My day started quite early thanks to the incessant ringing of church bells right outside my window at 8:30 am (which is pretty early for a non-morning person). The church responsible for the racket isn't even particularly old or historical (by European standards - it's about 60 years old, which would make it a monument in L.A.), so I may still be a bit bitter.
Sarah, the other program participant living with my host family, and I live way out in a northern part of the city called Longerich. It feels like a suburb but is still within the city limits of Cologne. After a walk to the station and a quick train ride, we were in the center of the city, where we met up with some friends and explored our new stomping grounds.
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| The exterior of the Cologne cathedral, which has fast become one of my most favorite buildings |
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| It looks awesome no matter what angle |
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| The Hohenzollern Bridge, built in the early 1900s. It was totally destroyed by German troops hoping to stop the advance of the Allied forces in 1945. Looking out over the Rhine from the city center |
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| Looking back towards the cathedral, on the other side of the Rhine |
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| All along the bridge's 409-meter span are thousands of individual locks, each inscribed with the names of a couple and the date of their anniversary. Couples fix the padlocks to the railing and toss the key into the Rhine River below. Estimates put the weight of the padlocks at over 2 tons |
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| Looking south (upstream) towards the Rathaus |
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| So many love locks |
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| Cologne was destroyed during World War II, so much of the "Altstadt" really doesn't look that old, save for a few restored Roman churches and special buildings like the old Rathaus. There is a huge shopping district that winds its way through the old city center |
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| From the steps of the cathedral |
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| We love heading to the Rhine's riverfront, where you encounter not only the river but also colorful facades like these |
That Monday, it was time to get to work and start German language school. I'm in a class with only 12 other students from the U.S., Mexico, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan, Kurdistan (northern Iraq), and England. After 3 full weeks of speaking and reading and thinking nothing else but German from 8:30 to 1 pm every weekday, I can honestly say it's really working! I feel lots of improvement.
All that German learning made us hungry. After walking around the city a bit, we stopped by a Brauhaus in the middle of the city and ate what was probably the world's most German meal:
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| Not pictured: three more plates of food |
Brauhäuser (brewhouses), like the one we were at, are very traditional German restaurants and breweries that sell very traditional German food. Plus, the beer is cheaper than water, since they only sell bottled mineral water (we were told 'nein' when we asked for tap water). So we started with Kölsch beer, of course, and then dove into our meal - pasta, two different types of potatoes, sauerkraut, two different types of pork, and two different types of wurst. Yum!
Interestingly enough, you have to go pretty much exclusively to restaurants and Brauhäuser to get such typical German food. If you want a quick bite, you'll most likely wind up eating either something from a bakery or the Turkish version of a burrit0 - the Döner. These are sandwiches that consist of either lamb or chicken meat tossed with salad and tzakiki sauce. Döner shops are simply ubiquitous. When you're in a rush, it's far easier to get your hands on Turkish fare rather than German. One of my friends joked he tried getting a quick lunch one day that didn't consist of a döner... and he just wound up getting a different type of döner. But they're quite good, so we can't complain.
On Tuesday, we all went on a tour of our city with a staff member from the language school. We learned Cologne was founded in 50 A.D. and was originally named Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium. I like "Cologne" better. The Romans founded the city, and there are Roman ruins and relics left all over the older part of city.
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| Sometimes someone just has to step up and be the navigator |
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| I love how you can see the cathedral from everywhere |
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| Stolpersteiner are blocks of gold implanted in the sidewalks around the city that memorialize Holocaust victims. They are placed in front of the victims' former place of residence. They were a bit controversial at first since some didn't like that they would be inset into the sidewalk, so passersby would be stepping on the victims' names, but most find it a nice tribute. Each brick has the victim's name, their birth date, where they were transported to, and their eventual fate (if known) |
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| This entire street is nothing but Döner shops |
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| As I mentioned in an earlier post, the cathedral took over 600 years to build. Today, its exterior is constantly going renovation, especially since it is constantly turning black from rain and pollution (today, there are about 4 or 5 separate large sections undergoing work). Cologne residents joke that the cathedral will thus never truly be finished, and if it is at some point completed, then the world is surely ending |
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| Cologne's Rathaus is Germany's oldest city hall, with a history spanning 900 years. All the statues on the tower and figures that played important roles in Cologne's history. On the bottom left is Agreppa and her son Nero (the Roman emperor), who would later kill his own mother |
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| Altermarkt |
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| There's no other way to finish a tour of Cologne than with a glass of Kölsch! Notice how small the .2 liter glasses are, as I mentioned in my last post |
And das war's (that's it) for now! I'll catch up to the present day at some point, I promise...