leaving deutschland.

while i was dreading it's arrival, all things must come to an end, and i eventually had to say "tschuss" to deutschland. i woke up early (by my standards) on saturday morning and got ready and ate breakfast. around 9am, johannes and i ventured out to take care of my last-minute shopping, which included buying two loaves of rye bread (one for me and one for richard), as much kölsch as my suitcase could fit, and about 20 euros worth of candy for my friends. then it was back to pack up my belongings (which took some negotiation between my suitcase and myself) and johannes the hero carried my excessively-heavy suitcase down the winding flights of stairs to the ground level. and before long, we were off!

we caught a train to the central station, and then had to find our platform to catch another train to head out to the airport. we made record time, and johannes was quite impressed with his planning, as he made all the connections with more than enough time. and then suddenly we found ourselves at the köln/bonn airport. once at the ticket counter, the kind lady working upgraded my flights, giving me window seats and (unbeknownst to me) putting me in business class for my united flight from boston to san francisco. seriously, how rad. for the record, i love lufthansa (excepting the temporarily-missing suitcase incident). once checked in, we met up with björn, who has been my last.fm friend for quite some time and lives in düsseldorf. previous attempts to hang out during my stay were unsuccessful, so he drove all the way to the airport to meet me - how sweet! at this point, johannes and i said our goodbyes, as he was heading off to the suburbs to take care of things. i still had nearly two hours before my flight left, so björn bought me coffee and we sat and chatted for awhile, until the time came when he had to walk me to the security checkpoint. we said our goodbyes, and i was on my own for a long journey home.

my flight to munich was quick and painless, but i did find myself crying a bit as we landed at the airport. i had such a great time in germany, but i was also emotionally exhausted because of all it took for me to get there and what it meant for me - the years of friendship building up to it, the courage i had to muster to instigate such a trip, the fantastic time i had, the accomplishment of doing the whole thing on my own and for myself, and the sadness of leaving behind such a good friend, as well as a country that i kind of fell in love with. and not only that, but i had most of my trip back ahead of me - a nearly-nine-hour-flight to boston, a 12-hour layover, and a six-hour-flight back to california, followed by a whole day of activities and bbqs once i arrived. but that part of the journey is a story all unto itself...

last full day in germany.

my last complete day in germany was relatively low-key, but it turned out to be exactly perfect. after enjoying breakfast together, i got around to some reading and journaling while johannes took care of some stuff of his own. we reconvened for lunch, after which i had tentative plans to check out neighboring düsseldorf. however, johannes decided to join me for the afternoon, and instead of venturing to the rival city, we headed out to a part of köln that we hadn't yet explored.

first off, we made yet another trip to the post office so i could mail my remaining postcards (the ones i'd picked up in holland), and then continued on. the weather was gorgeous and it was super nice to just be able to leisurely walk around and talk, and not have to deal with the mess of trains and people in a hurry. johannes took me to yet another park - this one being the one where he most often goes on his runs. we ventured through and continued down more quiet streets until we reached a war memorial in the southern part of the city, which was near to the rhine.

the memorial was atop an old fort, which appears to have been taken over by teenagers in the area and serves as a hangout, a la the stomping grounds of rufio and the lost boys. for awhile we just sat and looked around, enjoying the clear blue sky and amazing temperature. then we walked a short distance to a local cafe for afternoon coffee and cake (which is one of johannes' favourite things to do) as well as people-watching (which is one of my favourite things to do).

when we finished, we continued our walk through a bizarre area of town with a whole (unexplained) system of overhead pipes. while talking, we somehow got onto the topic of video games. johannes shared his favourite adventure games with me, and once we found ourselves back at his place, he showed me videos of some of them. highlights include the freelance police and one that a friend of his created for school. but before we arrived, we happened upon the most appropriate building: johanneshaus! well...not really all that appropriate, as further research reveals that it's kind of like a halfway house. but hell, i thought it was kind of cool, at least for a photo op.

