Hallo from Germany! Germany has been on my list of countries to visit for a while now. My grandparents lived in Germany for a little while which is why we call them Oma and Opa; they had been living in Germany around the time my sister was adopted and I was born and it was easier to pronounce “Oma” and “Opa” versus “grandma” and “grandpa.” I grew hearing about their time in Germany and seeing pictures and I always knew I wanted to visit. Plus, it’s one of the largest European countries so it’s kind of hard to miss.

                From Amsterdam, Chase and I took the train directly to Cologne. We were able to get seat reservations which meant we had an assigned seat and didn’t have to fight for one of the ones that wasn’t pre-assigned (we would find out later what a hassle this is). A seat is “technically” included with your ticket but that actually doesn’t guarantee you will have a seat, so seat reservations are always recommended. They are an extra charge on top of your ticket (about $8) and honestly worth it. If there is any travel advice you take from me let it be this: buy seat reservations and make sure you do it well in advanced, like at least a month. I’ll talk more on this in another entry when it really matters but for now, just take heed that if you interrail through Europe you will want seat reservations.

                The train was only about two hours and we arrived in Cologne sometime around 1:30pm. For Cologne it was actually cheaper for Chase and I get a hotel room rather than stay at hostel because there were no dorms available and getting a private room was the same price as a hotel room. The main train station was a good thirty-minute walk to our hostel so we opted to get an Uber cause we were both a little too tired to figure out the tram system. Cologne is small enough that there was no metro, just tram, bus, and intercity train. Good news is that the Uber only cost about $10 and it meant no carrying my heavy bags for thirty minutes.

                We checked into the hotel and I was tired enough that I basically settled in a little then fell asleep. I’m not sure if Chase if went or not (pretty sure he didn’t) but when I woke up it basically time for dinner. We found a ramen shop a block or so from the hotel and decided that sounded good. This ramen was really good but they gave a ton of food. Probably at least two portions worth of noodles and broth. Both Chase and I had to tap out before we finished all the ramen, which we hated doing because we don’t like to leave food left over since in Europe it’s considered rude in most places not to finish a meal.

                After dinner we stopped at a Lidl and honestly, God bless Lidl for saving my bank account during this trip. If there is a Lidl in the city then I am there. I get some cheap snacks, maybe a bottle wine, and some crossiants for under $8. When there is a kitchen or at least an electric kettle available, I usually eat at least two dinners of instant noodles at the hostel to save money. They’re cheap, quick, and I don’t have worry about buying a lot of ingredients I won’t us to make a good meal. Since the hotel didn’t have any kitchen stuff for us to use, I stuck with crackers and other snacks that I could have for breakfast and mini lunches.

                We decided to call it early that night, I settled in to write about London and Chase was just chilling on his phone. Around 11:30pm, as I was getting ready for bed and about to brush my teeth, I found out that the water wasn’t working in our room. This was odd considering that literally 15 minutes earlier, Chase had taken a shower and brushed his teeth. I started to wonder if maybe this was a Germany thing where water was shut off after a certain time to save water. Chase went down to the front desk and turns out, I was just stupid because the water was not supposed to turn off so there was a problem with our room. We got moved up to the third floor which was both good and bad. The good news is that we got bigger windows that opened so more air could come into the room. The bad was that it was on the third floor which meant either taking a lot of stairs or using the incredibly sketchy elevator that probably hadn’t been updated since post WWII construction.

                The next morning Chase had plans to meet up with a friend of his who lived and worked in Cologne. My plan was to go check out the cathedral, then drink the bottle of wine I bought in a park by the Rhein river. They day started out great. The weather was nice if a little windy, but it was perfect for walking through the city. I learned that Germans do not jaywalk. Even if there are no cars on the street they will wait till the little man turns green to start walking. Coming from the US where jaywalking in typical it, it was kind of annoying to wait when the street was clear.

