About an hour and a half later, we changed trains in Ingelheim. However, we had a one-hour layover. That early in the morning, this sleepy town was, well, sleepy. After venturing further into town from the Bahn station, we found a little bakery that was open. I decided to treat myself to a chocolate pastry and a latte macchiato, partially because I needed coffee and partially because my leftover jambalaya from the night before did not fill me up enough. It was a great breakfast.
From Ingelheim, we rode for about an hour and 15 minutes to Koblenz to switch trains again. However, because the sun was coming up, it was a gorgeous train ride. The German scenery is beautiful, especially along the Rhine River. I kept a tally of how many castles I saw looking out my one side of the train looking out across the Rhine. 15 castles. It was magical.I was sitting by myself having some quality time with my iPod. I was jamming to all my favorite songs. Those songs reminded me of a few really close friends back home and it made me miss them a lot. Part of me wished they could be sitting on the train with me experiencing the beautiful scenery and venturing around Germany. Another part of me, though, loved being alone. I love feeling the independence I feel when I travel. It's hard to explain. Needless to say, though, I really missed my pals back home and am really looking forward to seeing them and my family in May.
Once in Koblenz, we switched trains for the final hour-long leg to Koln. I again was sitting alone by the window hoping to spark up a conversation with a local.. for some reason I was feeling very adventurous that day. Four Indian men, though, sat near me. One sat beside me, one sat in front of him, and the two others across the aisle. That put a damper on things. Haha. Oh well.
It was great to finally be in Koln after such a long train ride. The day had started out kind of nice, but settled for being gray and windy. It would have been in the 40s had the wind not been so strong. As you walk out the Koln Bahn station, the huge, Gothic cathedral is the first thing you see. Magnificent. Breathtaking, really.
The Hohe Domkirche Koln was built in 1248 and was worked on for 600 years. It was once the tallest building in the world and is the oldest cathedral and has the largest church facade. It is a famous, great example of Gothic architecture. It survived 14 bomb hits during WWII and reconstruction was finished in 1956. You can pay a couple of Euros to climb up a small, spiral, staircase in the south tower. It goes almost all the way to the top of the spire, 98 meters above the ground.
We admired the outside of the cathedral and peeked in a little bit before deciding to head to the Information Center and then find a pub to eat lunch. As we were walking around, we realized there was a huge football (soccer) match taking place that day: Koln versus Munchen (Munich). Fans were everywhere, all dressed up in their team's colors, going crazy over the game. It was so fun to observe. It spurred me to buy a Koln soccer scarf sporting the red and white colors. Munich is blue and white, by the way.
We decided on Papa Joe's Biersalon. It proved to be very German. Inside, it was very dark with dark wood everywhere. There was a fake band playing polka music, photos and pictures all over the walls, old photos and drawings of naked women on the ceilings, stuff everywhere. The ambience was great. I felt like I was experiencing Germany with the locals and the Munich football fans. I decided to go all out and order the Brauhaus-Teller. I am not a fan. It was smoked pork (aka ham), a ginormous pile of sauerkraut, mustard, and a piece of rye bread. I didn't care for my beer, either. I managed to eat the ham, choke down a little bit of sauerkraut with the ham, and eat the bread. It was a good experience, but not a stomach-filling one.
After lunch, we walked around the Old Town part of the city. We went down to the Rhine River. It was a lovely stroll. After that we wanted to do a little shopping, but did not find many things we liked. Or else things were more expensive than we wanted to pay. It was a bigger city afterall.
As we made our way back to the cathedral to explore inside of it more, we saw the trail end of a Cardinal leaving in a limo. Apparently that's a pretty big deal for Catholic people. We saw the priests and alter boys and others in their red or black robes outside holding a cross and then proceeding back inside. There were people everywhere.
Once inside, we looked around much closer than before. It is so big inside and hard to believe how long ago this structure was built. It is very dark and cold inside. It is colder inside than it was outside. We could see our breath inside the cathedral. We were able to go up to the front of the cathedral, to the sides, down to the crypt, and then up the south tower.
Al and I climbed up the south tower, and was it a climb! I am not sure how long it took, but there were a lot of people in that tiny stairwell. Those of us going up were stuck on the inside of the spiral where the stairs are very narrow. Those going down the stairs had the outer part of the spiral and, therefore, the wider part of the steps. It was an adventure. I had to not think about it because it was such a tight space and such a long climb. Part of the way up, though, is the bell room. We stopped in there and walked around the outer part of the room. We were in there when the bells rang four times at 16:00. That was loud, but really awesome.
After the pitstop, onward we went to the top. Once to the top of the tower, you can see so far. It is a magnificent view. It is neat because you can look down on part of the church or just straight out at parts of the church. The church is so ornate on the outside and so black from smog. It was an awesome experience. It was windy down on the ground, so it was very windy up there. I had to not think about it because I might've freaked out a little otherwise. There is fencing up so you can't fall out at all, but it was still a little scary at first.
The descent down seemed never ending. My legs were shakey and I was feeling dizzy from the constant downward spiral. Al and I were some of the last people to be let in the tower (thankfully we got there just in time before they closed!), and then some of the last people out.
After that, we got to the train station and bought some junk, some gelatto, and some bakery pretzels for the train ride home. The trains home were fine. The first involved me and Jenna talking to a German guy about random things, the second train was full of smelly nerds coming home from an anime convention with top hats, blue character-suit costumes, weird colored hair, and a case of beer, and the final train reeked of cigarette smoke (not sure who was smoking on the train; I'm pretty sure that's not allowed).
We got back to Neubrucke around 9:30 p.m. and we were so glad to be back. The 20 minute drive back was filled with girly giggles and laughs and cackles. Terry, Jenna, and I always have a blast on our car rides.
I went to bed late on Saturday night after washing the icky train off of me and out of my hair, and slept until well past noon on Sunday. Sunday was filled with nothing but being lazy, eating dinners off a normal schedule, and watching two movies with my roommate. It was a good day.
Monday was parent-teacher conferences at school, meaning a work day in the library. Since I have a touch of a cold, it was nice to wear jeans, a sweatshirt, and tennis shoes. Most of my day was filled with inventory. My brain was tired by the end of the day.
Monday evening, we ate dinner in town at the Hotel Berkdof with a visiting assistant dean and professor from the Teachers College. They are trying to figure out living situations for future BSU student teachers. It's not looking so good for them. Hopefully they can find a solution.
No comments:
Post a Comment