Spiderman! Stop doing that to the Cologne Cathedral!

We stopped at Saturn, a Best-Buy like store, when we were in Cologne. Near the entrance, a wall was decorated to look like the Cologne Cathedral. Spiderman was on top of it, squatting.

Does it not look as if he's squatting squatting, if you catch my drift? How rude, Spiderman!

Get all your vices at one convenient corner in Cologne

This isn't the first cigarette machine I've seen next to a roadside candy machine, but the placement is a bit absurd. It's obvious what the placement is trying to sell first. Maybe the goal is to have children be distracted by candy on the lower level while their parents are buying cigarettes above them. What marketing!

My week: June 28 ed.

I had German lessons and a lot of stress in the beginning of the week. I had so many things to get done at home and realized the enormity of some of our upcoming projects at work. My brother and sister-in-law were visiting at the end of the week. I wasn't sure how I would get everything done until I had the liberating thought: instead of trying to work a couple hours before I picked them up in the afternoon, I would just take the whole day off. Duh. I stress myself out so much by trying to do all the things. As it was, I was up until midnight the night before working on things and then spent two hours the next day preparing. I was so glad that I didn't try to go into work!

-I picked up my family at Frankfurt Hahn, which is not really anywhere near the actual Frankfurt. However, the drive is pleasant; I take the 63 to the 61 to the 50. My GPS was bound and determined that I should take the 6 to the 62 and I told it absolutely not. The construction that way is just awful right now!

We headed to Bingen, where we sat under a tree near the ferry and enjoyed the delicious, vegan picnic I had packed for us (based on this meal that I made for friends) since SIL is vegan. Following lunch, we took the ferry across the Rhein River to Rüdesheim am Rhein and basically repeated the trip I took there in December, minus the Christmas market part. This gave my family the chance to see a twee German town with fachwerk buildings.

-We continued to Cologne, where we walked around, had dinner at Cafe Especial (which is some of the better Mexican food I've had in Germany), and viewed the Cathedral.

The next day, we wandered around Cologne some more, stopping to eat lunch at a vegan restaurant (which had delicious quiche and a "milk" shake with cookie dough that we shared). We also browsed a record store and Saturn, then had to get on our way back home.

Originally, I had planned to meet with my friend R in Kaiserslautern, but we got stuck in a nasty Stau on the 61 and would've been too late. Instead, we met in Mainz and ate at Im Herzen Afrikas, which is a delicious Ethiopian restaurant. I've been meaning to try the Frankfurt version for quite some time. Even though we didn't have a reservation, they were able to tuck us into a corner.

-On Saturday, we got a late start and headed to Heidelberg. Just after arriving, we were stuck in a fierce thunderstorm so we hung out at Red, a vegetarian restaurant where we had purchased lunch.

When the storm had abated, we continued to the Heidelberg castle, taking the Bergbahn (mountain rail) to get to the top. It's possible to hike up there, too, but it's steep, we didn't have time, and we had no interest in coating ourselves in any additional sweat. Unfortunately, we were too late for the English tour, but my family was content with wandering the castle grounds.

Afterward, we walked around Heidelberg and stopped by the Kulturbrauerei, a beer brewery and restaurant.  My brother had wanted to visit a beer hall but this region (and points west) is known for wine and beer halls aren't so common. C, who used to live in Heidelberg, came to the rescue with the name of the brewery. There wasn't any dancing on tables or any lederhosen, but they enjoyed the beer, nonetheless.

We grabbed a train home and ended up back in Kaiserslautern around 11 p.m. My family was hungry but it can be difficult to find a restaurant whose kitchen is still open that late, even on the weekends. We lucked out and convinced the staff at Spinnrädl to cook us something, even though most of the staff had gone.

Everyone was happy with the place; they were able to put together a beautiful vegan salad to my SIL's specifications; I ate some Kaesespaetzle, and my brother ordered some incredibly regional food, liver dumpling soup and Saumagen (a Pfalz specialty that former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl loved to foist upon visiting dignitaries). 

I'm not a huge fan of German food normally (it's too heavy and not always so vegetarian/vegan friendly) but I do like visiting Spinnrädl with guests upon occasion because of its ambiance (it's the oldest surviving fachwerk building in town); it serves traditional, regional dishes that are tasty (well, to the meat eaters); and while it's tourist-friendly, it's somewhere that the locals eat too and prices are in line with other restaurants.

-The next morning, we got up early so I could drop off my family at the airport again. I'm so glad that they visited and I was able to share my life here with them. I hadn't seen them for 2.5 years and won't see them again until next year when I visit the US.

-Following that, I had some work to do, went strawberry and cherry picking, ran to the store to pickup some household things, and even made strawberry jam using hot water bath canning. Phew! 

December's Adventure: Day 5, Part 2: Cologne

St. Ursula Church
Ursulaplatz 24
Cologne

Earlier on day five, we huffed and puffed up and down more than a thousand stairs at the Cologne Cathedral as mentioned in Part 1. That was a beautiful trip to the cathedral. We were then ready to see something unusual: the Golden Chamber (Goldene Kammer in German) at the Basilica of St. Ursula. It's an ossuary filled with decorative arrangements of human bones.

