I wandered through the local supermarket a few days ago. Firstly, I was astonished by its size – easily four times the size of our Supermarché. Secondly, it was astonishing to see the abundance of items that we pay a fortune for at the Australia Store in London. The rows of cordial (grenadine in all the flavours of the rainbow), Milo (malted powder that never properly dissolves in cold milk), Weet-Bix (vastly superior to Weetabix breakfast bricks), and the wide array of TimTam chocolate biscuits.

I bought Hayden a small jar of “my first Vegemite” to try on his first birthday. Though Adrian says that the reduced salt will detract from the true Australian experience.

There are some downsides to shopping in Australia, though. This is the extent of the foreign beer selection:

And if one takes a close look at a bottle of Stella:

It’s made by Fosters.

When we met up with our friends on Friday they surprised us with a stylish bag full of treats. As well as some rare snacks for us and the kittens, they supplied us with everything required for a traditional Australian breakfast. Now we can have vegemite on crumpets accompanied with a lovely cup of Earl Grey tea, sitting snugly in a hand-knitted tea cozy. Thank-you Luke and Shyla for thinking of us.

On Saturday we took a day trip to Köln in Germany. A day trip. Without even leaving the ground. Transnational rail trips still astound me. I had booked the tickets many months ago in order to snag the cheap fares – 30 euro each for a return trip to Köln. The best part was using my Thalys ticketless card – as if international rail was so common for me that I never bothered with the paper tickets.

I had a delicious long nap on the hours long ride, broken by Adrian repeatedly waking me up to show me beautiful and interesting vistas from the window. Once in Köln I begged Adrian to take me to the Chocolate Museum. We trekked through the city to arrive at our destination, when Adrian realised that he had instead taken us to the Memorial Gestapo and Torture Museum. So instead of a fun-filled journey through the history of cocoa, we walked minuscule prison cells that had held 20-30 people at a time. We could still see the hundreds of inscriptions on the walls, and I listened to the translations – prisoners writing of their loved ones, their torture, and their imminent execution. The floors above were an archive of the history of the Nazi movement. It is good to see how much Germany has come to terms with its past atrocities. Perhaps one day the USA will have a Abu Ghraib memorial.

We then strolled through the pedestrian mall of Köln, picking up a beautiful Orthoceras cephalopod fossil from Morocco. Wikipedia tells me these fossils may represent post-mating mass deaths. It is now sitting on our bookshelf at home, a beautiful remnant of a now extinct species. The Lego store was also lots of fun – one side laid out like a lolly shop, with Perspex bulbs filled with eclectic Lego pieces. Some of the models looked like so much fun – I loved the European city scenes with canals and corner stores.

Finally, finally, the chocolate museum. There was a small theatre playing ads for chocolate from 1926. Alas, the parents had a thin child who refused to eat. They tried beating her but she was still stubborn and thin. What to do? Stollwerck hot chocolate happily transformed their daughter into a plump strong creature, and the father no longer had to beat his child. Stollwerck chocolate – muscle fortifier.

This building combined two of my favourite things – chocolates and robots. And such dedicated robots too, diligently producing and packaging delectable Lindt squares and truffles. I was even able to sample a truffle while watching fresh ones come into creation on the conveyor belt, made with micron precision and electronic diligence. Robots make the best chocolate.