Cologne, day 2
Trip Start
Mar 19, 2008
1
9
61
Trip End
Jul 01, 2008
Cologne, Germany
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
The German roommate, two German girls we met in the hostel, and I went to the Koln Zoo. It was pretty good, very large elephant site, but other than that, nothing to write home about. But I am anyways. After the zoo, I really didn't do much of anything, except wait for my 5:30 appointment to meet all the other members of the exchange program. I only had contact with our activities coordinator or "night time activities coordinator" (unofficial title) and one other student in the program. The activities coordinator is a 27 year old Koln woman who loves taking exchange students through the many bars and clubs in the area, hence "night time activities coordinator". Anyways. My first impressions of all of the students was good, and of our staff. We were treated to a five-course meal at a nearby restaurant, and to a couple glasses of the Koln city beer, Kolsch. There are many varieties of Kolsch brewed here, but it is THE beer of Koln. Not only because it's delicious and literally cheaper than water, but because of its popularity; few other beers can compete. The people of Koln are very proud of their beer. After the meal, Maxi, our activities coordinator, took us out to a bar where we all got to know each other a little better. We were also introduced to a pretty awesome method of serving beer, if a single glass will not suffice. The bar we went to offers Kolsch in a tall cylinder, a meter tall perhaps, the beer is dispensed from a spout at the bottom. That was all for that day.
March 28th
Woke up somewhat early, checked out of the hostel and left for an epic city tour by our eccentric advisor, Hartwig. Koln was created as a critical trading colony for the northern reaches of the Roman Empire; hence the name (Cologne, Colony, Koln). We were shown the road, which used to be the defensive wall of Roman city, and even a preserved portion of the wall located under the Dom cathedral and parking garage. After the fall of Romans, Koln thrived as a city, expanding its wall. It had a monopoly on all traffic traveling up or down on the River Rhine, making them an extremely rich city. That led to the construction of over 200 some churches throughout the city. The city has been flooded by the Rhine a few times because of the loss of marshlands, but since then, marsh lands have been rebuilt, and a pop up wall a few meters tall was installed along the river to protect the city. We walked around the Dom Cathedral, and damn that is an amazing structure. I can't believe it survived WWII. Cologne was nearly leveled during the war, and at least 14 bombs hit the cathedral, destroying a section of the base of the left tower. After the bombing stopped, nearby citizens installed bricks in the destroyed section of the tower, fearing the cathedral would collapse. The bricks stayed in place until the 80's, when it was finally restored. We learned more things about the city that I could possibly remember. We'll have at least 4 more city tours led by Hartwig, and each tour is very entertaining and extremely informative. We were shown a random little statue depicting the two characters in a traditional German joke, one a stupid man from the country (I can't remember the real names) we'll call Hans. The second is a smart man from the city, we'll call Karl. We were told a joke created during WWII that was very risky.
Karl stands, holding a globe in one hand as Hans approaches.
Hans: What is that you have there Karl?
Karl: You idiot, don't you know anything? This is a globe.
Hans: Oh...can I see this globe?
(Hans spins the globe, placing his finger on it)
Hans: What is this large country here Karl? It covers all of the north.
Karl: Bah, do I teach you everything? That is Russia.
(Hans spins the globe again)
Hans: Oh...now what is this country? Spanning two seas...
Karl: Hans, you idiot, that country is America!
(Hans spins the globe again)
Hans: Now what is this small country here, right in the middle.
Karl: You don't even know that country! That is Germany!
Hans: Oh...ok. Well Karl, does Hitler know this?
After the city tour, we gathered our things and hopped into prepaid cabs headed for our host families. I arrived at the house, and was greeted by my host mother's mom, who did not speak a word of English. Soon after though, my host father came by and showed me to my room. It was a pretty laid back night, I just met my family and settled in.
