(Tue, Nov 18 - Mon, Nov 24)

Köln

Me to lady leading the group: Where are we?
Her: ::shrug::
Me: Uh, where’s the metro?
Her: ::shrug::
Me: WTF! (unfortunately only in my head)

Getting our bearings

WEDNESDAY — We stepped off the bus into what literally felt like another world. I finally felt out of my element. Partly because we were dropped off on the side of the road, probably for convenience to get back on the highway, and partly because the first few people we approached for directions spoke not an ounce of English. Not to worry though, this is what traveling is about.

We took a few minutes to get our bearings. I remember making a mental note of a huge cathedral only a few miles from our bus route. I assumed this to be Kölner Dom, or Cologne Cathedral for us Americans. OK, great.. a starting point!  After spitting out several “sprenken sie deutch?” lines I got one to bite!  She was an extremely friendly (and tall) woman on a bike.  She pointed us in the direction of the metro and we continued walking around this unexplored territory.  METRO! Turns out it was only 10 minutes from the bus stop.  It’s funny though, until you can see the forest from the trees the forest seems unmanageable and neverending.  We grabbed the next train and headed for the city center, Köln Hauptbahnhof (Hpf).  (Hpf denotes the city centers in Germany.)

Dunkel weißen (e.g. dark wheat beer).  One of my favs!

View from atop the Köln Cathedral

Germany, from what I’ve seen thusfar, has a fantastic metro system.  They have both above ground (S-Bahn) and underground (U-Bahn) metro rails.  Berlin also has a superb tram system to take you to all the places where the other metro rails fall short.

The moment we exit the metro and breathe the fresh, German air, we are simply taken back by the shire size of the Cathedral.  It is the most famous Gothic structure in Germany.  The structure took nearly 500 years to build!  It immediately reminded me of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.  And like La Sagrada, you can climb its 509 stairs to the top.

View from atop Kölner Dom

Getting a feel for college life

After some much anticipated tourist site seeing (and figuring out where we would lay our heads for the nights to come), Jenn thought it would be cool to check out the University of Köln.  OMG! I need to note that our hostels were terrible!  The staff was pretty unfriendly and the place was dirty.  I would recommend to consult the guide books at all times for hostels.  We got the list from the tourist office directly across from the metro.  It was stupid of us to assume crediability by association.  Do not stay at the Jugenherberge youth hostels (I think they are city run).

Chocolate Museum. We got to see the whole process and of course dip into the fountain of chocolate!

Sorry for the tangent.  We arrived at the university and attempted to blend in.  It’s amazing to see students on the other side of the world, speaking foreign languages, yet displaying the same habits as people on campuses in America.  Cramming for exams, consuming goddly amounts of caffine, and working on group projects.  I guess we really are all one people.  But I didn’t need this example to justify that.  Still, it is a nice observation.

We decided to sit down at a table outside while I try to catch my breathe amongst the thick clouds of smoke.  Jenn was wondering how many students attended the university and that sparked my curiosity as well.  I overheard words and phrases I could identify the meaning to behind us.  I preceded to turn around, interrupt conversation and start my own.  I don’t think they were that upset though.  Honestly, I think they enjoyed speaking with us (I hope).  We began with the stat question (I believe 50,000 was the answer), but started talking about a number of things.  Including socialism and the differences between culture and society between the two countries we were brought up in.

Their country pays for their university or subsidizes it to the max (where they find themselves owing little to nothing upon graduation).  American on the other hand slaps a big fat check once you are done with college.  $120,000!  BAM!  Thank you!  That’s all folks.  Oh yeah, and good luck paying that on $30,000/year salary.  We’re a fear and debt society though, what do you expect? (I will save those views for another time though).

Of course money doesn’t come from no where.  Those working in Germany only see about 60% of their paycheck.  A huge chunk, like 40%, is taken out in taxes.  Those taxes also go to universal health care.  The United States is actually the last of the “wealthy” nations to not move to universal health care.  If the people getting such services hated it so much wouldn’t they speak up in anger?  I hear many of the righties preach about the long lines for checkups (and emergencies) and the decrease in quality.  Somehow I think that is somewhat of a smoke screen.

We had to have dinner, so we ate the tradition — currywurst! And it was damn good!

Anyway, I disgress.  Back to the students… Phil was his name.  After a long conversation it started raining and we talked about meeting up that night for drinks at this club.  We headed to Subway, the name of the club, but we were there before it even opened!  And it was like 10:30pm.  I love how clubs in Europe don’t even open until like 11pm or midnight.  Subway, the club we were in, played a variety of old school hip hop.  It was funny because I was expected crazy house and trance music (I’m hoping I get to do that before I leave), but this was quite different.  Fun though, because we knew a good portion of the songs… and surprisingly so did others.

Tips/Recommendations

• Grab a dinner at Curry Cologne — great, traditional wursts and cheap wheat beer
• My favorite place in Köln was off the Friesenplatz metro stop.  It was a long strip with bars, restaurants and a great vibe
• Book trains (the Deutch Bahn or DB) at least 3 days in advance for cheaper prices
• Go to a university (they call it Uni) and interact with some locals of similar age… you’ll never know what you might get into at night
• Don’t buy metro tickets from people selling them next to the ticket machines… they have already been validated and expired (I did not learn this the hard way… I simply shouted “Nien!” at the deuche).

Continue to part 2