Park Inn Cologne Belfortstrasse

Just a quick note to have a little pin in my last (which was also my first) city of my excellent European trip :)

I had a really nice evening with Alwin and Stephanie (my original hosts in Europe), walking through the old town, having some nice hot red wine, and then some beers at a local brewery. Nice night, and then slept really well to go take my train to the airport in the morning...

I had a nice 10 hour flight from Dusseldorf to Fort Myers, Florida...

... 1087;ерет 77;кает в друго 81;, людск 86;й поток не конча 77;тся, прото 83;кнутс& #1103; к лотку с глин ...

... because you can't truly experience Germany without drinking beer, but she had a good time anyway. Unfortunately I won't be taking anymore days off for awhile because Yoni has come down with the chicken pox and spent all day today throwing up :( . I'm hoping it passes quickly because I can't clean up puke without puking myself, not a pretty sight. Fortunately, he's been staying in bed pretty much all day so even though I'm staying home, Teri and I still had a good time today making sugar ...

... br> I've also joined an English book club. It's a great way to fulfill the English major itch, and a great way to meet new people. Last month we read The Children's Book, a book I heartily do not recommend. But nevertheless it's great just to have a reason to visit The English Books and Tea Store where the meetings are held. Not only is it warm and cozy, but the English owner will regale you with stories about Patrick Stewart and cheekily ask your weight (in ...

... piled up this high manages to stay vertical. Was 13th century engineering all that trustworthy?
In any event we got to the top and the view was fantastic. It seemed that we could see all of Cologne. We were looking down vertically on the vast soaring church we had admired from below. And still the stone spires shot up from us, yet higher in to the sky. How high was this thing anyway?
It was awe inspiring and left me searching for ...

Well, we had a bit of a hiccup on the way to Cologne, Germany but no worries, made it after having to take about 5 trains. Luckily for us, we were ready for some beer! Wandered up to Dom Cathedral - one of the largest in Europe - and just happened to be there on Aug 15th, one of their major holidays. Strolled down to the river bank for some more brew at Lowenbräu. Not the prettiest city, so we were ready to move on...

... it was at a port. Well, that didn´t help me much considering the fact that most of Cologne and all of the neighboring cities are located along the Rhine River. His boat could have been anywhere. Next I asked him, "Do you know what train stop you need to go to?" He said, "No, but maybe I go where you go." Not sure that his port was anywhere near where our stop was, I replied, "We are going to the Main Train Station in Cologne (Cologne HBF). I don´t ...

... we are from Dubuque and two, we have the benefit of spreading our indulgences over the many hours of the day. So, to all you skeptics, no, it isn't that we just cannot find the seventh market. We are men after all and, even more, men with maps. No, we are definitely at the right plaza. We even circle around twice before I send Chad to walk in on the middle of a church service just to make sure the market isn't hiding inside. Nothing ...

... alot of creepy old guys staying here.. and i woke up with a cold!! :( oh well!... tomorrow we catch an over night train to salzburg but we have to check out before 12 pm.. so well have a lot of time to kill.. maybe take a walk along the rhine river or something.. that would be nice. I gotta run!! people are waiting for the computer and I have laundry to do!... Will write in salzburg although i might be intoxicated considereing were headed there for oktoberfest... til next time!!

... I would have liked, but oh, well! When our language class started we all had to write a letter to the editor about the Government banning Cigarette advertisements. It was quite easy for me to do and I wrote nearly two pages in the time that it took some to write half a page. And that was without a dictionary! Thanks Monash Uni for making me have to write 300 word essays in 30 minutes in the end of semester exams... So I think that mine was OK...

After that we did a ...