The Half-way Point

Another great week in Germany has come to an end and we are now three weeks in and halfway through the program. This past week we went on two excursions, one to Cologne on Wednesday June 7th and then another to Koblenz the following day.

Cologne was very enjoyable, we began by visiting the unbelievably beautiful cathedral there and receiving a quick tour by Dr. Wasser where he explained a bit of the church's history and its significance to the people of Cologne and Germany, particularly during the world wars. We then headed to the Roman-Germanic Museum right behind the cathedral which was full of really cool ancient monuments, tools, artifacts, and sculptures. Many of these were amazingly well-preserved and often very interesting. There was a gold-coated diadem decorated with various almandine garnets that used to belong to a member of the nomadic Eurasian elite. It was apparently a symbol of power and influence, similar to the ornamented swords used by the high-rank horsemen at the time. Not many of these diadems from the 5th century were preserved unfortunately, below is a picture of it:

After our visit to the museum, we returned to the cathedral were we received another tour of the church, this time by a tour guide who took us into the literal insides of the cathedral, the parts that regular visitors have no access to. This was an incredible experience as we were able to learn a lot about the construction process of the church, including the fact that it took over 600 years to complete! In fact, construction of the cathedral is said to never seize, and that when it does, the people of Cologne will no longer have a purpose and the city will never be the same. We finished the day with a nice dinner before heading back to Bonn, where we prepared for our trip to Koblenz the following morning.

At Koblenz, we visited a classical opera house where we received a tour by one of the people who work there. This tour consisted of learning about a lot of the behind the scenes work that goes into every show and performance, from makeup art and outfits to the sound and lighting systems that are used, among many other things. It really put into perspective for us how much effort goes into every show, which one might not always realize as a regular attendant at a performance. We then had a nice lunch break which was then followed by a tour of the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress on the other side of the Rhein river. This fortress was absolutely mind-blowing and gigantic. We learned about many of the battle strategies that were used during the world wars, particularly those used for defense and protection, which from the looks of it seemed to be extremely effective.

It is one thing to hear about such places as these and another thing to walk through them yourself. These excursions have been very enjoyable and rewarding and they only seem to get better. Next week we'll be visiting the island of Norderney which promises to hold a very relaxing and lovely experience and I could not be more excited for it.