| Lessons in German |
| It was almost by accident that we ended up in Cologne, Germany this past weekend. It was great timing for a trip with friends and after much deliberation of where to go, we decided to let price be the determining factor. Having heard of these super cheap flights that run from small airports to a random list of cities, we thought we would check it out to see if it was legitimate or not. Weary of "special deals", we started plugging in possible destinations, only half-believing we would find anything interesting. I must say that upon imagining our stay in Europe, Germany was not on the top of my list of must-sees but when we saw Frankfurt as an option, we decided not to discriminate. The price was unbelievable---49.99 euros to get there and one centime to get back!---so we did not hesitate. We found a bus that would take us to Cologne from the airport shortly after our arrival and although we knew this would make our trip a "planes, trains and automobiles" adventure, we felt up for the task. Our itinerary had us meeting at the train station after school to take a train from Marseille to Montpelier (2 hours), a plane to Franfurt (1 hour) and a bus to Cologne (4 hours). This put us in Cologne at three am on Friday. |
| Having been sick for the week prior to our departure, I was kind of worried that I would be visiting all the public restrooms more than the tourist sights. Determined to go nonetheless, I went to the doctor to get as many drugs as I could to ensure that I wouldn't miss out. This is when it gets funny. I walked into the doctor's office begging for anything that could make me feel better before Germany and walked out with a carton of suppositories to be taken three times daily! This was not what I had planned. Having spent a lot of time in France growing up, I guess I should not have been surprised seeing as to how it is common practice here but come on! Didn't he hear me say I was going on vacation? I guess that explains how I would spend my time on the planes, trains and automobiles. Enough said. |
| So armed with my carton of torpedoes, Jeremy and I set off with our friends Colette and Liz on our German adventure. As predicted, we arrived in Cologne after our triathlon voyage at 3 am and proceeded to wander the streets in pursuit of our hostel. The combination of our exhaustion and the fact that German street names contain like 12 consonants in a row, resulted in us circling the enormousDom Cathedral (see picture on the Cologne page). At 3 am and after a 4 hour bus ride into dark unknown territory, it looked like a creepy gothic fortress frowning down on us. Having eventually found our hostel, we were all too happy to be given the key to our mysteriously stinky room. Hostels are always touch-and-go but I definitely got the shaft in the bed lottery. My sheets refused to fit regardless of how many times we rotated them and the fact that they looked identical to all the others. This turned out not to be that big of a deal, however, seeing as to how my bed promptly broke after Jeremy sat on it. That settled, Jeremy and I shared a twin. |
| The next day I was shocked to wake up in Germany. Travel is so strange that way. . .especially when it is done in the middle of the night! Yesterday I woke up in my bed and today I am in Germany. So cool. Anyway, fearing the showers, we basically threw on the same clothes (luxury of the backpacker) and stumbled out into the cold. As it turned out, we chose the perfect time to visit Cologne because the whole town was riddled with Christmas decorations, festivals, and markets. Let me just start out by saying that the Germans sure do know how to have a good time. I was amazed. They are just so happy and helpful and unassuming. Everyone just seemed to be out to have a good time. Walking around the markets, we were surrounded by people laughing it up, trying all kinds of food, and drinking anything from the traditional German beer to warm mulled wine. |
| The Dom Cathedral is situated right in the heart of the city and is just as immense at it first seemed upon our arrival. It seriously just looms over the city. Although not really that big into churches, they're always interesting to explore in foreign countries. . .and free. For a minimal fee you could climb up one of the spires which overlook the city and the Rhine river. In pursuit of some good pictures, we decided to try it out. We had no idea that it was going to be a thin, spiral staircase made of slippery stone with no breaks and zero visability. It was like a bad joke. There wasn't even a railing and no indication of how close you were to the top---just a steady stream of eager beavers pushing their way up and down this dark staircase. The over 500-step climb paid off, however, since the views were awesome. (You can see pics from the top of the Dom on the Germany page.) |
| The rest of the day was just spent bouncing around Cologne, walking around and exploring whatever looked interesting. We walked around the markets for hours, checking out all the booths and trying as much food as we could handle. Everyone was walking around with these huge bratwursts in these tiny buns. It was really funny looking so of course we had to try one out (check out the picture) along with the warm mulled wine to keep our hands and noses from freezing off. Germans love their chocolate almost as much as they love their beer and having read that there was a Chocolate Museum within walking distance, there was no way I was missing out on that. The whole place conjured up images of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (a long-time favorite of mine) and it came complete with all the yummy smells, an assembly line producing various chocolates, and yes, a chocolate fountain (check out the picture on the Cologne page). Although I was disappointed to discover that the advertised fountain was not the chocolate river I dreamed of diving into like "August" in the movie ("Save some room for dinner, August"), I was happily consoled when we were each given a free taste. |
