Day 4

Day 4
Today we went to Koln. Cliff wanted to go here for Koln Cathedral. I tagged along because A: I’m in Germany, B: it’s a church and C: it’s Koln. Yes, I’m spelling it right :-) Germans spell it Koln, um I can’t figure out how to put the umlauts on the “o” but they spell it Koln, not Cologne. So we get off the DB (train) and walk out of the station. Right outside the station is the Koln Cathedral. Yeah, it’s a pretty freaking big cathedral. It’s this huge monstrosity of a church and totally Gothic. We walked and got pictures, and of course Cliff had to have me stand next to a door so he could get a scale picture. Go figure. While we’re there, we see a few tourists and now we know *why* stereotypes are sometimes true. I’ll just say this: the Japanese love their cameras and taking pictures.
We went through the cathedral museum and looked at some of the treasures of the church. It’s very interesting. The older the artifacts, the more ornate and more just out there. Does the archbishop really need a sword that’s decorated in precious stones and metals? But as the church got less popular I guess, crusades became less profitable and exploring was lessening, the jewelry, clothing, and props became much less ornate. It was a most interesting progression. Also, they had the shrine to the magi. Even though I’m not Catholic, I felt that I needed to bend down and cross myself. Don’t ask me why. I just felt the need to do so. In another room in the museum, we saw a supposed nail from the cross and several bones from saints. Those were kind of cool.
Back to Koln Cathedral. My dad joked around that he was worried that Cliff and I would end up on Warsaw and he’d get an e-mail: “Daddy, how do you get from Warsaw to Berlin”. Nah, that didn’t happen. But, we did run into a biker rally in Koln. We’re coming around the cathedral trying to find the door to get in and there are hundreds of bikers. Cliff and I are thinking omg what’s going on. Everybody had warned us about the pick-pockets and we knew that these were the last people you wanted to pick-pocket, so we felt pretty safe. We finally found the door to go in so we went inside the church. It turns out that inside the church was a special mass to bless the bikers on their journey. They had gathered at the church for a charity event headed by the priest at the cathedral. They rode from the church to another place and it was all for charity. Want to talk about being somewhere at the right time? All these bikers in Koln Cathedral for a special mass blessing their trip. That was pretty neat. After mass, we walked around the church. The builders of the church knew what they were doing. You had to look to the ceiling and admire the view. The church was just freaking gorgeous. The ceilings are so high and just lovely. The sculptures, stained glass, organ, everything is so gothic in style and just wonderful.
After the church, we wandered around Koln for a while. We visited the outdoor mall. We both liked the concept of the outdoor mall. They even had a Lego store! YAY! I didn’t go in cause it was so crowded. But walking around, we found a couple of other churches. One of the churches we went in was a working church and pretty. The original stained glass windows from the 1400s were destroyed in WWII. So sad. Ate lunch at Hard Rock Café. That’s becoming a tradition with us. Eating lunch at HRC and getting a t-shirt and shot glass. Cliff gets the shirt, I get the shot glass. After that, we came home and just chilled the rest of the night. On that note, I’m going to bed. Cheers!
Me

Day 3

I’m sitting here in my apartment with the window open (it’s about 55 degrees and I’m *freezing*!) listening to the Rhein (yeah, I spelled it right) River and the boats going up the Rhein. It’s so peaceful. I think I could live here. All I really need right now is my cat and my cup of tea and I’d be a happy girl. A very happy girl.
Today we took a sight-seeing tour to Cochem and it was rather nice. Oh, it was so nice. There were 7 people in the tour and we walked all around town, walked up to the castle, but didn’t tour it, and had lunch. I got to try fedderweissen or however the hell you spell it. Oh my god. It’s only available this time of year when the wine is still fermenting and it’s damn good. Too bad I can’t bring it back home with me. It’s not sealed because it’s still fermenting and because it’s not sealed, you can’t bring it home. It’s also a buy now drink now kind of wine. But damn, it’s good. Back to Cochem. Cochem is a nice quaint little town on die Mosel River. It’s very touristy but still laid back. The castle there is gorgeous but Cliff and I didn’t take a tour. The reason we didn’t take a tour is because it’s a guided tour and we like to go at our own pace and wander all over. The food here is out of this world. They don’t play around with the food. I got a veggie plate and it was broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, and carrots over a plate of rice. It was freaking HUGE! Cliff got potatoes, side salad and schnitzel. We still can’t figure out what the hell schnitzel is. But we’ll find out.
I have made a new friend over here. Yay! I just have to remember to look her up on FB when I finally get internet access. It’s the contact lady for Untours and she’s been super nice and helpful. But I’m outa here. All this walking around has made me super tired. I think we’ve walked as much if not more than Rome.

