19.2.10
Although Im about two thousand miles from Montana I still feel at home. Sitting in the Munich airport waiting for my last flight I cant stop thinking about a few things. First why I failed to sleep at all on the flight to germany; I simply sat there counting the amount of people flowing to the bathrooms, the number of times something dings during the flight and sat dreaming, conspiring, and creating an image of something that would just blow my mind when I saw it and yet here I am. The only thing that has struck me as peculiar is how shining and flashy the airport terminals were.
Next there is the question that I have been asked by anyone and everyone about this trip "Are you nervous?" As I sit here, still all that I feel is hunger. A hunger for food in general because ive been up for way to long and a hunger to see something; to feel and explore. That hunger is starting to get stronger as Im surrounded by a nonstop onslaught of the German language surrounding my every movement and thought.
Gabe met me at the airport and gave me a brief show around. Im quite amazed by this city and cant stop myself from staring at all the buildings and all the culture. We stopped by a giant cathedral where the bones of the three kings are buried. Its a beautiful building with a ton of history(600 years to build it) mixed with some new age culture and art.
Next we took trains to see Gabe's family the Hoyer's. I met Katja and Maria at the house. Katja, Gabe, and I chatted for a while about our plans and what Im to expect in
Gabe was amazed with my energy and consciousness after traveling for almost 22 hours. Luckily I survived traveling with absolutely no jet lag. We were riding along and I was continuously asking him questions about the buildings, signs, what they meant, and how to say some of the most basic things in German so I dont feel like a total ignorant american. I have to say German is a very hard language to speak, it focused very far back in you throat and I sound like a complete idiot trying to say anything but I couldnt be having anymore fun.
Gabe went with me into the hostile and made sure I got all settled in before he left for the Hoyer's. The hostile is very nice and well kept. I believe Im going to enjoy my time here a lot. I have two roommates who are mysterious because I havnt seen them yet, a sink, toilet and shower in the room. Well now its time for a nap before Gabe and I are attending Isabelle's eighteenth birthday party tonight which I cant wait for.
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This might end up being one big entry with many different days and entry's cause I have had some difficulty connecting to the internet but ill get things figured out.
20.2.10
"Jeremy Im peeing and I hear music!"
To most this would sound more like a drunken slur or phrase but that is quite the opposite...let me bring you back a bit.
I woke up from my nap around six with some time to kill before I met up with Gabe for the night. I had to pull myself out of bed because I was quite tired and it was dark outside so it was natural for me to want to go back to sleep. I needed something to eat and get my brain functioning. I decided to go out and find a grocery store.
Not knowing where anything is at, I choose a direction and started walking trying to find something. After about twenty minutes of walking the streets are becoming less lit and im moving into streets filled with apartment complexes and dark office buildings. This wasnt that pleasing to me for there was almost no light and completely bare streets. Frustrated with my findings i convinced myself to walk a couple more blocks and i started looking up all the side streets looking for light and food.
Finally at the end of the last block, I looked left and saw many signs for restaurants and businesses. Determined to not go back to the hostile as a failure, I wandered down the street eventually finding a small grocery store where I bought a loaf of break, black cheery jam, and nutella.
Satisfied I made my way back to the hostile and made a sandwich. After I finished my sandwich I went down stairs to meet Gabe. To his amazement I was fully functioning and ready to go to Isabelle's birthday party. We set out for the metro and headed off. We didnt know exactly where this party was but Isabelle said get off the metro stop and look for lights and music it was impossible to miss.
I call bullshit on that we were fucking lost! For all you concermicous's(not a real word) we wernt completely lost we just couldnt find the party. We set off looking in every direction where we could see lights and had the possibility for a party. Negative after waling around everywhere for over an hour, finding a pair of glasses and returning them, having my first German beer we wandered back to the metro stop.
Disappointing and sad we stood waiting. Gabe needed to use the bathroom so I told him we will wander over towards the trees and up to the next metro stop to waste time until the next train came. Keeping an eye out while Gabe went into trees peeing, Gabe turns around and yells, "Jeremy Im peeing and I hear music!"
