04.09.2010 – 17:16
Phew. My feet are finally up! The soreness of your feet from constantly walking everywhere is one of those aspects of traveling that you know but never really expect. However, my tiredness was rightly earned.

This is our first weekend of traveling for the Reutlingen program. My friends Amber (who is also writing on this blog) and Cate worked out the plans for the entire weekend, so I was able to sit back and let them figure things out. We had thought that a weekend in Köln (or Cologne in English) would be an easy start to our traveling and leave some margin for error, which is bound to happen our first couple of times. So far, my expectations have been vastly succeeded.

Yesterday we left early in the morning from Reutlingen and hopped on a train to Meinz, transferring trains several times. I was tired from the Stuttgart wine festival from the previous day, but the southern German countryside is far too interesting and beautiful to fall asleep. We loosely followed the Mosel River, which is surrounded by rolling, wooded hills and steep vineyards on the hillsides. It is like nothing I have seen in the US; words, like always, fail to fully convey the true experience.

We decided to stop at Meinz to see the castle Burg Eltz. The beginning of the hiking trail, which is about 5 kilometers long through the hills, began in a beautiful little town on the Mosel. We stopped for a quick lunch at an Imbiss, and left our belongings with the proprietor, a very friendly old man. I know what you are thinking….”Why did you leave your belongings, including your laptop, with a complete stranger?” Well, I was wondering the exact same thing. Fortunately, everything was in perfect shape when we got back, so I guess it was ok. If you want to know more about that crazy adventure, email me!

It has been a beautiful weekend, sunny and mid 60s, and a perfect time to go hiking through the hills to a beautiful castle! We just turned a corner, and there it was (of course, after 5 km of hiking). Sometimes I had to push Cate to get us all there, but of course, it was worth it.
Last night we arrived in Köln, just expecting to sleep. Just as we were getting our pajamas out, our hostel-mates came through; they were three girls from Stuttgart who were just spending the night in the city. They invited us to go out, so…..you can’t pass up opportunity, can you? I’m sure glad we didn’t. Dane, Laura, and I went with them to a club, which happened to be overpriced for both cover charge and drinks, and it really wasn’t an atmosphere that I enjoyed. We all agreed to leave and find a bar, were at midnight we celebrated Laura’s 21st birthday.

Köln is an amazing city. The Dom (cathedral) in the middle of the city is absolutely massive, and it has very elaborate gothic architecture and styling. It is very impressive, and I suggest that anyone in the area should visit. You literally can’t miss it, it’s that big. We plan on going to church there on Sunday morning. That should be interesting, since it will be in all German. I suppose we will feel like the non-nobility before the Renaissance, since everything in the church was spoken in Latin.

We have only been here for about a day, but it feels familiar already. Time to visit the city’s chocolate museum! Hopefully I will be able to waddle back and write a follow-up. Tschüs!