Köln and Frankfurt

One of the last big hurrah adventures our little group took was to Köln and then onto Frankfurt to meet Blake's cousin there.
First we took a regular, regional train to Osnabrück to get in a sweet ICE train down to Köln. The four of us piled into the train and found a little room with seats free. Once we filed in we all exclaimed that we felt like we were going to Hogwarts. Most of us had never been in a compartment on a train before, so we felt rather awesome.

A few of us started joking about Anne, having had the nickname of Hermione for a while now, and I were Ron and Hermione. (Yes, yes, yes. Go ahead and make the jokes now). We took a picture of the two of us on the train but I couldn't find the Hogwarts outfits for both of us to make this joke a reality (or a photoshop reality at the very least). So instead I went for Slytherin, it's my house anyway.


When we stepped out of the Bahnhof (train station) in Köln, we were greeted with not only the oppressive heat, but also the impressive sight of the cathedral. I know I have yet to see the soaring spires of the cathedrals in Italy, or any other place that has some awe inspiring structures, but this one left me breathless. It was by far the largest church I've seen and the intricacies of the details were mind boggling.
After we checked into our Hostel, we decided to take a peek at the inside of the cathedral. There were impressively detailed murals on the floor, soaring stained glass windows, hanging organs, and stunning paintings all over the walls of this church.

It has to be the tallest church I've ever been inside. Easily. And what do I do with tall things? That's right people, I climb them!
So after taking easily one hundred pictures of just inside the church we paid the few euros it took to climb the tower....and climb we did. Up and up and up and up and....up some more. It was a never ending spiral.
Finally we got to the top of the tower and explored around on the terrace that ringed the top. Just to the east, the Rhine river snaked by like the fattest, laziest serpent I've ever seen. The city stretched out below us like a giant table cloth, unending in every direction we could see.

After we exhausted this building, seeing everything we could see, buying everything we needed to buy, and just maybe depleting the batteries on our cameras, we decided to go into the city to see what else it had in store for us. We walked around as the sun went down, watching the city lights come to life under the darkening sky.
There's a certain feeling that you get when you're in a foreign city that you can't help but gape at, with a group of close friends, as the sun goes down and the music comes out. You feel dirty, tired, hungry, and yet like the most vibrant being in the universe. This is living. This is exploring. This is my life.

You may have wondered why I've talked so much about this city and cathedral and yet haven't really posted a picture. Nothing I took during the day could even compare with the one I snapped that night on the way back to the hostel. So instead of bombarding you with tons of point and shoot moments, I wanted to leave you with one lasting one.

That night we all sprawled on top of out sheets and blankets in as little as our honor could muster and tried to sleep in the oppressive heat. Well most of us did anyway. Ty bailed on us at about 2 in the morning and we didn't see him again until the sun came up. Now that's an adventurer.

Early that morning, after Ty came back, we all piled sleepily into another train car and found out that we had first class tickets! HUZZAH! We all took pictures being super fancy in said first class seats (sadly, Anne had to leave us at this point because she had another adventure waiting for her in Norway).

We're TRYING to act fancy

More classy...

supah fancy....

This part of the traveling has to be the most beautiful. Even though we never quite got into southern

Germany, we were able to pass through the rolling hills that would lead up to the alps. While everyone else napped on the train, I stood and drooled at the window as i watched us slip along side the river, passing gorgeous buildings, vineyards, and cozy little river side towns. I keep telling people that I found my soul down along the river in those little foothills. As the train pulled away from the Rehin, I never wanted leave. I wanted to set down roots and flourish like all the vines along the hills. Sadly, I am human and I don't do the whole "root" thing. so the train pulled away and I looked longingly out the window.

We reached Frankfurt without so much as a hiccup. We did the typical walk to the hostel in the even hotter

Say no more, I'm coming in!!!

city and checked in. We hung out there for a while, sometimes going out to buy some food or anything else we needed/wanted. Finally Blake's cousin and her mom came in and we all took a nice walk down to the Innenstadt to grab a drink.

When you think of Germany what do you think of? Cars? Beer? Oktoberfest? Pretzels? Lederhosen and Dirndls? Well y'all, that's southern Germany for you. Pretty much all of it....
So when I say this city felt GERMAN, it means it felt SOUTHERN German.
It was a dang beautiful place and worth all the pictures here.

That night we went back to the hostel for the free spaghetti social. We all picked a table with a few other people and I started to make friends right away. Isn't that the point of being out and about? Well we met this very nice Australian darling who was living in England at the time and just traveling for the sake of it. She was funny and sweet and I'm very glad to have met her. After that I moved down the table and met a boisterous man named Jordan. He runs a blog called signmyguitar.com. He has the coolest carbon fiber guitar I've ever seen, and he's good at playing it. He has been traveling for the sake of it as well, but he's been collecting signatures and videos of talented people he happens across, and man does he pick the good ones.

It was a beautiful finale to our trip with an epilogue made of a wonderful foggy morning on the train ride back. I loved spying tiny farm towns through the fog, tucked back in between the hills we passed on the way home.