Visiting Germany’s most delicious museum with kids
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side·track (sīd´trăk): n. 1. A diversion from the main course. 2. A detour taken with children that you would never, ever take without them.
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Who:
Myself, my husband, and our daughters, Zoe  and Cora (2 and 1).

What:
The Chocolate Museum in Cologne, Germany which sits right on the scenic Rhine River. The museum has signs at each exhibit in both German and English, and covers topics ranging from cocoa harvesting, the history of chocolate making and current production of chocolate.

Why:
After a long drive and checking into our hotel, we were strolling along the Rhine and could not possibly miss this opportunity for the sake of our children…and maybe because my husband is a bit of a chocoholic.

The High Point:
The exhibits were very hands on for the kids, and many of the displayed items were low enough that my two year old could reach them. The huge machines working away at stirring and pouring the chocolate towards the end of the tour were fascinating to my kids, who were also very taken with the glass elevator that shuttles you to all 3 floors of the museum.

For my husband and I, the high point was the throngs of samples at the end of the tour and the intoxicating smell of chocolate throughout.

The Low Point:
While my husband and I were nearing a chocolate induced coma from volume of chocolate we ‘sampled’ my two year old caught a glimpse of a chocolate fountain behind a roped off area which she quickly made a dash for and ducked under the rope. Fortunately, I have some experience in a past life as a hurdler and managed to vault over the rope, and reached her tiny hand just before it scooped into the forbidden fountain.

The Kids’ Take:
They loved the hands-on exhibits and the samples. I think they would have enjoyed it more if they were a bit older, but they certainly were content and interested throughout. There were many school aged kids visiting the day we were there and they all seemed to enjoy the exhibits, particularly the section about advertising and chocolate.

The Bottom Line:
The chocolate here is really out of this world. I have never been much for chocolate and indulge more in other vices of mine, but declare myself a changed woman after this museum. I have never tasted chocolate so pure, so smooth, so delectable! The museum was reasonably priced – 15 euro for both my husband and I with the kids being free. If you can exercise some restraint in the overpriced gift shop at the end it can make for an inexpensive, interesting, and tasty family outing.

July 26th, 2010 | by Julie Breitigan 2 comments