"They will see us waving from such great heights."

My day of travel to Köln (Cologne) began at 6:40 AM last Saturday. I ate some breakfast (peanut butter and banana sandwiches), met up with Ola (from the Schlossgrabenfest a few posts ago) at the trolley stop by our apartments, and went to the train station where we were to meet two other North American students who are also participating in the RISE program in Darmstadt. Adam is an electrical engineering student from John Brown University in Arkansas, and Peter is a mechanical engineering student from Mississippi State University. Here is a picture that Ola took later in the day (from left to right) of Adam, myself, and Peter. Since we had time before our first train departed, I walked around the station and took a few pictures. Here, here, and here are pictures of the hauptbahnhof (train station) in Darmstadt.

The train ride was not at all what I expected. In order to get cheap tickets, we agreed to travel on only "local" (or short distance) trains with multiple stops and two transfers along the way. This ended up turneing out nicely as we were able to see, at least briefly, a number of cities along the way. On the way to and from Köln, we transferred trains in Mainz and Koblenz and made a stop in Bonn among other cities. Since we had some (a little) time in Mainz, I ran out into the plaza in front of the hauptbahnhof in order to get some good pictures of the city. Here and here are a couple. Our train was delayed in between Mainz and Koblenz, so we ended up having a window of only a few minutes to find and get to our next train at the Koblenz Hauptbahnhof. Naturally, a dramatic dash through the train station (straight out of Hollywood) ensued, complete with a jump over two girls to the bottom of an escalator (earning an awed "Whoa!" from both) followed by a sprint to the train doors as they were closing. [Don't worry. No animals (or humans) were harmed (or ever in danger) in the making of this adventure.] I had a good laugh when, after several minutes of being in the train and a few past the departure time (still with an accelerated heartbeat), we hadn't yet left the station. Apparently, that train also had delays, so the rush was unnecessary.

The highlight of my trip, perhaps even more than Köln itself which I will get to later, was the German countryside. As our train paralleled the Rhein for much of the trip, I was able to see a number of breathtaking river valleys, beautiful river towns, and impressive castles and monuments. Here, here, and here are pictures of some of the communities we passed along the way. [As a side note, the German government is shutting down a lot of their nuclear reactors which has brought both lavish praise and stern condemnation, making it a big issue in their upcoming elections.] But the castles! Oh the castles! Here, here, here, still here, here, and here are a few of the many pictures I took of them along the Rhein. It would be interesting to learn about the history of each of them and thoroughly explore them, but one can only do so much. I think that I will make a conscious effort to explore at least one castle extensively while I am here. Oh, and did you notice that they farm even on the steep banks of the river valley? Also, is the symbol on this flag on our family crest? In any case, here is a picture of my three companions. They were all very easy to talk to.

When we finally reached Köln (thanks for being a good sport and reading all this), one of the first things we noticed was the Dom, which dominated the skyline (here). Honestly, when I exited the train station (which was right next to the Dom) and first cast my eyes upon the Dom, I was short of breath at the shear immensity of it. Here, here, and here are few pictures. As a little history, the Dom was finished in 1880, and at 157 meters tall, was the tallest building in the world until the Washington Monument surpassed it in 1884. According to Let's Go: Germany, "Today, construction continues to repair the damage wrought by WWII and centuries of pollution, pigeons, and acid rain." So, in honor of the historical nature of the Dom, I had my friends take this picture, so that I could ask the question, "Where's Michael?" in honor of the Where's Waldo? series that I really enjoyed as a child. Were you able to find me?

We toured the inside of the church, and while I did not want to take many inside, here and here are two. Apparently, the Dom houses the remains of the Three Kings (of the Bible), so I definitely took a picture at Shrine of the Magi here. But, perhaps the highlight (no pun intended) of touring the Dom was the 509 stair trip to the top of the south tower and look down at the town below. The stairs were very narrow with no railing on the way up and unfortunately, there was writing all over the walls (here, here, and here). I am really surprised how close they let us get to the edge (here, here, and here)...

In all seriousness, here is a picture of the barrier. The view from the top was great and the weather was perfect. On the way down we stopped in the belfry (here).

After seeing all of the Dom, we traveled to a few other sites in the city: an excavated Roman barracks (here, here, and here) and an excavated Jewish settlement that is one of the oldest in Germany (here). We also walked down to the Rhein and took a few pictures. Here, here, and here are a few.

Eventually, we began our return journey to Darmstadt after a very long day. But, I did manage to take some more photos of the journey, some of which I will share with you here, here, and here; still here, here, and here; and finally here, here, and here. Finally, here and here are some pictures of Mainz, the city where I had my Hollywood adventure.

I am so glad that I was able to visit Köln. More importantly, I am glad that I was able to make a few friends. We will be seeing each other over the summer and going on a lot more adventures. I will forever remember my first serious excursion during my summer in Germany.