Sorry, there is no punch line to my title. Why you ask? Because it's not a joke, but actually my strange and ever-changing life :) The past Saturday (August 28th) I woke up bright and early to get ready and to head for the u-bahn. I had looked up previous trains and my regional express that I was planning to take from Bonn to Köln let at 10:01am. I got to the ubahn station outside my house and took that to the Bonn Hbf. Once I got off the ubahn, I had about 2 minutes until my train to Cologne left the station. I ran to my platform, waited for about a minute and then boarded and was off! I arrived to the Köln Hbf (main station) a little bit before 10:30. Ariel had given me his itinerary earlier and I knew his train from Amsterdam was supposed to arrive at 10:48. Köln's Hauptbahnhof (main station) is pretty cool (but still has nothing on Berlin's Hbf.. seriously, I
still can't get over that place..) so I just hung out there and got a fresh banana and pineapple smoothie and waited. (Yes Naemi, the smoothie it was delicious and I thought about how much you would love it the whole time). As his arrival time drew nearer, I decided to look up which platform he would be coming into so that I could attempt to meet him at the train, instead of running the risk of him getting lost. I found the information I needed and quickly headed over to the platform. The train was already there, and by the looks of it, had already been unloaded for the most part. So I knew at that moment that Ariel was
somewhere in the train station.. now it was my job to try and find him. I had exchanged cell phone numbers with him earlier in the week (his work gave him a phone to use in Amsterdam), but because of my current plan, I wasn't sure that I would be able to call his Dutch phone without receiving a ton of charges. So I didn't call and just hoped that he would get a hold of me. Luckily, he did just that and I received a phone call from him shortly after. He said he was waiting at the Starbucks in the train station, and I told him that I was in another part of the Hbf, but that I would be there in a minute. I walked into the Starbucks and there he was sitting with his little laptop using the free WiFi (man, do I remember those days not so long ago...). It was such a weird feeling to have Ariel, my old Costa Rican family friend meeting up with me in Cologne.. Germany.. Europe.. Very surreal moment. He quickly gathered his things which consisted of only one bag since he was only going to be staying the night. We headed out into the brisk air and walked straight to the adjacent Dom. I tried to give him a little info on the amazing Cathedral and he took pictures and marveled as all do, at the incredible structure. After staying at the Dom for awhile (we didn't go in however), we headed out in search of some Essen :) I felt somewhat bad because I didn't really know what to really show him besides the Dom in Cologne. And as cool of a city as it is, I don't live there--so my tour guide skills are wasted if not in Bonn. But, I did know of a really good cafe that I had been to a couple times with Lisa and Kai and I knew they and I knew they had good breakfast food and coffee, so I headed off toward the part of town I knew it was in.
Like I said, I don't live in Cologne, and to be honest, I hadn't even been there since about March or so when I went out for Pat's (the Minnesota guy who's super cool) birthday. But I was pretty impressed even with myself with my memory of knowing how to get around and where things were. I easily took Ariel on and off the metro without referring to maps, it was kind of weird that I remembered it all so well. We headed for Rudolfplatz and found the cafe I was thinking of and took a sit on the patio area outside. We both had breakfast with eggs, and bacon and a small cucumber salad. It was delicious as always. Towards the end our meal the sky became much grayer and the temperature quickly plummeted. (BTW, it's been RIDICULOUS weather here. Pretty much the last 3 weeks of August felt like November with highs getting no higher than about 65 everyday (17 Celsius for all my European friends). Not to mention rain, rain, rain and oh, rain). We decided to quickly pay and try to find somewhere else to take cover from the coming storm. We left just in time as the rain really started to come down and we headed down the street trying to stay close to the buildings to let their over-hangs and awnings keep us dry. At this point it was going on 1 and the rain was started to come down harder. I found a bar right away that served Reissdorf Kölsch (probably my 3rd favorite behind Gaffel and Mühlen). Like I said, I didn't really know what to show Ariel, and although there are tons of museums and things in the city he didn't really seem as if that was something he wanted to do, so after the Dom, my only idea was to have him try all of my favorite beers. I ordered us each a Kölsch and Ariel had his first experience with one of my favorite beers :)
After having 2 there (in their smaller, traditional glasses) the rain had let up a little and we decided to head out to see more of the city. The sun was starting to poke through and the weather got much nicer. We headed back toward the direction of the Dom with stops through Neumarkt (which is a big shopping area etc.), and then a quick look at the Friedrich Wilhelm III statue near Heumarkt. At this point the sun was now shining and the weather seemed perfected. We walked over to the area where I had celebrated Elfte Elfte (the one day Karnival taking place on November 11th every year) and found another bar with a lot of outside seating that also served Kölsch, but this time if was my favorite: Gaffel. (Bars here are different from bars in the US in the sense that a bar will always only have one type of beer on draft. In this instance, Kölsch being the beer, each bar has it's own contract with a brewery: Reissdorf, Gaffel, Früh, Mühlen, to