So I can officially say that we have not had a bad day in Germany. It's an amazing place. But before I get to that I have to quickly cover our 2 night stay in Cologne.
We arrived, and after a siesta, started chatting with our roommates (all girls dorm, Woot!). We ended up getting lucky again and had some really awesome dorm mates that we spent our time here with. We decoded to run to the grocery store simce we have a kitchen again and grab stuff for baked potatoes. Why? Well, because we have been craving bakes potatoes since we saw a stand at Versailles...and we finally had the opportunity to make one. So we did, and it was awesome..and we met a pretty laid back guy inn the kitchen and all decided to go check out the big beer hall, Gaffel am Dom. The big beer here is Kolsch, and apparently to be called that it has to be brewed within a certain radius of the big Dom here, and this place was literally right outside of it. So we grabbed two of our roommates and all headed over there. A cool unique thing in cologne is that they serve the beer in these little 0.2 liter glasses, and they just keep bringing them until you say stop. And, of course Courtney loved these little glasses, so she pulled out the southern charm and somehow got our waiter to give her one for free (more souvenirs!). Anyways, we hung out there for a bit and then walked along the river and found another little place that we stopped in for one more little beer before making our way back to the hostle....but not without a quick stop at McDonalds for a 1 euro cheeseburger. I know, I know...I've eaten more McDonalds in Europe (twice) than I have in a few years..but, when I Europe....
We had one day to tour around, and there isn't much to cologne other than really great gothic and Romanesque architecture and then a couple museums...and as 5 girls...we decided on the chocolate museum. It was AWESOME, and if you know me, you may know I'm not a huge chocolate fan, but I do have my moments, and this was one of them. I had to get a few things from the chocolate shop (after free samples...you neeeeeddd more).
After all that sugar we all decided we needed real food. So we walked on the water and found a great little place with lunch specials. The best way to try the local food is to go at lunch and find a lunch special that looks good. We ate at a place with an average meal being 15-20 euro, and all had amazing schnitzel mit pommes and salat..and a beer because it's cheaper than water...for 8 euros.
After lunch serious the Dom. This cathedral is the biggest one in Germany, the Mt. Everest of cathedrals. It was the highest structure in Europe until the Eiffel Tower was built. It's pretty much the heart and soul (and main tourist draw) of cologne. It was one of the only structures to avoid getting bombed in the war, and thank goodness it did. It has countless huge stained glass windows covering all sides, and the height of the ceilings makes you feel like a little ant running around inside. We just walked through and enjoyed it all for a good 20 minutes.
Other than that, there aren't too many "famous" structures or interestg sights (we also just kind of lazily walked around for the day as a big group of girls). So, we decided to walk down the big shopping row and check out all the stuff. It was all relatively inexpensive, and we all ended up getting something. I left a little early because my cough and cold or allergy or whatever it is has come back to bite me in the ass, and at this point was just ready for a nap.
We just finished our evening off with frozen pizza, and are all about to just hang out and pack up. Our train for Rotterdam leaves at 645, and it's a good 25 minute walk, so it will be an early night to bed. Everyone keep your fingers crossed I don't have pneumonia or something crazy.. I figure when I get home in 6 days I'll just go to the doctor and tell him I've been sick in Europe for 3 weeks.
Since this is a relatively short post, I want to share a quote I came to love recently. It's from a Mumford and Sons song entitled "Awake My Soul":
"in these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die; And the way you invest your love, you invest your life"
This line popped out at me as o was on a train on the way to Berlin, and I've listened to the song a few more times since then just to get a feel for it and figure out why I love the line so much. I think it describes basically what we are all trying to do with our lives. And throughout the stages of life you figure out what you love and enjoy and want from your time here, and invest yourself in it, hopefully to the fullest. If you love something, and want something, pit your whole self into it, and you'll get a lot more than you could ever imagine in return (at least thats my experience). Anyways, I'm off, I hope you enjoyed the quote as much as I did.
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