once back, the next item on the agenda was making a mixtape. seeing as how it was via a mixtape forum of sorts that the two of us initially met some six years ago, it made sense that we make a mixtape together. after throwing thematic ideas around, johannes eventually dug up a tape cover and declared that we were going to choose songs that the artwork made us think of. after a couple of false starts and a few hours, we had our tape. so the two of us did a "test run" together while johannes prepared a delicious dinner for us, which we enjoyed alongside a bottle of bogle.

for my last night, the agenda was left open for whatever i wanted to do, but the idea of wine and a movie - in this case, "grindhouse: planet terror" - sounded better than a night on the town, so that's just what we did. all in all, a near-perfect day, tainted only by the fact that the trip was almost over.

side trip to holland.

while my original plan didn't include going outside of germany, i jumped at the opportunity to spend an afternoon in holland, the land of my people. not only did my maternal ancestors emigrate from the netherlands to canada years and years ago, but we still have family in and around leiden and amsterdam, and while my parents have visited the country, i still hadn't.

so at 8am on thursday, we were up and getting ready to take the train to the suburbs to meet with johannes' mother. our original plan was to visit his younger brother, kaspar, in maastritcht (where he attends university), but it was a holiday so kaspar was back in town for a friend's birthday. still, doris wanted to do some potential shopping, so it was off to holland we went!

we piled into the golf and johannes (resident doctor) set about to fixing the tape deck (and was successful, which meant we got to listen to mixtapes and not the radio)! in about an hour's time we crossed the border and arrived in the city. we parked in front of kaspar's flat so we could see where he lives, and then headed through town toward the river to cross to the side with the central area, which i suppose can be classified as the downtown. the whole city features very modern, light, architecture but with a lot of brick and stone, which gave it an ancient, white-washed sort of feel.

we crossed the maas river and walked through town, until we came upon an outdoor restaurant, where we sat and enjoyed the beautiful weather and ate lunch. once done, we continued and walked all over, passing a mill, some cafes, university buildings, and three churches (two catholic and one protestant, i believe). the city streets themselves were cobblestone-like and reminded me of "oliver twist" or something of the sort.

after we had worn ourselves out by window shopping and checking out a flea market in the town square, we stopped at the grand theater cafe and had afternoon coffee and some cake, which was both pleasant and relaxing. then we slowly made our way back to the car. on the way, i snapped a picture of a congregation of bicycles. i can't imagine how to even beginning finding one's bike!

continuing on, we crossed back over to the other side of town via a different bridge, and doris demanded we use the time for a photo opportunity. so at johannes' suggestion, we flashed our west side (best side) signs, cause in case you didn't know, johannes is straight-up nwacore, no joke.

then it was back to germany. we were dropped off at the train station and headed back into town, where johannes made banana pancakes for dinner!! delicious! we rounded out the night with some white bavarian beer and watched "choke" together, and then it was off to bed.

bundeshauptstadt ohne nennenswertes nachtleben.

on wednesday (i know, i know, i'm horrible at updating) we mailed off my postcards (a grand total of nearly 25) and then ventured out of town to neighboring bonn (home of haribo, the candy manufacturer!), which is about a 20 minute train ride away.

upon arriving, we headed directly to the birthplace of ludwig van beethoven, a site that was a must-see on my list. we entered the house, which has been converted into a museum that houses all sorts of writings, pictures, scores and instruments from beethoven's life. although his family only lived in the house for the first few years of his life before moving to another home within the city, the house (and one adjoining it) were purchased and preserved.

the tour itself was self-guided and not the most interesting or enthralling, but still something i definitely wanted/needed to see (although, truth be told, i am more of a bach fan than anything when it comes to german composers). the house was also creaky as can be (as johannes said, no wonder they moved!) and it housed two of beethoven's pianos, which i would have touched (kind of like when my father touched the rosetta stone at the british museum) were it not for someone in the room watching my every move. in the adjoining house was a computer lab with all kinds of beethoven-related activities...following along with copies of the original scores was pretty awesome but also crazy difficult.

when we were done with the tour, we were met by johannes' cousin, anna, and her boyfriend matthias. the four of us then wandered through a town square of sorts, which was absolutely beautiful, full of buildings with stunning design and architecture. the town hall in particular reminded me of rococo kind of style. kind of cool to note is i saw someone with a new trust t-shirt. random! anyway, we all got ice cream (i had blueberry...mmm!) and then ventured down to a grassy area just next to the rhine, where we sat on a blanket and talked. the weather was perfect for afternoon vegging.

