German Jaunting


Cassidy and I took a weekend excursion to Germany. We took the train to Cologne on Saturday morning and spent the afternoon and evening exploring the city. (Cologne is where the original "eau de Cologne" is from.) We climbed 509 steps to reach the top of the Dom (Cathedral) and got to see the giant bells up close and a great view of the Rhine river and the city. I can tell I've seen a lot of great and beautiful churches, because now it's kind of like "oh. tall ceilings. stained glass. great." but I still try to be impressed! We went to an art museum and spent 2 hours trying to see everything we could. One exhibit was a collection of photographs of some of the most photographed people - JFK, Marilyn Monroe, Hitler, Muhammed Ali, Audrey Hepburn, etc.

We walked around the river and then went to dinner at a really cool place we found in a guidebook. There's a type of beer called Kolsch that's brewed only in Cologne, and the waiters have special trays to bring it around in. they keep track of how many they bring you by making tally marks on the coaster and then add it up at the end. I had german wurst for dinner... pretty good, actually. After dinner we headed to a place and listened to some live music that was supposed to be jazz but was really more blue-grassy. There were a lot of people out and about in the city, and it had a really cool atmosphere. We slept at a hostel and got up pretty early the next morning.

It's a great thing to wake up in a foreign city and realize that the day is yours, that you can do whatever you want, explore where you wish... so Cass and I had German pastries and starbucks coffee for breakfast, sitting on the edge of a fountain by the Dom, in the sun, listening to church bells ring. Then we wandered around until we felt we had seen what we wanted to see, and caught a train to Aachen.

Aachen was having a giant flea market on this particular day, so the city was abuzz with people. It rained, so we hid inside for awhile, but then the sun came out and we did some more wandering, checking out the flea market and the city - the Dom, which had some fabulous mosaics on the ceilings, the Stadhus (big gov't building), and a fountain with moveable figures. Because it was so busy, it was a great day to sit in the sun and watch people walk by...

I was slightly surprised to see a Starbucks in Cologne, but much more surprised to see one in Aachen... those people who think Starbucks is taking over the world may just be right...

All in all a good trip. Not a whole lot to see and do, which made it nice and relaxing...

Though now I'm currently in denial of the fact that the weekend is over and I have school tomorrow... the kids are getting ready for a music concert for their parents, which means rehearsals and more rehearsals, so it should be a busy week!

Pics will be up soon from Germany!