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Hi everyone! Amber, Beth, and I are currently sitting in a friend's apartment in Bonn, Germany. We arrived in Cologne yesterday from Amsterdam, and Beth gave Amber and I a wonderful tour of the city. We went into Kolner Dom, which is an enormously huge cathedral right outside the train station. It is a beautiful building, and honestly brought on some strong emotions from all of us as the outside of it is covered with dark gray residue from the bombings during WWII. After visiting the church, we walked down to the Rhine River, and through historic Cologne. We stopped in a small shop, picked up some post cards and a couple bottles of beer. Seeing as how there are no open container laws in Europe, we decided to celebrate with German beers on the street!
From here, Beth showed us the building where the first ever cologne and perfume was made (hence the name of the city). There is a huge shopping district, which we walked through but decided not to stop for anything, and then headed back to the river where we found a cute little restaurant for dinner.
After a long time of trying to figure out how to get to Bonn, where we are staying with an old classmate of Beth's, we finally arrived and were greeted by friendly faces. All three of us had an amazing time out on the town with Cassie and her friends dancing the night away at a club.
I think we would all agree the best part about this stop was the fact that we were able to sleep in today. We've been going on about 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night so we can maximize our sight seeing, but our Bonn visit was more about making some new friends and seeing where Beth lived for a month when she studied here. When we finally got up at about 12:30, we laid around some more, and eventually (also reluctantly), we made our way into the City. We went into the town's cathedral. Even though Munsterplatz was smaller than all of the other cathedrals we toured, it was probably my favorite. The detailing in the architecture was so ornate, and it was so much more warm and inviting than Notre Dame or Saint Sulpice.
The three of us also took a tour of the house Beethoven was born in. It was really pretty cool. I guess they have the largest collection of Beethoven artifacts, even though there are other museums in Vienna (houses where he lived later and died). They had an old organ that was partially ruined during the war, organs, music sheets, and a couple of headpieces that he used to help him hear in his 20's. This was actually pretty funny (though this may be insensitive), seeing as how it looked like a hair band with a sauce pan connected by a metal rod.
We had a great dinner tonight with Cassie at an Italian restaurant, and met up with the friends we made last night at a quiet bar downtown for a couple of drinks. Tomorrow morning we are off early for Berlin.
Before I sign off for the night, Amber, Beth, and I really want to thank all of you for checking in on our sight. It really means a lot to us that you're thinking about us while we're away. It's wonderful to have posts on the message board from loved ones at home. As great as this trip is, it can get kind of lonely in countries where people and languages are so foreign... so keep them coming!! Also, I PROMISE I am going to try to get some pictures up as soon as possible.
Lots of love,
Nicola
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