On September 4, Cologne residents were able to go into any municipal museum for free. As official Cologne residents, we were eligible! After language school class, we did museum day right - we headed out and hit four landmark museums.
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| Museum Ludwig hosts modern and contemporary art |
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| ...including Picasso! |
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| It's got some prime real estate right next to the cathedral |
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| Next up was the Roman-German museum. Cologne was founded by the Romans, and a ton of artifacts have been discovered here, including this splendid Dionysos Mosaic. It used to be the floor of a banqueting hall of a large house. Once it was found in this spot in 1941 as an air-raid shelter was being built, the entire museum was built around it |
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| The mosaic is right by the window, so people are always stopping by to take a look |
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| Lots of Roman artifacts |
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| Another mosaic, this one found in 1844 |
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| It depicts 7 wise men (Greek philosophers, statesmen, and poets) |
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| Roman sarcophagi were enormous. And this one was just for a commoner |
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| A 2-story tall funeral monument for a Roman soldier, erected in 40 AD |
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| Next museum: The Praetorium, which was the palace of the Roman governor in Lower Germania. The palace was built in the 1st and 2nd centuries, and additions were made in the 4th century. It was discovered when rebuilding Cologne's historic city hall after World War II |
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| Last on our busy agenda was the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, which was home to a dazzling amount of great art, including this Monet piece |
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| A work from Edvard Munch, the painter who did 'Scream' |
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| Any day that finishes with seeing the cathedral at sunset is a good day |
The next day, a plaza in the city played host to a big beer fest, where we could try beers from all over Germany, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Singapore, and more. We were obligated to go!
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| Dark beer from Bavaria |
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| Cherry beer from Belgium. You won't find funky flavors of German beer, since German beers have been brewed for centuries in accordance with Reinheitsgebot, which is a sort of purity law that sets out how beer must be brewed in the country |