Sure enough you could hear a faint beat every couple of seconds. We took off tracking the sound. We found a fourteenth century castle with music and voices exploding out; we had found Isabelle's party!-by the way the party was a James Bond themed party, everyone was dressed in their best.
Entering the castle we immediately saw Isabelle and gave her her gift and she welcomed us with open arms although we were a few hours late. We walked inside where the dance music was blasting and filled with kids. We still had our coats on and Isabelle told us to go downstairs and place them in the coat room. A very friendly man Kevin showed us where to go. He noticed right away that I dont speak but ten words German and kindly switched to English. After he, Gabe and I chatted for a while covering the basics we had made a new friend who was our song translator, and information expert for the night and he was no more than sixteen years old.
We sang and danced through the night meeting many new friends who loved us since we were from the US and it's their dream to go and live there. We danced to everything from the Black Eyed Peas, to the song for the Cologne futbol club, to a song about being drunken. Everyone spoke English for us and translated songs and chatted over many topics. We were a hit and soon found ourselves in the middle of the dance floor and picture bonanza.
Exhausted but accomplished we said our good bye's to our new friends and arranged for us too meet up again soon before I leave to Madrid. Walking back to the metro stop Gabe and I started talking about the night and came to this conclusion. Yep, id say it was a great first night partying in a fourteenth century castle and meeting over a dozen new friends. We said our good bye's and Gabe and I headed in opposite directions towards our respected house's.
Now with my stomach full of a delicious breakfast of granola, fruit, meat, cheese, yogurt, and juice Im setting off for today’s adventure.
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21.2.10
Yesterday was another excellent day here in Cologne>. I met Gabe at the Dom(Cathedral) at two. Then we set of to a secret part of town that Gabe wanted to show me. There was a futbol game going on later that day and he wanted me to experience a beer with the German people. When we showed up it seemed as though we had missed the crowd and they had already headed off to the game.
We walked around a little longer just looking at buildings and planning what to do. We came across a museum the Ludwig Museum. We proceeded inside to find out that it was a new age contemporary art museum. As neat as it could have been Gabe and I decided that nine euro's was to expensive for us. We then stayed in the lobby for some time relaxing in a lay down spot. This was a very neat thing to see and the lay down spot was very uniquely designed.
It was a very long roundish bed about waist high and about thirty feet long. The bed appeared to floating in the air because it was completely unsupported for the bottom, the only support that it had was a giant three foot wide pillar that ran from the ceiling to the floor. One end of the bed was connected to the pillar. Gabe and I looked on in amazement that this was completely supported from one pillar and the rest of the thirty feet sat two and a half feet of the ground.
We began to test how sturdy this actually was and to our surprise it was fairly sturdy. It did have a noticeable amount of give when you sat on the end. Rested and ready for action we set off to find something else. We were walking back towards the Dom when Gabe asked me if I wanted to climb the Dom. I was completely thrown off guard by this question and didnt give an answer I just looked at him. He said there was a staircase that goes to the very top that we can take.
Very excited we set off for the Dom and wandered inside. We found the staircase however it was enclosed in a glass case. We were disappointed and then we saw people come down the stairs and then more people went up. We were then determined to find the entrance. We searched high and low throughout the cathedral. Unable to find the entrance we left. Once outside we noticed a down arrow near the end the Dom giant tower. Discouraged we look down there and sure enough it lead to a glass door.
Once inside the glass door we found the entrance to the stairs. We paid our fee and stood at the bottom of the stairs. It was a 533 stair climb to the top. Gabe and I set up the stairs at a fast pace. Instead of it being a standard stair case that Im use to where you go up a flight and then cut back it was one long spiral stair case. Gabe and I hugged to the inside and didnt stop until we reached the top.
Once at the top I was struck by so many things. First there was the breath taking view, you could see three hundred and sixty degrees to the skyline. You could look at all the buildings and listen to the sound of the city. It was a truly amazing sight. Next thing that struck me was the fine detail on every piece of the Dom. Nothing lacked a creative design, every inch of the Dom was finely designed and well crafted. I would definitely give them an A+ in craftsmanship.
