Updates of the Past Few Days

Hey, so I was gonna update 2 days ago when I was still in Koeln, but then my internet ran out halfway through writing it. So here's an update. (fyi I'm on a friend's computer so I can't do umlauts =[ )

17.6.10--Koeln

Today we walked around the city, saw a bunch of historical Roman sites, and the Dom (cathedral). Roman ruins are buried all underneath the city, and only some are excavated. We went to an underground museum to see the Praetorium, which was the center of the city, like the town hall/palace type thing. It was pretty cool. Apparently the Romans gave the Germans clean water, bricks, a sewer system, and roads. Then we went to the Dom, which is really pretty, both inside and out. Inside lie the ruins of the 3 kings (from Jesus' birth), which were transported to Germany in the 1100s from Italy I believe. They're in a gold box in the back of the church by all the shrines/sarcophagi of the dead arch bishops.

After we looked around inside, we decided to climb up to the top of one of the towers-->533 steps (I didn't count, this is just what someone told me). We got 2 random people to join our group so we could get a discount (only 1 Euro each!). Most of the stairs were spiral staircases surrounded by brick walls, which wasn't too bad until mild claustrophobia started clicking in. At the bell tower, there was a landing, wherein lies the largest church bell in Europe. After the bell was more stairs, and then a landing with even MORE, but these were worse, because they were more open (surrounded by chain link fence and lots of windows, so you could see how far you've climbed). So, needless to say, by the time I reached the top, I was shaking not only from exhaustion, but also from acrophobia. Really pretty view though. Again, I was astounded at the graffiti. All up the stairs, and also all over the top. People brought white-out up with them to write on the tower. Quite ridiculous. Another ridiculousness was that there was a a small information booth/gift shop at the top. That guy's commute to work must suck.

After that we walked all over the city, got a bit lost, then found our way back again. Got some souvenirs, had curry wurst und pommes for dinner (schmeckt sehr gut). Then we chilled in the hotel bar for a while.


18.6.10--Bonn

Today we spent the day in Bonn. First we went to a history museum-->end of WWII to today. Pretty cool museum, nicely presented exhibits. Cool interactive stuff. Then we had lunch; I had Himmel und Aeaed, which is black pudding (Blutwurst), liver sausage (Leberwurst), potatoes (Kartoffeln), onions (Zweibeln), and applesauce. Good, but not nearly as good as the blood sausage we make at home. Nowhere close--too mushy. After lunch we went to Beethoven's birth house...alright, but nothing too exiting. Just stuff he touched and composed and whatnot. Then we walked around the city for a while, and I bought some cool cds. Then we went back and chilled in the hotel bar for the rest of the night (way more fun than the previous night). The bartender was really nice and funny and chilled with us all night. He wanted to practice his English, and knew we had to learn German, so he spoke to us in English and made us speak in German; if we said anything in English to each other we had to buy a round. Had quite a few interesting conversations with him.


19.6.10--Mayschoss

Today we took the train to Mayschoss for a wine tasting. Unlike wine tastings in the US, where you get a tiny sip and then have to spit it out, we got full glasses, and they never let em get empty. We started off with a red champagne, which was interesting, though for some odd reason it had a hint of cheese. Then we had lunch, which started off with a really yummy salad and a white wine, and then chicken/spinach/noodles/creamy sauce with the same white, and then we got a red with dessert (seemed backwards to me), which was a hot rhubarb thing; consistency/taste of pie filling, and delicious. Then, since one kid was talking to the guy the whole time and asking lots of questions, he took out his favorite bottle of wine and gave us all some. We then took the train one stop over to tour a cellar, and we got another glass of wine straight from the barrel. It was pretty cool. After the tour we went in the shop, and they gave us more tastes of whatever we wanted, but these were only small sips. There were lots of cool things in there, including wine jelly, wine truffles, and wine cake. The winery and cellar were dug our of the ground, with stone all around (it was in the mountains) Apparently, its much better to grow grapes on a mountain than flat land because you can control the sun (which side of the mountain), and the water doesn't pool, and there are no shadows (the sun hits at a 90 degree angle), and it stays warmer in the valley. Very interesting stuff to learn. Then we went back to Koeln and ate at this American-European restaurant--it was trying to be American anyway. I had Salami Pizza, which consisted of minimal amounts of cheese and 4 largish pieces of Salami. A valiant effort to replicate American pizza, and it tasted good, but nothing akin to our pizza monstrosities. Then we came back to the hotel to pack (I broke a zipper on my carryon =[ )


20.6.10--Berlin

After a long train ride, we finally got to Berlin. Our hotel is in the old east Berlin, about 15 minutes away via train from the center of the city. We had Doener for dinner, which was delicious (google it). Then we went to the Reichstag, which is where the German parliament meets. We went up to the top, where there was a really pretty view of the entire city. Then we went to this one street that one guy's friend had said had really good food, and we just chilled there for a while and walked around.


21.6.10

This morning we went to the Checkpoint Charlie museum, which was pretty cool. I found it especially interesting how inventive people got in their escape from the east--i.e. homemade scuba gear, gliders, hollow speaker boxes, various places in cars, etc. Then we went to the Gustapo museum, where I saw a short propaganda video which was the EXACT scene "Be Prepared" from the Lion King. No joke. It's quite ridiculous what Disney does. Anyway, after that we went to lunch, and then after lunch we went to the Museum of the Deutscher Wiederstand, which was all the German people against the Nazis--i.e. people who tried to kill Hitler, the student uprising, etc. Then we saw the Holocaust memorial, and we were gonna go in the museum, but its closed on Mondays. After that we went and saw this church that was bombed in the war and never rebuilt/renovated as a memory of the horror. After some shopping, we had dinner, and then just chilled for a while.


Ok well I gotta go for now, its late and I'm on my friend's computer. Ta ta for now!!