köln

as i hoped, we spent the last couple of days up in köln. it's about 20 minutes from bonn, and is about four times the size. as soon as you walk out of the train station you're met by the kölner dom - the köln cathedral. it is collosal, and it's gothic architecture gives it a really intimidating presence. aaah. it was started in 1248, but wasn't actually completed until 1880. when j & i first went in, they were about to begin mass. not sure why, but we decided to sit through it. as much as i love mass (...), it was a relief to duck outside the second it finished because it was as cold as antarctica inside that cathedral. so cold that when we walked out, the temperature (7°) felt warm. brr.

but hey, at least now i know how to say jesus christ in german.

we found a good hiding spot from the cold - the früh brewery/restaurant. deliciously traditional german cuisine plus deliciously traditional früh beer makes for a very happy steph. we rolled out of the door 2 hours later, and decided to take a walk over the rodenkirchen bridge. in itself, it's quite a boring, ugly bridge...but over the years, people have given it more personality by attaching "love locks" to the rails. the tradition has caught on, such that today there is next to no free space on the rails. we had a read of some of the engravings, and found some dating back to 1990. so much love!

luckily i had locals (aka jana, nils & adrian) with me in köln, because otherwise i would've gotten lost several times in and amongst the winding streets - which, by the way, all look the same. we did some alot of shopping, and i now have a bit of a thing for h&m, zara and topshop. too bad my pack doesn't share this same love...should make packing my bag tomorrow (sob) a bit of a challenge...

i've booked a flight out of germany for tomorrow, but i'm so tempted to accidently forget to go to the airport. i'm going to miss deutschland so much, and i'd rather stay for longer, but...london's calling.

bis zum nächsten mal,

S.

bonn

post karneval, and jana's back at school. i've spent the last few days wandering around bonn, this time decked out in a warm coat, scarf & gloves since the weather has turned frosty. bonn was the capital of west germany until 1990 (after the berlin wall came down, berlin became germany's capital city), so it's rich with history. it's a city of about 450,000 people so it's easy enough to find your way around. although i might've got lost once...or twice.

bonn: famous for being beethoven's birthplace. without a map, i really had no chance of finding the beethovenhaus... but after getting lost around a few winding cobble stone streets... there it was! proof that getting lost isn't always a bad thing...
he was born in a modest old-school cottage tucked in between surrounding houses. thanks to my incredible german skills (or lack thereof..), i managed to learn a bit about the house's history: beethoven was born on either the 16th or 17th of december 1770 (they're not really sure about that one..), chilled in the house and when he eventually became deaf, had to wear brass trumpets on both his ears. the idea was to channel & magnify sound to his ears. no wonder he was supposedly always grumpy, imagine having to wear trumpets on your head...

jana's school is in the centre of bonn, so during her frees she was able to show me around the city first-hand.. in between a few (hundred) coffee/hot toddy breaks to escape the freezing cold. natürlich
we visited the bonn münster, kunstmuseum, the university (recognisable by the burnt orange colour of its walls) and hofgarten (the gardens stretching out from the university), as well as a heap of others.

i've made a bunch of amazing friends here in germany, and - despite the icy weather - am loving it so much... so i've decided to stay here for another week or so. will hopefully get up to köln at some point..!

auf wiedersehen,


S.

love that 9º weather

cheers jana,  for the map of the walk home