After the Dom we found a nice warm place to relax for a wile before setting off the the Hoyer's house were they had invited Gabe and I to dinner. After arriving at the house Sebastian there son challenged me to a game of table futbol. I accepted only to find out that he is a very good at playing and lost to an eleven year old only scoring one point. Sebastian was very nice and then wanted showed us his room. The Hoyer family is very kind and took us out to a very nice restaurant that used to be a blacksmith shop about thirty years ago. I had a lot of trouble reading the menu so Werner helped me out and I ordered Schmiedefuer which translated means fire of the blacksmith. It was a fairly spicy meal with beef strips, shrimp, fired potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, red peppers and many other vegetables.
After our excellent meal Gabe and I wandered downtown to a restaurant to watch a live jazz band play. They were very good; everyone in the group was an excellent musician and could really play their instrument. Unfortunately we only stayed for two songs because I was dead tired.I returned to the hostile where I had one of the scariest experiences in my life.0
Still I have not met any of my roommates and actually they both left that morning so I was expecting someone new in the room. All the lights were off so I quietly shut the door and began getting ready for bed in the dark. As Im taking my camera off my head I hear something that sounded like German scolding and then the most terrifying laugh I have every heard. I was completely frozen, I didn’t no what to do or say. I stood frozen for about twenty seconds and then said hello.I was answered by a muffle and some snoring. Soon I came to relived conclusion that he must have been sleep talking.
Slowly I climb into my bed still listening to any sudden movement…I was a woken in the morning with a sudden slam right by my head and the door smashed into my bed. It was the cleaning service. I asked him what time it was and he said late 1030, I had overslept breakfast. So I sat in my room and had a black cherry and nutella sandwich with some dried fruit.Everything is going great here in Cologne, Gabe and I are going to meet up later and ride bikes through the city.I miss everyone and hopefully I will get things figured out and we will be able to start communicating soon!
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22.02.10
Around three thirty yesterday I headed to the Hoyer’s house to meet Gabe. I found him helping out by cleaning up their drive way. We were going to ride bikes into the city and go to an evening mass at the Dom; however I was a bit late showing up and we decided that it would be easier to do the seven oclock mass instead of five.We went inside and I said hello to Katja and Werner. They were taking Sebastian and Maria to the Romisch-Germanisches to see a bunch of magnificent Roman tiles and art from when they ruled here.
Unfortunately we arrived when they were closing so we wernt able to go. Werner said we should go to the Ludwig Musuem. We went there (Gabe and I actually went in this time) and looked at the many kinds of art.That museum if huge, its five floors of art! It was very neat to listen to Werner and listen to him tell us about the art and about the time period of the art, he had a great deal to say about the Picasso section of the museum.
Time didn’t allow us to visit all five floors but what we got to see was a great time.After Gabe and I went to mass at the Dom. In this Cathedral there is no heat so it was quite chilly in there. Gabe’s body went into survival mode and he drifted of to sleep to keep from thinking about the cold. I agree with Gabe’s theory because it was much warmer with your eyes shut.
After we finished mass Werner suggested that we go to the Kolner Philharmonie and see this amazing Austrian orchestra, one of the best in the world. We went to check it out and it was a little too expensive. The last minute cheap tickets were 128 euro’s. As we were about to leave we met York, one of the Hoyer’s neighbors who knew Gabe. He told us that there was still a chance to see the orchestra. If we waited until the intermission we had a chance to get back in. Everyone gets a green card when they go outside during the intermission and sometimes people don’t stay for the second act.So we waited, watching people come out.
Most weren’t leaving because they didn’t have their coats; they were just taking a smoke break. York managed somehow to take time from getting signatures for his petition to get three tickets. Just like that we were in this elegant building full of upper middle class and upper class people.We walked to take our seats and were completely blown away by the sight.