Me.

Day 2

Today, we had orientation and our contact lady is so nice. Tracy is much nicer than the lady from Rome. Orientation was supposed to last an hr and a half; it ended up lasting over 2 hours. One of the couples cancelled their trip to Germany due to family problems so there are only 4 people over here right now. After orientation, we all ended up eating lunch together. I had tomato soup with bread and it was almost as good as mom’s. Cliff had bratwurst, sauerkraut, and potatoes. Can I say that the water here SUCKS? They have tap water which isn’t bad and mineral water which sucks. At least Cliff has the sodas to fall back on. But orientation was great. I learned a lot about the area and we’re going on a sight- seeing tour to see a castle. It should be fun. After orientation today, we visited castle ruins. Holy moly. This was the largest castle on the Rhein River and it’s in ruins. Only about one-third is left. If only one-third is left, I can’t imagine what the entire castle looked like. It was a functioning castle and it was ginormous. We walked all over it and it took about an hour and a half. I refused to walk on top but Cliff got some excellent pictures. We also went by the Cuckoo Clock store. I found my dad’s Christmas present. God help me.
Germany is so damn clean that it’s not even funny. Walking through the streets, I haven’t seen any stray papers, cans, etc. It’s amazing. Going through the castle, they had a worker walking picking up scraps of paper. Not something you’d really see back home. It’s just so clean. You don’t have to hunt for trash bins or anything. I love it.
We’re sitting here watching tv tonight and we don’t know German. We’re making up our own dialogue for each show. It’s most interesting watching TV when you don’t even understand the language. Hopefully we can contact the apartment owner tomorrow and get the password for the internet so I can actually update my blog, e-mail home and let everybody know we’re okay. On that note, I’m outta here.
Cheers!

Day 1

Today we traveled from Atlanta to London to Germany. OMG. I’m exhausted. Flying into Heathrow London is an experience I don’t wish to repeat, but I know I’m going to do it again. We had to exit the plane and get on a bus to get to the airport and wait about 5 hours for our commuter flight. Lovely huh? Coming into Germany? Customs was so easy. The police just looked at my passport, stamped it and said Danke. Then we got our train vouchers validated and waited an hour and a half for our train. Got to the house and it’s nice. The living room has a view right over the Rhein River. It’s so gorgeous. Looking out the window, I’ve also got a view of Burg Katz and down the river is Burg Maus. I’m exhausted. Going to bed. Cheers.

30 days!

Woo Hoo! 30 days until we leave for Germany. I've got my books, I know what phrases *not* to say and I'm ready to go. I think. Still got to get my international driving permit, hotel and train passage from the castle to Berlin but I think it'll work out. :) Yay! soo excited!

Germany

Germany.....72 days and counting! Woo Hoo. Flying into Heathrow (BOO!) then flying into Frankfurt. From there, we say for a week in the Lower Rhine area and then traveling by train over to Bavaria. Whilst in Bavaria, we'll be staying in a castle for a week. From Bavaria, we're going to Berlin for 3 days. Woo Hoo! So I'm excited. I'm going to be there for about 3 weeks and can't wait. Meeting up with my friend Sabsi in Berlin and she's going to show us around. Best part: she told me she'd take me pub hopping!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited. Yay! Germany, here I come.

Germany

Germany is 81 days away. That's less than 3 months. OMG 81 days until I'm in Germany. Woo Hoo! I can't wait. I'm going to do my best to post here whilst we're there. I just hope I have access. But I'll be keeping a blog every day and dating it along with pictures. Can't wait!!!!!!!
So little to do, so much time. Wait. Reverse that. *10 pts if you can tell me where that came from* Seriously, so much to do and get ready for. I'm so excited. Never been to Germany before.

Krishna