Köln (Day 3) - Römisch-Germanisches Museum, dim sum and Museum Ludwig

We woke up to another overcast day this morning. After breakfast at the hotel, we headed to the Römisch-Germanisches Museum, which is right next to Kölner Dom. Köln is the capital of the small province Germania Inferior in the Roman Empire, and we were told that RGM has an impressive collection of artifacts from the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, and the Roman times.

When we visited Bonn a few months ago, we got a Bonn WelcomeCard which entitled us free admission to most public museums in the city. The Köln WelcomeCard, which gives 20% discount to museum admissions, is not much of a deal for museum-goers.

We asked if there was a Familienkarte (family admission) at the RGM ticket counter, and the nice lady offered us a MuseumsCard for approximately 20€. The card is valid for free admission to several public museums for 2 days AND free rides on the local public transport system VRS on the day of issue for two adults and two children. This was exactly what we were looking for, and we purchased one without any hesitation.

We started from the bottom floor of RGM where the Dionysus mosaic (dated 220 AD) is featured. This mosaic was discovered when the Germans were building a bomb shelter nearby. This museum was eventually erected on the walls of the Roman villa at this site. We strolled around the museum for a couple of hours. Roman tombstones were aplenty, including the reconstructed four-storey-high tomb (40 AD) of Poblicius, an officer who decided to show off his fortune. RGM also features a lot of jewelries and potteries as they usually accompany tombstones. But I was particularly impressed by the collection of Roman glassware and glass vessels at this museum.


Glenda was craving for dim sums today. I am not sure why we always hunt for Asian food when we are away in a big city, but we found ourselves at Dim Sum near Neumarkt for lunch. The dim sums were good, on a par with those in the Bay Area or Hong Kong. There are very few Chinese speaking Cantonese in Germany, but the ones we encountered at the restaurant did.

We spent some time around the Neumarkt area. I walked into Foto Gregor, and I was in awe to see all the Leica limited edition cameras, new and used, there. It was a relatively warm day and we had eis at the Neumarkt Gallerie before walking to Museum Ludwig, adjacent to the Dom. Here is Jocelyn in front of the museum. Museum Ludwig features work from more recent art movements: cubism, surrealism...and other more modern avant-garde. It houses a huge collection of Picasso, and the famous Presence of Mind by Magritte. We also found a few pieces by August Macke whose studio we visited during our trip to Bonn several months ago.

We decided not to have another Asian meal for dinner. But there are a lot of restaurants in Altstadt (old town, where our apartment is), so we walked around and settled for Da Pino, an Italian restaurant in the courtyard behind our apartment. After two regular weißbier (and a lot of walking today), I was ready to crash.