Cologne, Koblenz, Cochem and Trier

This weekend was amazing. I started out by going to Cologne, which is right on the Rhein, and I walked around, looked at the Dom (cathedral) in Cologne, which was absolutely breathtaking! The outside structure was very Gothic, and it was enormous. I couldn't get far enough away from it to fit it all in my camera. I did get the most memorable part of it, though. Anyway, so I met up with Vicki, Mary, Sarah G. and Kasi there, and we went to a very German restaurant called Brauhaus Früh, which also specializes in a beer called Kölsch, which basically means it comes from Köln, the German spelling of Cologne. I normally do not like beer, but I figure I couldn't go to Germany and not try the beer. Well, I have found a beer that I actually like! This stuff was good. For dinner I had what they called a Bockwurst, which tasted like it was a step up from hotdogs, with Sauerkraut and mashed potatoes which they called Püree. After dinner, I went back to my hotel, but I meandered, and by the time I got there, it was 11:00. I had intended to go to bed early, then wake up early enough to sit by the Rhein before I took a train to Koblenz. That plan fell through, since I didn't wake up until 8:30, and then I was rushing to get to the train station in time. I caught my train, and just before noon, I made it to Koblenz, where I met up with a girl I met at the Goethe Institute, named Kendra and her fiance, Michael, who is German. Kendra and I wandered around Koblenz for a while, and saw the Deutsche Ecke (German Corner) where the rivers Rhein and Mosel meet. There is a really cool monument there, which Kendra and I went into to take this picture. We took pictures of a lot of things, including more pieces of the Berlin Wall. There was another really pretty church there, actually about 3 or 4, two of which I went into. The first one was hosting a concert of Handel's Messiah, of which I only caught the latter half, but it was still pretty amazing. The second one I went into Sunday morning, when they were about to have Mass, and since I had never been to a Catholic Mass before, I decided to stay for it. It was very interesting. I wasn't able to interact with it very much, since I am not very familiar with German words associated with worship. It was still a very interesting experience. On the same day I went to Koblenz, Kendra took me to see Cochem, a very quaint, purely German city. It was really cool. The architecture was exactly what you would expect from a German town. I was amazed to see the first thing off the train was this sign. (Gleis translates to track or platform) I couldn't believe my eyes! They must be Harry Potter fans. This was this common type of architecture in this little town. There were also a lot of vineyards and wineries in that area, so I went to one and tasted some of their wine. I have mentioned before that Germans love ice cream, but until I visited this town, I had no clue to what extent. They have what is called Spaghetti Eis (ice cream). Doesn't that sound disgusting? However, they only make it look like spaghetti. They push it through a machine that makes it look like the noodles, and then the "sauce" is berry juice or glaze, and the "cheese" was white chocolate shavings. It was very tasty. The next day, Sunday, after I went to the mass, I headed for Trier, which was originally a Roman town, so it has many Roman ruins. I was touring this town alone, so I didn't have much of an idea of where to look, so I decided to try my luck, and headed down what I assumed was the main street of the town. Once again, I got lucky and only after a few minutes of walking I found Port Nigra, a Roman ruin. There was a souvenir shop, so I went in to look at postcards. I found some that basically served as my tour guide, since it had all sorts of pictures of what to see in Trier. So once I had those, I almost continually asked strangers questions like, where is the Dom, and where is the location of this? I asked in German, and they answered in German, and I understood them! That was very good for boosting my ego. I went into the Dom here, and surprisingly enough, I think it was the prettiest of all the others inside, including the famous one in Cologne. I also saw another ruin called

Kaisertherme,

the amphitheater,

a Basilika

and a palace.