The First HW to Meet!

I was quite today when I woke up because we were due to meet the first of many HW’s for the trip, Andre.  Although we’ve met a couple of times before, it’s always been on home soil for me.  Finally I get to meet some friends abroad, and try a new city, Cologne. 

Andre is a great guy, I’ve got heaps of time for the man.  It so happened he had taken some time to meet us, despite it being mid-week and a good two hour journey away for him (via two trains!!), just to show us around and catch up.  He arrived a fair way before us and took us straight to the cathedral for a look around.  It’s humungous!!!  You can actually go to the top of the tower as well, but we weren’t too fussed and so took our time manoeuvring around the tombs and relics instead.  Our next stop was over the bridge to the Panorama and another great view of the city from the outskirts.

The bridge had so many padlocks attached to it.  This confused me at first and I assumed they were for luck or some remembrance; I assumed incorrectly.  On a closer inspection, they all seemed to bear some inscription about marriage.  I guess the padlock symbolised being locked together for better or worse.  I don’t know.

The Panorama is a tall building and is circular in shape.  It has an open flat top with glass walls which you can go out on to view the city.  On a clear, blue-skied day like today, you can see for miles.  It’s very intelligently laid out as well with silhouettes of the cities most notable building printed on the glass in alignment from a certain view point.  You inevitably find yourself playing games of find the buildings as you walk around the perimeter.  There is also a distance and direction printed on to show where the major cities are in relation to Cologne.  It’s a great idea to add a bit of fun to a viewpoint.

It was now time for a bit of lunch and seen as it was such a pleasant day, we thought lunch by the river would be nice.  Ah man, I freakin’ love schnitzel, especially when it’s washed down with some Brachaus!!

After the lunch, Andre took us to Colner Hofbrau Fruh, the most popular bar/restaurant in Cologne.  All in all, it was a lovely day, but like all good things.... it was time to catch the train.  The three of us went to the station and had to get the same train to back to Dusseldorf.  Whoa, thank god we still had Andre with us!  There was so much confusion at the station!  One of the lines had closed, but luckily our train wasn’t too long delayed.  Instead though, on a last minute tannoy announcement, we had to run to another platform.  There was no English translation and so we were totally reliant on Andre.  I repeat, thank god we had a German native with us! 

Me and Lori said a short-term farewell to Andre and went back to the hostel.  We had just enough Euros left for a train ticket the next day to the airport (and one last drink each )and so had to endure last nights potatoes and peas for tea, not our finest of meals, and went to find a bar showing the England – Ukraine football match.