Back in Deutschland

I just returned from my third short-trip to Germany, and it seems every time I go there I'm more impressed with the country. Berlin is short of two decades out of a communist state, and has more life and culture than I've seen in any European city. Heidelberg is a gorgeous city that operates as more than the Bruges of Germany. And Cologne and Dusseldorf offered something for everyone. The four day trip to Cologne was not unlike my past weekend trips in that I saw some amazing sights, visited a few museums, and had a small taste of the local culture. That being said, it was filled with the kind of stories I can't bring myself to put down in type. You know, those ones you need to save for a night out with a few friends over a pitcher of domestic. So if this seems to lack a little color, it's because I'm holding back a little bit.
Eurolines was again the transportation method of choice for the four hour ride east to Cologne. Mike, Barry, and I stayed at the Station Hostel, conveniently located quite near the Hbf, or central station. For the first two nights, we had a room to ourselves, and it almost felt like a cheap motel where you have to bring your own towel. The first night in town we picked up some groceries at the closest thing I've seen to an American supermarket here. We picked up a crate of the local variety, Reissdorf Kolsch, which is a yeasty, light beer. Dinner was what the Turkish-Germans do best: Doner Kebabs. We spent most of the night relaxing in the lounge, playing a little fooseball, and planning the next few days.
Thursday morning we took advantage of our hostel's free map, complete with a variety of city tours. We chose one which led us to the banks of the Rhine, where the heart of the Aldstadt, Cologne's old city, is located. The city's landmark is its massive Dom Cathedral, the biggest in Germany and a gothic masterpiece. One needs a few hours to enjoy it, so we took a few photos and moved on. Our first stop was the Museum Ludwig, a modern art museum boasting a huge Picasso collection, as well as a refreshing pop art exhibit, with Warhol and Lichtenstein leading the pack. Photos were unfortunately not allowed, as we were soon informed. The place was a good contrast to the classic masterpieces typical of European art museums, and well worth the ticket price. The prints were pricey, so I passed. The rest of our tour brought us past a few more churches, including the Gross St. Martin, which is a huge Roman church with four turrets. Back in the day, Cologne was a Roman province, and a huge trade center, due to the location of the Rhine. As a result, much of the old city wall, complete with Roman guard towers, remains. They're scattered throughout the city. As you know, many German cities were fire-bombed heavily in the war, and it's fortunate anything remains. Though I guess that's what you get for being a Nazi. Later on the walk, we stopped in the largest record/CD store in the world, the Saturn House. It was Europe's tallest building in 1925, all 13 stories of it. Pretty cool record store now. For lunch, we picked up various wurst from a traditional stand. I enjoyed a bratwurst, a little taste of home, and my personal favorite, currywurst. We relaxed for the early part of the evening, which was fine with me, because by then my achilles was screaming for some reason, and is finally cooling down a bit today. We went out to a traditional beer hall for dinner. These places are massive, lined with tables, and you sit wherever there's room for you. Without saying anything very German-looking waiters bring out a glass of their establishments brew for you, carried two dozen at a time, and ready to drink. And as soon as you look like you're about to finish one, another is there. They keep track by making charcoal marks on a coaster on the table. The beers keep coming until you put your coaster on top of your glass, signifying you've had enough, or are out of money. The meal was excellent. The menu was German, so there was guessing involved. In the end, I had some potatoes, a salad, and a large amount of bacon with some scrambled eggs. Barry had schnitzel, and Mike enjoyed 3/4 meter of bratwurst. Bloated and buzzed, we walked down to the river bank to find the live jazz we were promised is actually a jukebox-like music machine with some jazz available. You win some, we lost that one.
Friday morning we spent a little more time on breakfast and treated ourselves to some ham and eggs. The Dom Cathedral opened at 10 and we arrived shortly thereafter. On the inside, the cathedral has soaring walls, most of which contain impressive stained glass portrayals of the adoration of the magi, the life of the virgin, and so on. The church also contains the Shrine of the Magi, which is believed to contain the remains of the the nativity story's three wise men. Regardless of contents, the shrine is an impressive container, mostly gold. We were also fortunate enough to be around for an abbreviated service, in German, complete with some haunting organ music. Once out, we enjoyed a coffee back at the hostel before heading out to the north end of the city. We visited the city's sculpture park. Sculpture parks are always enjoyable, but rarely do I come away with any insight to the artists' work. There's a cable car that crosses the Rhine and offers a spectacular panoramic view for only 4 euro, so we took advantage. It was as advertised. On the other side, we relaxed in the Rhine park for a while, and explored the beaches on the east bank. Mike was feeling a bit under the weather, and there's a chance it had to do with a peanut allergy, so we had a little scare, but all was well by seven and we were back at the hostel to relax and tuck in early.
Cologne has a chocolate museum that they operate in cooperation with a Swiss chocolate company. We headed there Saturday morning. The museum has plenty of opportunities to purchase the goods, a very interesting history of chocolate, and a decent explanation of its preparation. I also had my second experience with a chocolate fountain, except this one didn't spray the chocolate all over the room, which was cool. The place even had a greenhouse to replicate the conditions for growing cocoa. Barry made a large purchase, then we headed to the train station to buy a ticket to Dusseldorf. We were at the Schloss Benrath, an old German castlegrounds, by 2. The place has an enormous garden that used to serve as the royal hunting grounds. We took the train the rest of the way to the city centre and saw a few sights in the city, mostly churches and parks. It was obvious were all a little tired of sight-seeing. So we picked up a few half-litres and some gourmet pizza and relaxed with the locals on the west bank of the Rhine, and watch the sun go down. Dusseldorf was pretty hopping, and full of bachelorette parties, a few of which we would later encounter. The night went quickly, and after an extended chat with some Canadians, we were on a train back to Cologne. There was a frightening, in retrospect creepy, event that took place in the early morning (one of those things I need to leave out), and our bus was a little late in the morning, but we all made it back to Utrecht safely. When we stopped on the ride back, I watched as the gas station attendant was handed a ten for a pack of cigs. And she asked if the customer had anything smaller. That's when I knew we were back in Holland. Class starts again tomorrow, and Queen's Day is this weekend. I plan to use these next ten days in Holland to relax, reload, and get organized. I'll probably ride a bike.