We took the train from Lioba's house to Anna's village right outside of Köln. We went into the city and spent the night at Anna's. It was freezing cold, which was rather disappointing since it was the middle of July, and our train was an hour late, but we completely forgot about that since our afternoon and evening was so much fun.
We got out of the train station and the Cathedral was the first thing I saw. The Cologne Cathedral, or Kölner Dom in German, is a Roman Catholic church with authentic Gothic architecture completed in 1880 from it's original plan that dated back to 13th century.
Inside there were tons of people. There are an average of 20,000 people who go there every day!
I couldn't help but picture a wedding here, could you imagine walking down that aisle?
We left the Cathedral and it started pouring rain, and I mean pouring. The streets were emptied in a matter of seconds while all the people scrambled into the nearest covered areas. I bought some postcards in the store we ran into before we made our way to Starbucks! I wanted to order one of my normal drinks that I would get back home but no luck, so I just got a Earl Gray Tea. It was amazing, my first Starbucks since Canada.
We also got a carrot cake to share. I tried to get a picture of the receipt for all my fellow Starbuckers to see.
I asked a man to get a picture of us with the cathedral in the background and he tried so many times to get all the cathedral. At this point, as seen in the picture, he was so far away and practically laying on the ground! We told him not to worry but he said no problem. We felt bad but thanked him immensely before carrying on our way.
We went to the bridge that is famous for all of the locks. There are so many locks because couples lock their love on the bridge. After they put on their lock, they through their key into the river. Unfortunately the city has to cut off the locks since there are so many, and they weigh so much, it puts the bridge's infrastructure at risk. Nevertheless, they are colourful and all very unique, it is a wonderful site.
For Anna! We love you too.
We also found my name! Any Phil's out there?
We tried but couldn't find any locks with Lioba. No need to worry though, Lioba says she will come back and put her own lock on there one day.
We adventured through the streets, going into a variety of stores, like this furniture store. We were taking pictures like this and than the worker started following us around so we made our way out sooner than anticipated.
Cologne is famous for their carnival and there are shops open all year for the one week in November. Basically carnival is a big party in Cologne that people get to get all dressed up for like how we do for Halloween. We had fun looking at the variety of costumes and accessorizes.
We went into a cosmetic store where Lioba got her make-up done for free.
After, we found a restaurant that neither Lioba or Anna had been to before.
This was our appetizer and it was so delicious.
Basically, the restaurant was fabulous: the service, the atmosphere, the food and drinks! We could hardly believe we ate all the food we ordered.
We walked around for a bit afterwards, got lost, and then Anna took us to the club and lounge street. We were going from one place to another, waiting to find the perfect place to get comfortable when we stumbled upon a small lounge that wasn't crowded. We spent the rest of the night there and basically everyone there had a great time together and we even made a new "friend".
We went home later that night and the next morning Lioba and I took the train back to Lioba's house. We adventured around Lioba's city for one day and the following day, which was a Sunday, was the day I took the train across the country to Dresden, my new home, where I met my Au Pair host father. Taking the train with all my luggage was quite the experience and although I would take the trains again, never again would I volunteer to do so with the amount of bags I had.
My travelling for 3 and a bit weeks was great and I had so many great adventures with my great friends. During that time, I went from vegan to vegetarian, I learnt how to ride a bike without holding on the handle bars, I learnt some German, had many laughs, good sleeps, short sleeps, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.
Thanks and I can't wait for more adventuring.
xo