before long, anna had to head to class, so we walked with her, and i was blown away by how gorgeous the university was, particularly when compared to the buildings at university of köln. apparently, the school used to be a castle that was built for some prince of sorts. talk about awesome. we said our goodbyes and anna told us if we walked about 900 meters further we'd run into said castle. so off we went.

now köln is an awesome city, but bonn is simply just so beautiful, with many homes and buildings preserved quite well...it appears as though destruction from the war was rather minimal in the area. i could totally see myself living there, and the walk down to the castle was serene as can be. the courtyard of the castle had cars (faculty?) which was kind of silly to see, but still very cool. we didn't look at it for long though, as we had to make it back to catch our train back.

once back, we stopped at the store to get food for our bbq later that evening. all i really wanted was corn, but got potatoes as a back-up, just in case we couldn't find corn. as luck would have it, there were ears of it available at maybe the third or fourth store we went in. we went back to the house and johannes had a snack while i took a shower, and then it was time to head out. so we stopped at the store to pick up more beer (beck's for j - mühlen kölsch for me) and headed back out to nico's place.

what followed next was perhaps the most genuine german experience i could have hoped for. i suddenly found myself in the company of five or six german fellows who were bbqing meat, drinking beer and finding themselves united over the love of the game - football. or, soccer to us americans. yes, yes, it was the uefa final, and ukraine played germany. unfortunately, the country we were rooting for lost (2-1), but they put up a good fight for sure.

more importantly, we all had a fantastic time, and much prosting (yes, i made up a verb) was had by all. post-game, we listened to the sweet tunes of die fantastischen vier before it was time to head back, in order to catch the last train. so i paused for a quick snapshot with our gracious host (nico, the aforementioned superhuman) and then it was back to the city. and twenty minutes and some beers later, we arrived back in barbarossaplatz - happy, drunk and sleepy. so it was off to bed in preparation of an early rising the next morning. suffice to say, i slept like a baby.

a day of heights.

tuesday was a day of reaching new heights, literally. we took a train down to a new part of town i hadn't seen before, close to the zoo, where we caught the seilbahn, which is a cableway that takes you across the rhine river in boxes...i don't even know the name in english, but they used to have them at disneyland (spanning the park) and also running the length of the santa cruz boardwalk.

the view from above was absolutely impressive, and we could see the whole city, many of the bridges and the gorgeous sight of rheinpark, which runs along the riverfront on the other side of town (which johannes refers to as the "uncivilized" side). the most hilarious part of all is that the seilbahn goes over the claudius therme (a spa/bath of sorts) with a section that is freikörperkultur (or fkk, aka nudists) so if you look down below during your descent into the park, your eyes will be met with the sight of many many naked old exhibitionists.

once on the other side, we ventured through the park, which is full of flowers, plants and trees, and a fantastic view across to the other side (which is supposedly the best part of this side of köln!). along the waterfront there is also a small lot of sand, and for the sum of four euros, one is able to lay in loungers, listen to techno-y music and tan! there is even a disco ball overhead. wtf. so euro!

our walk along the riverfront eventually led to a bridge that all the trains (national and regional) pass over on the way to the main city center station. lining the bridge are padlocks with names of lovers etched into them. interesting trend - like the nodern-day carving of initials into a tree. there's also quite a bit of graffiti, which is pretty standard fare in the city. each side of the bridge is also flanked with four regal statues of some kaiser of sorts on his horse.

we made our way back to kölner dom, and began our ascent to the top, a whole winding, exhausting 532 steps, which takes you 97,25 meters into the sky, which is quite high. but luckily, the view is worthwhile, albeit shielded by a chain-link fence. johannes remarked how cool it is to see things from an aerial view and realize how much empty and open space there really is below - something you don't notice when you're walking among it.

after checking out the view, we made our way down and back to johannes' house for lunch, after which i took a nap and he headed to the university for a lecture on anesthesia, followed by a run (although that was cut short by the surprise onslaught of rain). so we had dinner and then spent the rest of the evening completing the music exchange!