But then it got a bit more complicated, as our French cooking and speaking group wanted to have one more meal together before our friend Matthias moved to Leipzig, and this was the only weekend that was going to work for him. So I ended up taking the train back to Jena Friday night, joining them for supper, and then leaving the next morning again to travel back across the country. A bit ridiculous, but I think it was worth it. (Also, I was lucky to make it for the return journey without getting sick, which can't be said of the trip there, where I managed to throw up on three separate trains and at one train station.)
In any case, all four of us made it to Cologne that Saturday, and headed out to explore the city a bit. One of the most famous attractions there is the enormous Gothic cathedral, which really is quite impressive.
It seems that earlier that day there had been a flash mob organized to meet in front of the cathedral for a (seemingly) impromptu pillow fight. While we missed the pillow fight, the evidence was everywhere, with mountains of feathers being collected by the city sanitation workers, and blowing through the air. To be honest, it was really disgusting. It was better once we knew they came from pillows, so presumably they were cleaner than if they'd come directly from birds, but it was still pretty gross, and they were tracked through the church as well.
Here you can see where they'd built up like little snowbanks around one of the entrances. After a first look around, we decided to come back the next day to climb up the tower for a view over the city.
Next, we headed toward the waterfront. Here Calin is posing with Susanne and me, noticing that we're not quite the same height...
The next day we headed out for a long walk through the city, to see the sights. A nice man saw us looking at the map outside the restaurant where we went for breakfast, and mentioned a whole bunch of things that were worth seeing, including many of the old gates to the city. This gave us a sort of plan, so we set off walking along what used to be the walls of the city, going from gate to gate.
Of course there was still time to stop for the odd drink or playground break... (Is this what I have to do for fun when I can't drink???)
While this looks like a picture from my magazine photo shoot, Jeremi was actually trying to get a picture of me dangling off that cable, which I'd been doing a moment earlier, but he was too slow. Instead, it became my glamour shot (even with my belly sticking out a little).
Another old gate, next to which we sat and had a beer (or other beverage). Actually, only Calin and Jeremi had beers, because they ordered large ones (300 ml, which isn't large anywhere else in Germany, but it large in Cologne, where the signature beer, Kölsch, is served in really small, narrow glasses). Susanne only wanted 200 ml of beer, but the waiter refused to serve that size out on the patio, since it meant coming back too often for repeat orders, or something like that. She only wanted one anyhow, so it shouldn't have made a difference, and it was early in the day, so it's not like the place was filled with people getting round after round. The whole situation was ridiculous, so she refused to order anything at all. (I think I ordered a warm milk. How sad.)
Then we made it back to check out the Cathedral, which really is impressively huge from the inside.
I was also pretty blown away by some of the mosaics on the floors...
From there, we headed up the many, many stairs to check out the view from the top, or at least near the top. (This vacation involved climbing lots of stairs to get to the tops of towers, actually. At least it helps offset the large amount of food and drink.) Here we were checking out the bells...
And finally, the view from one of the spires.
After that we checked out the Romano-Germanic Museum, which had some pretty good exhibits focusing on the Roman occupation of the region. After a couple hours looking around there, everyone had earned themselves a beer, even if it had to be non-alcoholic. Here they are, drinking their "wreath" (Kranz) full of Krölsch. 
After this we headed back to the area around our hotel, where we'd made reservations at an Ethiopian restaurant for that night. The food was great, but I really broke myself by eating too much, which led to an earlier evening than it might have been otherwise. I think it was this night that we ended up back at the hotel, showing them clips from Canadian comedy shows to try to explain the relationship between French and English Canada.
Next stop, Brussels!
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