Cologne, Koblenz, and Brussels

After a beautiful weekend spent in Florence, Italy, it was time to get back to school and prepare for writing the first Neurophysiology of Music paper. Wednesday we took an excursion to Cologne to tour the Cologne Cathedral. I had spotted the cathedral previously on separate trips through the city, but never dreamed that this tour would include getting to basically scale the side of the building and go all the way to the top. Our tour guide was incredibly knowledgeable and was very patient with our large group creeping through the tiny hallways and gawking at the views from each level we stopped at. I was astonished at how ornate the cathedral was, and still can't believe it took six hundred years to complete!

In addition to visiting the cathedral we also popped in to the history museum next door to it. The mosaic on the floor that can be seen from the window was incredibly ornate and, although partially damaged, was beautiful on the floor. However, what caught my eye most was this stone piece titled "Relief mit Eber und Hund."

The quote on the description reads "A small dog may bring a boar to bay and the weak may overcome the strong." This spoke to me particularly because it's inspiring to be reminded that intelligence and morality overcome size and strength.

Thursday we visited Koblenz and got to tour an opera house. Although it was much smaller and more intimate than the Cologne Cathedral, most of the aspects of sound reflection and refraction made more sense to me in this space than the other. I particularly enjoyed getting to be on stage and looking out to see the performer's perspective. It was also interesting to get to go through the hair and wardrobe rooms--So many crazy wigs. Following the opera house visit we went by gondola to visit a fortress. While I enjoyed learning about the history and the uses of the fortress, my favorite part was actually the view at the end of the tour that overlooked the whole city. We saw where the rivers merged and watched boats go by.

The rest of the week was spent writing and revising my paper to make sure everything was set for the weekend. Friday night, the majority of us hopped on a train to go experience the one and only Karbohlz (aka watch Henning make crazy eyes and point his drum sticks at us). To be honest the music festival was much bigger than I anticipated, and everyone around us was covered in Henning's merch. In fact, not only were we not prepared for Karbohlz's following, we also missed the "everyone wear black" memo, so I'm convinced that's how Henning could spot us so easily in the crowd. Needless to say, we were all very sad when we had to leave the fest early to catch our train back, but we rocked out hard while we were there and loved supporting our favorite program coordinator.

Saturday morning we left bright and early for Brussels, Belgium. I didn't have much knowledge of Brussels before embarking, but I knew that I had to try waffles, chocolate, fries, and Belgian beer. So, of course our first stop was a street cafe to grab some lunch. Chocolate waffles--check aaand check. Next we went to check into our Airbnb and get situated in. This ended up turning into four hours of relaxing and talking, which wasn't what any of us planned on but was much-needed after a stressful week. Next we went out to explore the city. I have to say, Brussels is absolutely underrated because this was probably the most beautiful city I've visited this far. We went through the Grand Place (the main plaza) and got free beignets, and then walked through the city until we found a lookout spot to overlooked a large garden. Here we sat on lawn chairs with wine and admired the gorgeous day. Sometimes my favorite parts of vacation are just sitting around and taking in the view instead of constantly moving to the next attraction. Also, I picked up some fries that definitely added to my level of happiness.

That night we ate one of the best meals I've had on the entire European adventure--traditional Belgian food. I ordered what appeared to be a sort of gulasch-esque dish with beef and a gravy sauce, but I also helped Sarah with eating her mountain of a pork knuckle. This thing was the size of a chihuahua on the plate and won for the best pork I've ever eaten in my life. By the end of the meal our pants were all too tight and we practically rolled back to the Airbnb.

The next day we did some more exploring and passed by the Mannekin Pis (little kid peeing in fountain). I'm still a little confused on why it's considered a masterpiece, but I'll leave that to the Belgians. We also finished the trip with a little souvenir shopping, chocolate eating, and a final Belgian beer before returning to Bonn. Finally, we all made sure to stroke the statue from head to toe that is supposed to symbolize that you'll return to Belgium one day--a promise I intend to keep. This trip was short but so, so sweet.