name a few, and then only have that one kind of draft). We sat outside and I ordered each of a large Gaffel. The sun was shining, we had 0,5l of fresh drafted Gaffel Kölsch and life was good. Then, out of no where the skies changed once more and it was obvious that more rain was on the way. It started raining really hard and we, along with the others sitting outside, grabbed our beers and ran inside to take cover. It rained heavily for an hour and 1/2 or so, and in this time Ariel and I drank 2 large Gaffel Kölsch's and caught up with each others lives. I still find it so surreal and weird to think that Ariel and I were hanging out in Germany. Life is strange sometimes :) We finally could see that the sun was out again, so we paid and left. By this time it was going on 4:30 or so, so we got on the ubahn and headed back to Rudolfplatz so that Ariel could check into his hotel that he had booked for the night. After the check-in it was 5, and I was not dressed for being able to go out that night. So I decided to head back to Bonn and change and just chill for a bit. I told Ariel that with the amount of time it would take me with the trains and everything, that I probably wouldn't be back for a few hours so he could take a nap or do whatever he wanted. I the hotel at 5 and immediately after walking across the street towards the ubahn another downpour started. But this time, we had hail also. I ran to the stop that had a small overhang and a number of people waiting. I was already soaked in just the matter of minutes it took me to get there. I just laughed to myself and thought "WTF". I had to change ubahns once, and then made it to the Hbf with no problem. I lucked out and there was another Regional Express leaving for Bonn about 3 minutes after I arrived, so I skipped over to the train and got on no problem. I got into Bonn at around 6 or so and had to wait 15 minutes until a ubhan would leave from Bonn Hauptbahnhof toward my stop. I finally arrived home, exhausted and wet at around 6:30. I looked up when other trains would be headed back to Cologne that night and decided to take the later one at 8:30, so that I would have about an hour to relax. I took a quick 20 minute power nap and then it was up to get ready and head back out.
I made it to the hotel Ariel was staying at around 9:15. We then hit the streets to grab a late dinner. The area I told him to book his hotel in (Rudolfplatz/Friesenplatz) is where a lot of the good night life and restaurants in Cologne are, so we were smack in the middle of everything. We went to a small restaurant nearby that I had heard wasn't bad called La Strada. I translated the menu for Ariel and he picked out what he wanted and then I ordered for the two of us and also ordered Ariel a Weizen (a great beer that specially comes for the region of Bavaria). We ate and drank and then decided to leave. Ariel forgot his wallet so we made a detour and returned to the hotel to pick it up. From there we set out toward Friesenplatz to a bar that I had been to numerous times and really like. We probably got to Bar Cologne at around 11 or so and found a table. We stayed there until about 1:30am or so just talking and both enjoying 2 Weizen beers each. Then, we were both pretty tired so we headed back to the hotel to sleep (Ariel booked a room with 2 twin beds so that I could crash there also--super smart idea BTW). I was pretty beat from the long day of what felt like never-ending train rides/ubahns/rain so I fell asleep as soon as I laid down. We both woke up the next morning around 9 or so and I told Ariel that I was going to probably leave soon to get back to Bonn. He showed me his train schedule and I pointed out a train he could take that would make it pretty easy for him to get back to Amsterdam. He decided it would be best to head with me to the Hbf and just leave on the next one out also, than to wait for a later one and risk getting lost in a German city. He checked out and we headed once again the the Rudolfplatz ubahn stop. We made it to the Hauptbahnhof about 10 minutes before his train would leave. AKA, perfect timing. I unfortunately had to wait a little longer, like 25-30 minutes or so until my train would leave. I walked him to his platform and his train was already there. I asked one of the train attendants where the 2nd class cars were and then showed Ariel where he needed to be. We said our quick goodbyes and Ariel boarded his train back to the Netherlands. I then headed toward my platform, grabbing a coffee before I went. After all the trains/ubahns I needed to take, I finally arrived back to my house in Bonn at around noon. It was so great to see Ariel and to have someone to show around. I look forward to a time when my mom or Travis or anyone else might make the trip out here. It's definitely a little bit fun for me to play tour guide :)
I hope all is well with everyone, as always, and hopefully I am back to updating this blog regularly again! Ugh... now just to finish my Paris blog.... ^^ Tschüss xoxo
He's too cute for words BTW. Here's a picture taken of him last night by Lisa when he was getting ready for bed. I just imagine him as an old man during the colonial period. He just needs an oil lamp and a night cap to complete the look. Too cute. 
last night, and honestly they're fantastic. They honestly do get better and better as you read them. The first one I thought was great, the second one was even better and the third one, I believe, was brilliant. Really good books and I recommend them to anyone. Bertus was kind enough to order for me from Amazon.de my next book selection that I intend to be my flight home read, which is Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin
. I find her to be hilarious, and have read nothing but good things about her book, so decided to give it a whirl. I fully intend on being the crazy cackling lunatic in the back of the plane while I'm reading. Oh well.
