Sunday 10 July 2022 - Köln/Cologne

 

We sailed overnight and arrived about 7 this morning. Cool and breezy again this morning and mostly cloudy. By cool in the mornings this week I mean 12 to 15 degrees C.

We, except for Celeste, took the walking tour this morning. The guide was very entertaining, but a brisk wind in some places made this the coldest tour yet. We managed to get inside the cathedral, the largest in Germany, during Sunday mass.

 One of Cologne’s claims to fame is its Kölsch beer culture. Our ship’s Program Director is from here. Yesterday Carla and Tyler asked him for his recommendations of places to try before our evening beer tour. In the afternoon we tried three of these Brauhauses, although Celeste again stayed back saving her energy for this evening’s guided tour and dinner.

The evening tour began with a 5-course dinner of traditional dishes, beginning with a cold plate of sausage, cheese, and potato salad, followed by a lettuce salad with a creamy dressing, then sauerbraten, then a small portion of pig’s knuckle, and finishing with bieramisu – a tiramisu-like concoction. Of course, this was all accompanied by non-stop beer. We were stuffed by the end, but we still had more stops to make to experience the local beer culture. After two more Brauhauses for beer and schnapps we made it back to the ship just in time for 10 PM cast off. Celeste persevered through it all.

 

A word about the beer culture: The word Kölsch means from Köln. By law you can only call your beer Kölsch if it is brewed in Köln. Brew the same beer anywhere else and you may call it Kölsch-style. Apparently, no one has told this to anyone brewing it in North America. It is brewed by a unique process. There is no CO2 added – all the effervescence occurs naturally in the beer. It is poured by gravity from small kegs into 200 ml glasses. Each glass has a good-sized head to contain the CO2. The idea is to serve in small glasses so that you finish your beer while it is still cold and not flat. The waiters wander around with freshly poured glasses in a special tray. As soon as they notice someone with less than half a glass remaining, they deliver another glass without your asking. If you are ready to quit, you must signal “No more” by putting your coaster over your glass. It is a light mild-tasting beer. Drinking it from a bottle or can cannot reproduce the unique process of pouring by gravity into the special small glasses and replenishing frequently.