| There was no way we were leaving Germany without having checked out a few beer halls so that first night per the recommendation of the aforementioned stinky hostel, we went out in pursuit of this popular beer hall and brewery. After much confused turning and street sign decoding, we found ourselves in front of this unassuming door with a curtain over it. Pulling back the curtain was like opening a portal which transported us into some weird alternative universe. The place was packed with shouting Germans, sitting at big wooden tables or leaning on walls, and waiters carrying huge trays of beer and food, randomly screaming in German to their co-workers. I have never been so confused in my entire life. Along with the fact that we couldn't understand a single word, we failed to notice any sort of seating system. There were people just sort of milling around everywhere and there did not appear to be a single open chair in the whole place even though it was gigantic. We felt we should be in line somewhere but had no idea. Finally after like 10 minutes of standing around like idiots, Jeremy sort of ambushed one of the running and screaming waiters and sputtered out our one well-used German phrase---"Sprecken ze Ingles?" (No idea how to spell that but it means "Do you speak English?") This is always really embarrassing because you are basically admitting that you are incompetent and feel like a big American imperialist assuming that everyone should speak English, but sometimes there is just no other way. The guy shouted out to the "English expert" waiter who dragged us over to the middle of a room and just kind of left us there, telling us to stay. Everyone just sort of looked at us standing in the middle of the room like mimes and then went on with their festivities. The waiter reappeared with a beer for each of us and kind of signed the fact that we were going to have to wait for one of his tables to open up. |
| This happened sooner than we expected and before we knew it we had new beers and German menus featuring dishes consisting of 17 consonants each. We had no idea what any of it meant. Liz decided to order the longest word on the menu. Somehow I ended up talking with the couple sitting next to us who spoke some English and he began eagerly translating the menu for us---"This is potato and cabbage served with a blood sauce", "This is a pancake with potatoes and cabbage", "This is blood sausage served with potatoes and cabbage". I am not sure if we lost something in the translation there. The beer just kept coming and I guess somewhere in the confusion, we ended up ordering our food, because so did our meal. To this day I have no idea what I ate except that it was not what I expected and the waiter insisted on me eating it all. I am not a big fan of the food-forcing which resulted in Jeremy secretly finishing off most of my meal. |
| We figured out the beer system after our 3rd or 4th round when our neighbors informed us that the beer hall rule is that if you finish your glass, you will receive another beer automatically. If you leave a little bit, it means you are done. Those are the rules---hence the huge trays of beer. I like those rules. So do the Germans. By the end of the night, most of the beer hall was singing and our waiter was speaking fluent English. (Apparently the waiters are allowed to dip into the barrels in Germany too.) We walked back to our stinky beds amid wobbly-legged Germans stumbling and laughing their way home. |
| We spent the next day walking around the markets again and tasting more food. For some reason the market food was significantly less scary and super appetizing. They had the widest variety of chocolate-covered fruit that I have ever seen. I could barely tear myself away from it. We had heard that the markets were open late, lit up with Christmas lights, and basically turned into a big party so after braving the hostel showers, we slipped outside. . .into the rain. Oh well, we took our cue from the Germans and just ignored it. There was this stage in the center of all the food and beer booths where this singer was performing both English and German songs. It was pelting rain but everyone was determined not to let it ruin their fun and so just proceeded to slosh around in the downpour, singing and dancing. It was really cool to see. We stayed as long as we could stand the cold rain and then trudged off, dripping wet, to look for cover and a cool German bar. |
| This was in my mind, the highlight of the trip. Escaping from the rain we landed in this packed beer hall filled with dripping wet people. It was two floors and decorated with all of these weird artifacts such as a peep show slot machine and antique beer posters. There were these two life-size puppets behind the bar playing instruments and traditional German drinking songs. Their eyebrows wiggled as they played which was kind of weird and a little scary. It was an interesting collection of people of all ages filling up the bar and having a great time, and as the night went on, everyone was singing their hearts out and swaying with beers in hand to the songs. (Check out the video clip.) Even though we didn't know the words, we somehow felt compelled to sing along it was just that cool. We closed the bar down that night, outlasting most of the Germans, and went to bed on a high. |
| Trips are best ended on a high point such as this one, and although it was with some sadness that we left Cologne the next day thus ending our spontaneous trip, I felt comforted by how great it all turned out. As I reflected on our time spent in Cologne on the bus, plane, and train ride home, I tried to piece together what it was that made Germany such a great time. The beer or the food or even the chocolate (although those certainly served their own wonderful purpose!) were not what stood out most in my mind as I replayed the events of the last four days. It was the Germans living it up despite the bad weather, the market never closing as a result of the rain, the concert crowd persisting despite the downpour. These are my lessons in German---dance like no one is watching, sing like you know the words, and don't let a little rain get in the way of a good time. |
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