We headed from Bremen south on the train to Koln where Merrilee had booked a hotel online close to the train station. When we booked in and opened the window to our room, we discovered a magnificent view of the Koln cathedral. What an amazing piece of architecture. Just its pure size is unbelievably impressive. To marvel at such an awesome construction and to ponder on just how it was possibly made without the benefits of modern mechanical methods is astounding. I have never been all that interested in architecture in the past, I guess I haven't had a lot of opportunity to experience a lot of architecture of any consequence before, so I was somewhat surprised when we actually entered the cathedral on the Sunday morning to find myself completely overcome by its majesty. Compounding the situation was the knowledge that my mother never had the chance to see something as wonderful as I was currently marveling at through teary eyes. I know she would have loved it immensely.
Our stay in Koln was very brief, just the one night, but wonderful as well. Wandering the streets, eating the obligatory pretzels and ice-creams, marveling at the variety of characters, (it seemed somehow different to Berlin, some kind of Italian cosmopolitan or something), was as entertaining as anything. We managed to fit in a visit to the Museum Ludwig to check out a fantastic range of mostly modern art which was fascinating not only to see but also to observe others and listen and watch their reactions to many of the exhibits. ("What a load of crap....I could've made that!!", which of course, they didn't........and it's a pretty sure bet they wouldn't have thought of it in the first place, you'd need a brain for that! Not quite sure just why those guys were in there to be honest)
We went to a fairly run of the mill steakhouse in the hope of a decent piece of meat, (not an easy or inexpensive thing to come by in Laos), and were not disappointed. It had been a while since having a nice steak, cooked to perfection, so that actually ended up being something of a highlight also. But it was time to move on, so we left Koln and boarded the train once more, heading for Worms.
Worms is not too far from Frankfurt and, like most of the places in Germany I had seen via train windows, it had its fair share of impressive graffiti along the train line walls. I am not particularly partial to the average wall scribblings of half-witted layabouts who even on their best days are hard pressed when it comes to spelling even the simplest of curse words. But I have to admit, the plethora of 'old-school' style tags adorning almost every concrete wall partition on the train lines was, to me, a bit of a visual treat.
In Worms we stayed with Franzi and her father Thomas. Franzi also spent some time with us in Australia whilst she attended school in Darwin for a few months so it was wonderful to spend some more time with her again. We spent two nights in Worms, having a great explore of the cathedral there that, whilst not as large and impressive as the one in Koln, was just delightful. We also spent a day shopping in Mannheim where we finally managed to find another skateboard store to buy a longboard for Luther. (I had already bought one for myself in Berlin.)
Before we knew it it was time to return to home base in Meisenheim to spend our last few days with Mutti and Papa. We did one day trip to the Technical Museum in Speyer. Some wonderful old vehicles and some great old boats, submarines and even a couple of old aircraft on giant stands that you could climb into via a large staircase, walk around inside, (on such a raked angle it made it difficult to stay standing), climb right out onto the wing, (which was a bit frightening when we decided to see how much we could make it wobble by all jumping at the same time; quite a lot as it turned out), then make your way out and down to the ground on a great big stainless steel tube slide. Great fun.
We then had our final trip to...... where we boarded a boat and spent the afternoon on the Rhine. I had no idea just how many castles there were in this area. Unbelievable. Some in better shape than others, but fascinating none the less.
We spent our last day in sleepy Meisenheim, just relaxing, walking through the forest, strolling, (or skateboarding for the boys), to the next village for yet more ice cream, and just wiling the hours away happily enjoying the company and the odd board game.
Of course, all good things apparently have to come to an end, so eventually we made our way with Mutti and Papa to the airport in Frankfurt. Farewells were made, promises put in place, tears wiped away and we were headed back to our home away from home.
Final observations:
Things I didn't like about Germany.
-Smoking. I find it hard to believe in this day and age that so many people in this country are fooled by this ridiculous activity. Spending most of my life in a country that has, over the years, actively discouraged people from taking up this vile practice and just recently won a world first case enforcing plain packaging, it is so disheartening to be in a country that seems to encourage the staggering number of people, (especially youth), to engage in such an archaic form of self destruction. The fact that it is accepted as being the norm is just plain outdated. Most of the rest of the developed world has moved on. We found it difficult to find places where you could just have an enjoyable meal without poisonous clouds invading your senses. Is this just Germany or is it basically all of Europe? Either way.....yuck.
-Dogs. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not keen on dogs in ANY country, but seriously...... being allowed to bring your dog into a restaurant where I'm trying to eat a meal. I think not. Most developed countries have health regulations that forbid this......for good reason. The only time a dog should be anywhere where near the dinner table is if you are eating it!
Things I did like about Germany.
-Food. This is not hard... I like food anywhere.. But here it was fresh and actually quite cheap. Highlights.....Cheeses, pretzels and fresh raspberries.
-Beer
-Transport. The roads in Germany are mostly pretty damn good. There seems to be an autobahn near enough to anywhere to be able to jump aboard and speed off to wherever. (Assuming there a no burning cars in your way) the bits of road that aren't so flash are usually the cobbled bits through the villages which have their own magnificent charm. The train system is also pretty damn awesome. Not cheap.....but definitely awesome.
-Castles. What's not to love about castles?
-Beer
-Windmill thingies. I don't know what you actually call these things, but the fact that they are dotted all over the horizon, (or in some places so thick it's like an eerie invasion scene from war of the worlds), suggests that this area of the world, at least, is doing something right about alternative energy. Add that to the various solar farms we travelled past and it makes the whingers about a carbon tax just seem even that little bit more ignorant as to what is going on in our world.
-Architecture. From the largest of cities to the smallest of villages. Sometimes it's a magnificent cathedral and sometimes it's just a single brick in a wall but there is always something to marvel at.
-Did I mention beer?
Will we go back to Germany? Definitely.
Will it be soon? Most likely.
Would I like to live there? Absolutely.
Will that happen? Who knows?....but not ruling it out that's for sure.
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