Köln und Heidelberg!

Dear readers:

Sorry for the delay. Internet trouble plus being very tired last night equals lots of difficulty getting a blog post up. So today's post will be longer, and less thematic -- for the purpose of updating you folks. No-frills and direct, in the German tradition!

We arrived in Cologne from Dusseldorf roughly on schedule, met up with Kallista's friend Julia, and left the station, only to be faced with this, which I was not even remotely expecting:

Slapped in the face with a beautiful cathedral? (High Cathedral of St. Peter, or Kölner Dom, if you were wondering.)

Both the station and the cathedral were right next to the waterfront, so Julia, Kallista and I went to a little restaurant on the waterfront and had flammkuchen. Apparently it’s traditional to have it with bacon and onions, but I had it with gorgonzola and pear.

I also had the local Cologne beer, which is famous for being 1) a major source of pride for Cologne residents, and 2) generally served in small and oddly shaped glasses:

(I thought it was pretty boring, but it worked fine in this case because it didn’t overpower the strong flavors of the flammkuchen.)

Delicious food and great conversations all around -- for several hours, in beautiful weather! 

It was great to meet Julia; she seemed quiet, but cool. Would have been nice to hang out with her more, but she had work before then, and work the next day. Bad timing! But we made the most of what little time we had.

(That's Kallista on the left, and Julia on the right, leading us to the station en route to the airbnb place where we spent the night.)

Now, Kallista and I have parted ways -- me to Heidelberg (where I am at present), and Kallista back to New York. It was sad to split up, but she had other engagements, and I had to go meet up with Ina and Jörg, so it had to be done.

They have been excellent hosts, by the way. When I arrived, we had a mid-afternoon snack/small meal of homemade tabbouleh (courtesy of Ina and her knowledge of Moroccan/Spanish cuisine!), and almost immediately headed out in the direction of More Food. En route, Ina and Jörg gave me a short Heidelberg tour; we know each other well enough to know that we’re all history/language enthusiasts, so that tended to be the general theme of the tour.

Examples:

 

 (Church of the Holy Spirit)

 

(Heidelberg town hall)

And did I mention how phenomenally beautiful this town is??

 

 

With the mountains and the river running straight through the city, I can't help being constantly reminded of my hometown of Missoula, MT -- which, as it happens, has a sister city right next door to Heidelberg. (Kallista spent a summer studying German there, as a teenager -- unrelated to any of our reasons for visiting Germany! (Fortuitous?!))

Didn't get a chance to take a picture of the food we ate when we arrived at our dinner destination, but I did get a picture of the hops(? I think?) that they had hanging from their ceiling!

  

And I did get a picture of this morning's breakfast. 

Approximately from left to right: Danishes from a local bakery; bread rolls from a local bakery, buttered and ready for more toppings; a huge block of gouda (for the bread); yogurt (for Ina); Strawberry rhubarb jam (also for the bread), prepared and canned by Ina's mother; Nutella, and instant espresso (not as bad as you'd think).

Currently sitting and blogging while Ina is finishing a project for work. It's been a nice, productive early afternoon, doing laundry and blogging and such. Looking forward to more new and exciting experiences in Heidelberg in the coming days!

<3

- Beth