We silently perused the church, taking in the architecture and adornments. However, we didn't see one thing in particular: the ossuary! I turned around and looked toward the main entrance to the church. There were two doors on the side. One was locked and quiet. A woman walked up and opened the other door, which turned out to be the ossuary. For about two euros a piece we were admitted and spent about ten minutes taking in the room. Photography without a flash is allowed so these pictures have an odd hue.

I would say that it's definitely worth a visit to the Golden Chamber. It's very unusual, interesting, and of course, a bit macabre. There is a legend about St. Ursula and the 11,000 or 11 virgins (that's quite a difference!) who died with her during an attack of the Huns. Supposedly those are the bones used to decorate the Golden Chamber. A very bored-sounding gentleman who worked at the Domforum said that the bones were actually from the Roman graveyard that was removed to make way for the current church to be built.

Whether these bones are legendary virgins (11 or 11,000? Gee, maybe the legend got distorted like a game of Telephone!), or just from ancient Romans, it's an interesting visit that encourages some memento mori.

She may just be hiding bones in that belly!

This Mädchen either had brain surgery...or she's hiding bones in her head! Either way, she seems strangely happy.

Seen in Cologne: some McIrony

We saw this in Cologne and laughed:

 A McFit gym is next door to McDonald's.

My cousins asked me if McFits were always placed like that and I laughed even more. Nope, they aren't, per se, but it's a funny juxtoposition.

December's Adventure: Day 5, Cologne

For most of day in Cologne, we spent time at the Dom, or the Cathedral. We took the hour long tour offered at the Dom for seven euros. I highly recommend it; there is so much to learn about the cathedral and with the tour, it is possible to enter the locked area near the altar where the shrine of the three magi stands. Without the tour, one must just look at it through the bars.

Our tour guide, Sandra H., led us around and gave us a lot of interesting information about the Dom. In a small amount of downtime as we were heading to another part of the church, I asked Sandra more about her tours. She is a PhD student writing her thesis on Art History. She works for herself as a tour guide (I understood that to mean that she is a contractor).

He wears his Dom on his sleeve...or maybe on his tunic!

I used to find history class boring in school but now it has come alive as I'm seeing the actual sights and learning about how everything fits together (i.e. the Hohenzollerns, Hapsburgs, Burgandy dynasty, etc.). I was especially thrilled to find out that "our" (i.e. Kaiserslautern's) Friedrich Barbarossa has ties to the Dom. He is the one who took the relics of the three magi from Milan to Cologne. Oops, maybe that is not something to be proud of?  Regardless, I always get excited when I hear about Ol' Redbeard since he is kind of a big deal in Kaiserslautern.

After the insightful tour, we were invited to see a video about the Dom, included in the cost of the tour. It is across the Dom's plaza in the Domforum. I was hoping for additional information about the Dom but it was mostly a photo montage with some goofy narration. It's not a must-see.

The real trial of our day awaited us: we returned to the Dom to climb the tower. To find the tower, look to the right of the front doors. There are some stairs that lead down to the ticket booth. Prepare your lungs, your legs, and your vertigo; pay the admission fee; and be on your merry way up the 533 stairs.

Be forewarned though: climbing the stairs isn't for those with health/balance problems, claustrophobia, fear of heights, impatience with obnoxious teenagers, and blah blah blah. My issue is that I have started to experience bouts of vertigo at times. It is especially pronounced in winding staircases, which was the whole climb. I was thankful that these stairs were somewhat wider than most others though. There was room for someone to climb up the stairs while someone walking down could move to the side. A few alcoves along the way offer a spot to catch one's breath, but it's a tight squeeze.

We huffed and puffed and reached the bell tower portion of the tower. The corridors around the bells are very narrow so claustrophobics, beware. We left in at the right time because about five minutes later the bells started ringing.

We climbed more stairs and came to an open area with the yet another set of stairs. These are what bothered me: it was set up like a scaffolding and the whole thing moved slightly as we stood on it! If the stairs had been see-through, there is no way I could have made myself climb it as walking on grates frightens me. Thankfully the stairs were solid so I mentally kicked myself in the hiney for some courage and puffed up the stairs. We finally made it to the top of the tower! The views were amazing and it was interesting to get a closer look at just how big the decorative finials are.

Then it was time for the winding trek down the stairs. This was actually where I was concerned because I tend to get dizzy as I'm descending so many stairs and there is worry that I'll get disoriented and slip. My cousin D was feeling dizzy too. It didn't help that I heard a herd of rowdy teenage boys thundering up behind us. In fact, one almost crashed into me. I turned around and very sharply growled at him, "hey!" He got the point and backed off. There is no point in rushing down the stairs because they are busy and it's dangerous for everyone with traffic flowing both ways.

