Cologne: updated impression (sort of)

Walking around Cologne yesterday, I saw more than the area around the Dom and railway station. Much like Aachen and Bonn, there are winding streets packed with shops - and tourists. Cafes everywhere, with people of all ages drinking coffee, eating mountainous sundaes, or digging into the incredible array of cakes. It's very, very hard to stick to a lactose-free, low gluten diet here! In fact, it's impossible unless you want to live on meat or fish and potatoes. Not really an option for us (though I lapsed at least twice).
Temptations aside, we enjoyed our non-travelling day. I thought I'd check out the art museum we'd passed the first night. I was awe struck. Not only is the collection well laid out and curated, the paintings are the best I've seen so far! That means better than several (lost count) galleries in Berlin and Dresden.
I went first to the top floor and worked my way down. I could have spent a few hours reading the wall texts on that floor alone. There were 19th-century paintings in the Realist and Romantic styles - mostly about nature. The commentary on these impressed me very much. Could have come from an art history/environmental studies tome.
Included in this floor were one Munch ("Melancholy"), two Van Goghs, Cezannes, and many by superb artists I had never heard of before (noted with pleasure, for sure).
The second floor was Baroque - of which I thought I'd had my fill in Dresden. Well, the Cologne art historians knew their Baroque as much as their 19th-century works - and then some. Stunning.
The first floor (in Europe, one floor up from Ground Floor) contained Medieval work. Again - I thought I'd had my fill elsewhere, but the jaw hit the floor more than a few times! How I wish I could have photographed a panel or two. My attempts in the minimal light were all too shaky. (Using a flash seemed wrong.)
I took a quick look at the temporary exhibit in the basement - prints - then dashed out to meet Eddie. Later on, I re-entered on my ticket and spent a solid 30 minutes on another excellently curated display. I love prints and drawings, but I really should bring a magnifying glass to the next show!

The rest of the day, dodged some rain a few times, enjoyed the sun when it shone, and walked a lot. The Dom looked especially dramatic after the sun broke through the rain clouds.

Bought a few some gifts, nibbled, walked, rested for two hours at the second (noisier but fancier) hotel, nibbled, walked, came back and tried to sleep as the sounds of trains passing nearby and drunks hollering punctuated the almost all-night traffic din. Needless to say, I did not sleep well.