Cologne, Germany

The night train to Munich was interesting.  Second class cabins on Hungarian trains consist of individual 'rooms' with 6 seats in each.  Leg room would have been a bitch had my cabin been crowded, but there was only two others in it with me, and they each departed before the arrival in Germany.  After that, a man got on somewhere in Austria and so we each had a row of 3 seats to ourselves to stretch out and attempt to get some rest.  I had my backpack on the ground next to me, having read up on possible robberys on trains.  The other man however, put has bag up top on the shelf, right next to the door.  Over the course of the approximately 2 hours that we both fell asleep, his bag had been stolen.  The reality of what I had read began to set in, and I immediately checked my bag to make sure everything was still there.  It was.  He however lost his credit cards, his TWO cell phones, and his keys to two flats, one in Munich and the other in Bratislava.  I felt terrible and offered him money, but he refused.  Luckily, he works in Munich and said he would be able to get a hold of a computer to cancel his cards and phone. 

Arriving in Munich I randomly passed by a few Americans who are in some of my classes and were on the same train.  They were there for the weekend for Oktoberfest, and I told them of the possibility of me being there on Saturday after my trip to cologne, and the possibility of meeting up.  But my next train was leaving for Cologne soon, and I didnt really have long to talk to them about specifics, so I grabbed a pretzel for breakfast and hopped on the ICE (Inter City Express) high speed train bound for Koln.

My lord, German Transportation is amazing.  The cabin was spacious, sort of like an airplane but with only two seats on each side of the isle, with plenty of legroom.  We zoomed along through the countryside, at times reaching 300 km/hr.

After some quick stops in Nuremburg, Frankfurt, and Bonn, among others, I arrived in Cologne around 1130am.  I was to meet up with my friend Dan outside of the train station on the other side of the Dom.  After meeting up, we went to a brewery house that was right next to the station, called Gaffel, for a few drinks and a quick bite to eat.  The beer there was nothing special, and Dan informed me that it was one of his least favorite in the city.  I also enjoyed a beef tartar that was just delicious.  Afterwords, we made our way to his flat so I could freshen up before heading out into the city.

Dan lives right around the corner from the city park and University of Cologne, so we walked around the campus for a little bit.  After grabbing a Brat, we made our way into the city center, and strolled through the shopping district before returning to the Dom.  The Dom was worth the trip in itself.  It's Gothic architecture makes the building seem almost creepy, but the inside was enormouss.  We walked the 500 or so stairs to the top of the lookout, which was the hardest set of stairs I've ever climbed.  My calves were still hurting two days later.  After admiring the view, we headed down to the treasury, where it is said that the remains of the three wise men are kept.  There was also some very impressive artifacts from the 11th century onward, laced with gold and precious gems and the like.

It was then dinner time, and we walked a short distance over to another Brewery House called Fruh.  In Cologne, they only serve beer in .2 liter glasses called Kolsch.  But the waiters are quick to give you a refill when necessary.  The beer was much better here, and I also enjoyed a true German dinner, Fried pork shank with sauer kraut and potato balls.  Very good, although the potato balls had a bit to much flour in them for my liking. 

After dinner, we moved on to Dan's favorite brewery house, called Paffgen.  The beer here was also excellent, as was the atmosphere.  We befriended an elder german man named Berndt and his girlfriend Jaclyn and struck up a nice conversation, some in English but a majority in German that Dan had to translate for me every so often.  This guy apparently has thrown rock concerts and the like all throughout Europe and knows Mick Jagger.  He is now writing a book, I think an autobiography, and hopes to have it finished within the year. This conversation also brought to my attention the tension that is still felt between the Eastern and Western parts of Germany, as well as what Germany on the whole is doing in the political and economic spectrum.  Berndt is unhappy with how the German government is shaping up, and expressed deeply his love for the USA, and how it is "the land of the free, people can do as they please and make a living out of nothing." Dan is a very nationalistic German, and disagreed with a few points that Berndt was making, but it made for quite the interesting conversation.  In the US, I would find it hard pressed to walk into a bar and strike up a conversation with a stranger about politics, world happenings, and life, but in Germany, this is normal occurance that happens over a few drinks.  I wish I could have remembered some of the specifics that Berndt talked about and had been able to actively contribute to that particular topic, but my knowledge of German Politics is not exactly top notch.

Feeling pretty good from drinking a majority of the day, we went back to Dan's Flat to try and plan what that night.  I had not slept very well on the train, so we ended up just going out for some late night pizza and a beer before heading to sleep.

I left to catch the 10:20 am train back to Munich so I could get on the last connection back to Budapest without having to take the overnight train, therefore throwing away my chances of spending a few hours at Oktoberfest.  However, I do not have class on Wednesday, and am planning on going then, hopefully in the company of a few others to make for one heck of an experience.

The city of Cologne is actually a pretty remarkable story.  It was almost completely destroyed by allied bombing during WWII, and little was left standing besides the cathedral.  The master plan developed for the city for reconstruction after the war was done up beautifully.  It took into account motor vehicle traffic, and incorporates the "ring" system of road networks, with each outer ring extending around the city center like a half circle, eliminating the criss-crossing of roads that many cities in the United States have.  The public transportation network is also top notch, as it probably is anywhere else in Germany, with metros, trams, and buses operating routes to get you anywhere in the city in a very timely manner. I wish I had more then just a day to explore the city and its surroundings.