 |
| Looking down the one main street in town |
 |
| The wall was erected in the 13th and 14th centuries, and in certain spots one can now walk along it. Here is one of the surviving gates |
 |
| There were lots of half-timbered houses, adding to the medieval charm |
 |
| The red town hall was built between the 14th and 15th centuries |
 |
| Inside the St. Chrysanthus & Daria Church, which was built in 1100. At first, there were no lights, which was sort of creepy. Soon a guided group of tourists came in and the guide turned on the lights |
 |
| The crypt holds relics of the Christian martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria |
 |
| But I liked the look of the church with the lights out, so when the tourists left and it was just myself and my friends inside, I took initiative and turned out the lights again |
 |
| While we were alone in the church, my friend accidentally went too far up those steps in the foreground and set off an alarm. That marked the end of our visit and we had to hustle out and attempt to disappear in the town, which was difficult since there was literally nobody else out and about |
 |
| At first we weren't sure what this is. But it looks so old and run-down we just jokingly concluded that it's the oldest house in Germany |
 |
| Some buildings, like this mill, already have what year they were built conveniently painted on them |
 |
| Walking along the city walls |
 |
| We met a nice guy from Kansas City who went to high school here in Bad Münstereifel. He took our picture for us |
 |
| It's ok, it's less dangerous than it looks |
 |
| The wall from the outside. Pretty insurmountable |
 |
| The city's castle is on the left in the hillside. The Count of Jülich built it when he annexed the town in 1300 |
 |
| The church we were in earlier |
 |
| Closeup of the town hall and the absurdly long tongues of the lions in the town's seal |
Having covered Bad Münstereifel itself, it was time to hike to a nearby landmark - the Radioteleskop! Bad Münstereifel is already pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but after hiking an hour and a half out of the city, we were really in the middle of nowhere with nothing but tiny, tiny sleepy towns around us, if anything.
 |
| Our destination |
 |
| Once we saw how ridiculously far we had to hike, we almost gave up right then. Can you see the top half of the radio dish? Look for a teeny bump at the top of the hillside in the far distance |
 |
| The only town in sight during the whole trip was this small collection of buildings called Eschweiler |
 |
| We had to go down into a valley then back up again |
 |
| After hours of rain, we were relieved to see even a sliver of sun peek through the clouds |
 |
| Countryside |
 |
| We made it! For a while, this telescope was the largest fully steerable radio telescope on Earth |
 |
The horses we ran into maintained their distance, apparently uninterested in our company and our apples that we had picked from nearby trees
|
 |
| Apples! Free snack! |
 |
| We took a cramped shortcut on the way back |
 |
| Aftermath |
 |
| Before it was time to go home I had a few minutes to kill, so I popped into - where else - the Cologne Cathedral |
That concludes that fun adventure. Next up is my last excursion I took while I was in Cologne, and then I am finally going to be able to write about Berlin!