBF at the tip of a harbor.
You cross an old metal erector style bridge to access the entrance. Off to the side is a structure resembling an old sail ship. It wasnt open during my visit but its part of the seasonal market located at the harbor. When available, it sells alcohol and other beverages
Not sure if any other location in Cologne has a ferris wheel but at least theres one here
Purchased my ticket at the entrance to the souvenir/retail outlet for Lindt. Behind, theres a chocolate cafe
Theres a number of Lindt locations throughout Germany. I remember seeing one in Hamburg. I didnt check in Berlin but Im sure theres one. Without any experience at the other locations, I thought this probably had the most varied and largest selection of chocolates
Upon entry into the museum, you are offered a sample of Lindt's chocolate balls. Today was orange flavored and Im guessing the flavor changes on a regular basis. There are several places where visitors can get samples of chocolate
The museum describes the process of chocolate from growth of bean to packaging and retail sale. There was a small greenhouse that simulates the conditions needed for the cacao tree to grow the pods that contain the beans
Informative description of some of the ingredients that go into making milk chocolate
If you wondered about the ratio of components that make up different kinds of chocolate that Lindt manufactures
The heart of museum goes into elaborating on the process of taking the raw materials, making it into a number of chocolate items, and packaging. A small scale process is demonstrated
On the same glass enclosed floor, a statue of St Nikolaus looks over the river
The process begins with the roasting of the beans after harvesting to extraction of the liquor
When ready, the liquid chocolate is pumped into molds for cooling
Once cooled, the forms are given a twist to help loosen them for demolding. The trays are flipped and the pieces move on to getting wrapped. At this point, you can get a piece of the dark chocolate that was just freed from the tray. From there, employees package the wrapped morsels
At the end of the prsentation is a fountain of milk chocolate. An employee will offer a wafer dipped into the fountain for you to sample
On the floor above was a demonstration of how some of the multi colored and hollow chocolates are made. The different chocolates are painted into the molds before the remining chocolate is filled and the mold closed up
A flowing supply of milk and white chocolate
An owl with dark eyes and beak with white face and breast and milk body
More elaborate things they can do with their product
The molds are placed in a "spinner" that distributes the chocolate around the mold and creating the hollow pocket
The size of the molds differ from large single shapes to multipiece smaller items
A very large mold that takes up to 23kilo to fill. This is a solid mold unlike the plastic hollow molds shown before.
A view to the outside huts of the Harbor Christmas market to open in a few days
Their trademark bunny chocolate for Easter
The upper floor documents some of the products that are part of their history
Finally, one last sample of 4 pieces as you exit the exhibits.