We safely made it to the bottom. Phew! Our next trip was to see St. Ursula's Church, which was featured an ossuary. More about that will follow.

December's Adventure: Day 4, Cologne

Cologne, or Köln, was our destination on our fourth day of vacation. We arrived in the early afternoon and unloaded the car at our hotel, the Alt Deutz. I then needed to park the car so we dropped it off at the Luxness arena around the block.

Later on, I'll write a more detailed review of the hotel. It was old but clean with some interesting accents, such as what I termed "dead Muppet carpet" (the pattern looked like Muppet fur) and super steep stairs (seriously, the handrail was vertical in one spot!). We actually found the hotel comfortable and strangely charming for all its budget-friendly quirks.

We then headed out for lunch and found a Mexican restaurant just a few blocks away. I hate to turn down the opportunity to eat Mexican food as it's my favorite thing. I am always guardedly optimistic that it'll be good. Unfortunately, the offerings in Germany are usually just "okay."

Our meal at Cafe Especial in Cologne was the best Mexican food I've had in Germany so far so it was a success! It wasn't perfect, but Mexico is far away so I'm okay with that. I'll write more in a review later, too, but we liked the rustic interior with wooden floors and a huge open seating area. Service was standard and the food was good (though not authentic...more like German TexMex -- GerTMex?).

Following the meal, we walked west to downtown. I was pleased to see that our hotel was only a 15 minute walk to the Cathedral (Dom). What I did not think was so cool was that people littered the Hohenzollernbrücke on the way with tons of the love locks. It's supposed to symbolize unbreakable love when a couple puts a lock on the bridge and throws the key into the river. To me, it symbolizes immaturity; vandalism of public property; and littering (and the possibility of harm to wildlife in the form of keys thrown into the river). The locks actually damage the bridge, causing it to rust faster. Removing the locks is also damaging too. I'm sure there are far better ways to show one's devotion.

Not cool.

Egads, someone is insecure!

When we reached the Dom, or Cathedral, we walked through the Christmas Market there. It was lovely, especially with the Dom as a backdrop! Even though it was a weeknight, it was still quite busy.

My cousins mentioned that it was their wedding anniversary. I guess I also must clarify when I use the term "cousins," lest people thing that two blood relatives married each other! My cousin by blood is D, the wife. Her husband M is my cousin by marriage :)

They hadn't made any particular plans for celebrating, so I decided that I'd buy them wine and some nice things to eat. We lucked out; there was a Galeria Kaufhof in Cologne. Galeria is a department store with many offerings. The bigger stores include a gourmet food section. We lucked out doubly because the Cologne store had a huge and lovely section in the basement. We oohed and aahed over all the delicious things and ultimately chose some delicious chocolates, French soft cheeses (thankfully not stinky!), crackers, and two bottles of wine from the Pfalz (where I live).

As we were leaving with the delicious treats, we checked out the store windows, which were amazing. An entire animated Christmas wonderland had been set up. There were many Steiff teddy bears and other animals. Someone posted a Youtube video with a previous year's display here. We were fascinated by the display and looked at it for quite some time. It was both magical...and a little bit sinister, but not like the bloody gnomes in the window in Strasbourg. I think that when anything inanimate, even a cute teddy bear, gets animated/mechanized, it can be slightly creepy. Either way, though, it was a fascinating display that must have taken quite a bit of work to put together.

See? It's a line of monkeys jabbing a carrot into the face of a woodland creature. I'm not sure why.

We returned to the Dom and decided to have the little anniversary party in the small park in front of the Dom. We didn't have any proper cups, let alone wine glasses, for the wine we bought but made do instead with two glühwein mugs for my cousins and an empty water bottle for me. To serve the cheese, we put its wrapper on a park bench and used a plastic spoon I had thought to save from an earlier meal. The chocolates did not need any special handling.Thank goodness none of us were high maintenance!

It was a wonderful feast and we giggled quite a bit about our elaborate table setting. Of course, the two bottles of wine we drank also contributed to the giggling! I thank German laws that allow for public consumption of alcohol in a responsible manner. I also thank Galeria for the great selection of gourmet stuff that tasted great and surprisingly didn't break the bank. Ahh, the benefits of living in Europe!

Our delicious feast, served in such a fancy way.

We were ready to traipse back to the hotel after our lovely meal but I wanted to stop by the Hauptbahnhof to visit the ladies' room first. Let me tell you -- that bahnhof is like a MAZE! My goodness. I am sooo glad that I really paid attention to where I was going and also naturally have decent navigation skills. When my cousins were waiting for me, I actually exited through a different door to the WC than where I came in so I didn't see them. I knew that there were two entrances but got disoriented. I then had to navigate basically in a square to find them. The surprise they showed when I popped up behind them was hilarious. Seriously, though, pay attention in that train station. 

We made it back to the hotel with no problems (though probably not in a perfectly straight line, by any means). I had super steep, dead Muppet stairs to climb to get to my room so I sent my cousins a Facebook message to let them know that I made it to my room safely. It had been a really fun, silly night.