A Day at Schokoladen Museum Lindt (Chocolate Museum)

I have been in Cologne, Germany for a week, for a gaming event that I am attending for work. Normally, these events take a lot out of me. Even this year, Gamescom has taken a lot out of me, however, I went with my brother. Going to Gamescom with my brother meant shorter days at the venue, as his feet hurt and I didn’t want to overwork him. In a lot of ways, this was amazing for me, even if my legs are still sore and my feet hurt after medium sized days walking across a maze of a show floor. Going with my brother also meant site seeing, like going to the Lindt Chocolate Museum with him and Dann.

Inside the Chocolate Museum

The Chocolate Museum is what you’d expect – a huge museum and factory of chocolate goods that are produced by Lindt. When entering the Chocolate Museum, you are shown a lot of information on the process of creating chocolate from cocoa beans. Countries that export these goods, how they are harvested and information about the plants themselves are dotted around, to give you a better understanding of chocolate. There are a few interactive screens and devices dotted around – one that you can roll a wheel to watch a cocoa tree grow, another where you must push on a metal hand in hopes of understanding how hard they compact the chocolate.

Once you are done with those, you can walk out into a small garden, which contains a cocoa tree and various other plants. This room is very warm! There is an option to go to an area above the garden, if you are on the next floor. As you continue around, you’ll find metal chocolate molds everywhere you look. There really is a lot to see in the Chocolate Museum as chocolate has been around for ages and made into many shapes.

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4 Things to do in Cologne, Germany

Gamescom is located in Cologne, Germany. But games are not the only thing I like to do with my time. This year, I dragged my brother with me to Gamescom and actually spent some time checking out this part of Germany. In previous years, you could find me at the event hall from morning till dusk, but this year having my brother meant we needed to explore. With Dann in tow, we booked a day of adventure.

Street market along the Rhine river

Whenever possible, we traveled along the Rhine river. The Rhine is a pretty big river going through Cologne, Germany, providing for a pretty thing to look at with some beautiful bridges in the distance. On Saturday, loads of market stalls had set up along the river, selling antiques, paintings, furniture and more. We took our time looking at the various bits and bobs each stand had. My brother was mainly interested in the old clown items, for whatever reason. These stalls had such a variety of items from glass statues to jewelry to strange clown statues. Along the river, you could see boats and cruise ships making their way down the tide. It was a pretty warm day, so walking around the stalls by the water was very welcome.

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A Day at Ashlyn’s Farm and Soft Play

Summer holiday means lots of days in the sun to fill with fun activities! With one tiny three year old and two taller seven and nine year olds, finding activities for everyone to enjoy can be a bit of a challenge. We tend to end up doing the same old, same old – but have been making an effort to try new places. After some googling, Ashlyn’s Farm and Softplay came up. At this farm, there is really just so much for everyone to do.

Ashlyn’s Farm is almost like a small area of shops on the outside; a restaurant, butchers, and small store all packed into one, another building which sells locally made wine, and a third where you can get your hair or nails done, or get a massage. Once you’ve walked through this buildings, you’ll find the Farm and Soft Play area a bit behind it. The Soft Play and Farm Trail are very reasonably priced, especially as you can easily loose an entire day here. We opted to first see all of the outdoor stuff. The farm trail has tons of animals you can see and feed (for 50p per bag of feed). Goats were a favorite while we visited, but there were also pigs, chickens, sheep, llamas, alpacas, pygmy horses,  and donkeys dotted around. A big reptile and bird building also stands close to the entry, allowing you to take a look at owls, various birds, tiny marmosets, skunks, and a variety of reptiles.

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A Day Out at the Science Museum

My younger brother is visiting me from small town New York! This is quite the excited adventure, as I didn’t really think my family would really start flying across the world to visit me. He just graduated High School, so for his gap year, he has decided to do some traveling and generally taking things slow. This means that he is attending gaming events with me and exploring the city. He’s super interested in Russian history, space, and seeing the amazing museums around London. If you didn’t know, most of London’s museums are actually free, with small paid exhibitions that swap out, making it a very affordable day out in the city. We selected the Science Museum for his first weekend out.

My brother can’t seem to stand still for very long!

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