We were completely dead center of the stage. York was telling us about the acoustics of this place and that you could hear a pin drop anywhere in this place. That was completely true, this place was completely elegant; Gabe and I didn’t know what to do with ourselves. This wasn’t a little orchestra either: it had three violin sections each with about eight violinist, 5 cello, 6 string bass, triangle, percussion, 3 french horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, many flutes and clarinets, violas.
There was absolutely no amplification in the building yet you could here everything so clearly, we were some twenty rows up and we could here every time the triangle was played, it sounded as though is was being played right next to us.
This was the first orchestra I have heard live and it completely blew me away. They way they played their instruments was amazing and how they would all collectively stop on a dime with perfect timing between all the instruments for a few beats and you could hear absolute silence then they would all come back in with the same pitch that they stopped with.That was a truly unbelievable experience one that will never happen again. It was absolute luck and the kind heart of York that got us this experience. We are truly grateful for that experience.
Gabe and I went out to in Irish pub right after to have a quick drink so we can call it an early night. Gabe introduced me to new beer Strongbow a Belguim beer. It was magnificent, something I didn’t expect out of a beer. It is a light beer but with a unique taste. It’s almost like having sparkling apple cider beer. It had such a rich, sweet, fruity taste.
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23.02.10
Yesterday was a good day, i spent most of the day exploring cologne. I walked for hours around finding many little shops and bakery's. I found some old record shops and one gigantic music/computer/movie/technology store called Saturn. It was located in two different buildings and both building had three floors covered with music, movies, etc. Another neat thing that I discovered is that they classify my music genre as alternative pop and I found a lot of artist that i thought i would never find.
Cologne is a very neat town. It is a very proud town and so is most of Germany. Cologne loves its own beer kolsch. It is only found here and everyone drinks it. If you go to a bar and order something else they give you a weird look. One way to spot a tourist here is if they j-walk. People of Cologne obey the rules very well here.
Another thing that is very noticeable is the culture in their town and how proud they are of it. They have many cathedrals that are absolutely magnificent. They are placed everywhere throughout the town and are absolutely magnificent. All the buildings around are just unique and have their own personality.
After a whole day of walking I went back to the hostel and took a quick nap before I met Gabe at eight. Wrong! I feel asleep not waking up for almost 4 hours and my alarm clock didnt wake me up and now it is ten to eleven. That was quite unfortunate because Gabe and I were meeting in order to figure out when to meet for Gabe's german class tomorrow. I shot him a quick email to see if by chance he would get it and then i set of the the city to see by slim chance if he was there.
Negative, so i returned to the hostile and checked my email once more(i had to pay for internet at my old hotel and it was fucking expensive and i couldnt get it on my laptop) and Gabe sent me a message expressing his deep concern that i wasnt there and hoping that i was not in any trouble. He arranged a meeting time and just as i was sending the conformation email my internet time ran out. I was out of money, there was no atm around and i went to bed.
I woke up early to pack my stuff to meet gabe and to move to my new hostel. I met Gabe at our meeting spot hoping he would come without a confirmation. I waited, 5, 10, 15 minutes past the meeting time and i thought he wasnt going to come. Sure enough just one minute later Gabe came up on his bike.
We headed of to German class which was hard as hell, i cant speak but 10 words german. So i sat back for four hours picking up little pieces and Gabe was there to help me with any questions that I had. Now i can say i know twenty german words but the pronunciation is terrible.
After class we headed to the Hoyer house. For dinner the kids, Gabe and I were going to make Pizza for dinner. Arriving to early to start baking we played some basketball with Sebastian. He was quite good and loved having more people to play with.
Soon it was time to make pizza, we headed inside and Gabe and I got to work. We did most of the work on the pizza because Sebastian and Maria were busy playing. This pizza turned out great! Gabe and I experimented with a few toppings with our section of the pizza and it was quite good.
After dinner it was quite time in the Hoyer house and I helped myself to on of their national geographic s. Eventually I found myself nodding off and was surprised that it was eleven thirty so I headed back to my hostel and now im off to bed.
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