Halfway done...?

This week consisted of an exciting combination of Bonn, Cologne, Koblenz, and Brussels action.  We started off with having Montag (Monday) off which gave us all a much needed day to recoup after returning from Prague.  On Dienstag (Tuesday) we had our last German class for the summer :/ we're all going to miss Hilde's witty German teaching tactics.  Now I'm on my own to communicate in the German world with a packed arsenal of dankeshun, bitte, and zhalen bitte.  These seem to have gotten me this far so I think I'll end up being okay.  Mittwoch (Wednesday) we had a quick lecture and took a train to the city of Cologne, home of an incredible Cathedral.  At first glance I can admit I was in less shock than others.  This being due to the missed train to Amsterdam during my first weekend, resulting in an unexpected personal excursion to Cologne for three hours.  However, the second time I actually went inside which was even more impressive than I could've imagined.  We got to see the three gilded coffins which supposedly hold the remains of the three wise men.

After this we were led on a tour of the Romano-Germanic museum which was right next door.  Since I took latin in high school I'm a sucker for Roman history so I loved this portion.  

After the museum we headed back to the Cathedral for our guided rooftop tour.  We took this really old looking elevator that looked out onto the city of Cologne.  Although we didn't even make it halfway up the actual height of the structure we were incredibly high up.  Getting to see the inside of the cathedral from a birds eye view was amazing.

Once we took enough pictures to last a lifetime we descended down to the bottom floor to call it a day for the program.  However some of us decided to stay in Cologne to grab dinner and explore the city a bit more.  We were feeling spontaneous so we just walked around until we saw a place that looked like they maybe had some good food.  Of course we ended up at an Italian place like we always do and ended up finishing the night with pizza, wine, and good times.  Next we all headed back to Bonn to get ready for another full day excursion to Koblenz.  

We woke up bright and early and were on the bus to Koblenz by 8 am.  The first thing we did was tour the Koblenz Opera House where we were able to go backstage and see a performing crew warming up for a show later that night. The building was horseshoe shaped and was the theatre I chose to write about for my first Neurophysiology of Music paper.  Next we had a solid 3 hour break to go enjoy the beautiful 65 degree weather and have lunch by the Rhine.  After this we hopped on a gondola that took us on a climb across the Rhine and up on top of a hill where we explored an extremely old fortress with a breathtaking view.  

We had an early class on Freitag (Friday) in order to get the details worked out for our trip to Hannover/Nordeney the next week.  Afterwards we all decided to attend our program director, Henning's, concert in a small village about an hour away.  We had no idea what we were getting into but wanted to come out and support our friend.  Little did we know Henning is a famous drummer in Germany and his band was headlining an entire festival. Everyone there was wearing all black with Karbholz (Henning's band) across their T-shirts.  Needless to say we all stuck out like sore thumbs but we still embraced it. We jammed out all night to their music even though we couldn't understand a single word of German.  After every song Henning would point at our group with his drumsticks and we would go crazy. Unfortunately we had to catch a train before they had completely finished playing because otherwise we wouldn't make it home until 5 am and we had an early train to Brussels, Belgium to catch.

The next morning we shipped off to Brussels and even though we were running on fumes from the concert the night before, we had to power through because of the short time we had to explore.  The first thing we did when we got there was check into our air bnb which has a great location right in the middle of the city. Then it was time to try and check off the bucket list items which were to have Belgium fries, waffles, and beer.  The fries were the easiest since around every corner there was an on the go stand. We walked to the royal palace and hung out in a beautiful park where everyone was napping or reading while laying in the grass.  Unfortunately there was no time for a nap because our time was ticking down.  My favorite things about Brussels had to be how lively the city is and the Grand Place.  It was packed with activity as everyone was out and about all day long, especially around the Grand Place, pictured below.  

That night we went to this Belgium style restaurant where I ate the best meat I've ever had in my life. I had chicken wrapped in bacon with mashed potatoes which may sound simple but was actually far from it.  The chicken was falling off the bone and our group agreed unanimously that we had never had anything like it before.  It was really hot in the restaurant from them cooking the meat but because the dishes were so delicious no one seemed to care one bit.  

Despite being in a time crunch a quick digestion session at our air bnb was necessary before we did any further exploring.  After attempting to comprehend how good the food we had just ingested was for about 20 minutes, we went back to the Grand Place at night to see it lit up and just as lively as it had been at 1 o clock in the afternoon.  The next day we headed back home on a train just to get back and pack all over again.  We had to leave at 6 am the next morning for Hannover and then Norderney for our continued adventures.  Everyones continuing to get so close to each other and I have a feeling lifelong friendships are being formed.  Only a few weeks left and it feels like I just landed in Frankfurt yesterday. However I can confidently say I've experienced and learned more about myself and the world than I thought I would by this point in the trip. 

P.S. sleep is for the weak.