Our Last Week in Bonn

This last week was much shorter and more relaxed in comparison to the week that proceeded it. On Monday, we spent the morning on a guided tour of the Cologne zoo. It was the most fun and most unique trip to the zoo I have ever had. I fed a giraffe, scratched the whiskers under his chin, and saw his skinny long black tongue. Did you know that giraffes like bananas? I was completely unaware of that but I'm also not sure I ever considered a giraffe's diet before. I guess I never thought it varied much past the leaves on trees and maybe grass. We also got to see behind the scenes of the elephant enclosure. We saw some of their food and medicines and the tools the elephant caretakers use to train and work on the animals' feet. It was amazing learning all of what is necessary to house such large and potentially dangerous animals. We also got to visit the zoo kitchen including a giant refrigerator, freezer, and a well-stocked pantry. After visiting the zoo, we had the rest of the day free to explore the city. I think we must have all been a little homesick because we were determined to go to a burrito shop for lunch since we had learned that the owner who works there was from Texas. Luckily, we were not at all disappointed; the burritos were excellent. Wednesday was a day I had been looking forward to since the beginning of the trip. We took a cruise down the Rhine and toured the ruins of a castle in St. Goar. The castle was so much fun to explore and had so many awesome stories in its past. I really wanted more time to look around there than was provided by the guided tour. I kept finding new places that I needed to see more closely and there just wasn't time. The most exciting part of the entire tour was exploring the old mine tunnels that ran underneath the castle and castle grounds. Some of the tunnels were tall, but others were stuffy and required that I bend almost in half to navigate them. Thankfully, I'm not at all claustrophobic otherwise it would have been a big problem. Oddly enough, there is only one entry and exit to these paths. All of the rest of the branches are dead ends, so if you get lost, eventually after trying every tunnel, you will find your way out into the daylight again. On Wednesday, we also went to the Hildegarde museum. The day before we had a lecture on her life so that we were prepared. She was very intriguing to me for a reason I cannot quite place. Hildegarde wrote books on herbal medicine based on visions that she had. She also wrote music and even started her own abbey. This was a surprising feat for a woman of her time because starting a new abbey means that the girls and their dowry are no longer always going to the abbey that Hildegarde first belonged to. It took some of the revenue away from the first church and other leaders would not be happy with that.