                My first stop was Cologne Cathedral or Koln Dom and man was it impressive. Detailed stonework soars into the sky and rises above all the buildings around it. Huge wooden doors decorate the entrance. The cathedral is impressive from all sides, with high stained glass windows and arching stone that greats a gothic yet airy look. The best part of the cathedral is that it was FREE to enter. I’m sure you know my opinion on having to pay to go inside a church by now so by God was I excited to go inside without having to pay 15 euros.

                The inside was just as gorgeous as the outside. While the outside might have been dark and a little imposing, the inside was white-washed stone and high vaulted ceilings that allowed the light from the stained-glass windows to fill the space. Mosaic tiles created pictures on the floor, and sculptures decorated every nave and overhang. It was great getting to see the beauty that went into the church. It was destroyed by the Second World War and had been reconstructed. Some of it was under renovation, but unlike the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, the structure was not dominated by scaffolding and advertisements which allowed it to still be enjoyed.

                After I had my fill of the cathedral, I walked around the city center for a little bit, stopping by Old Town where I stumbled upon a couple who were having a little celebration with family and friends after getting married at the old town hall. From there I walked across the river to Rhein park, one of the biggest parks in Cologne. It was the perfect place to lay down my town, open my book, and enjoy my bottle of three euro Lidl wine.

                It was the perfect afternoon until around 3pm I heard thunder and noticed how dark the sky was getting. I quickly packed up my stuff and just in time, because as I was leaving the park it started to rain. I didn’t bring my rain coat and I was wearing a white linen top over a colorful sports bra (so not something ideal to get soaking wet). I tried sheltering under a bridge for a while, but after checking the radar, I realized it wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. I high tailed it to the nearest train station which would take me to the central station and from there I had hopes to find a place to eat or that the rain might let up a little.

                I was unlucky that the rain did, in fact, not let up and after looking all over on the map and wandering the train station, I could not find the tram stop. I hoping to take the tram back to the hotel since by the point, the bottoms of my pants were wet and the my shirt was becoming more and more clear. I gave up after I couldn’t find it and just said f*ck it, and started to walk. About halfway through my walk it finally stopped raining. By this point I was soaked and not in the best mood. When I got to the hotel, I promptly stripped and changed before laying down on the bed.

                Both Chase and I didn’t feel like going out for dinner, Chase had a late lunch and I had eaten enough before the rain to really feel hungry, so we both just opted to stay in the room that night to detox. As much as I love traveling, it can be tiring after a while and the constantly moving was starting to catch up to me. By this point, I had been gone over three weeks and besides when I studied abroad, this was the longest I had been traveling for. Semester at Sea was different because I had the ship as my home base, so I always had somewhere that remained the same to call home. Now, I have no home base for the trip, it’s one new place after the next without really getting to feel fully settled anywhere.

                The next morning I decided to take the train to Brussels, Belgium since it was only a two hour train ride and I had a couple days still use of my EU rail pass. I wasn’t able to get seat reservations for the morning train but figured it should be fine (it was not). Brussels had vaguely piqued my interest when I was planning this trip, but it didn’t beat out the other places I was looking to go, so ultimately, I kind of forgot about it until I got to Cologne and realized how close it was.

                After about an hour on the train we stopped and then I got kicked out my seat because someone had the seat reservations for it. No biggie, except there wasn’t really anymore seats open and I didn’t feel like walking through all the carriages, so I sat on the floor near the doors. This wasn’t as bad as it sounds, I only had my tote bag with me and there was only an hour left of the train. Plus, other people were sitting on the floor with me.

                I arrived in Brussels around 11:30am and set off for the city center, which was only a twenty-five minute walk from the station. I was more than happy to do this walk unlike the one in Cologne, because I had only one small bag with me. I made my way to the Grand Palace or Grand Place as the square is sometimes called. It home to buildings with some of the most beautiful gold work on the outside of the buildings. There’s plenty of little cafes that occupy the first floors of the buildings, but the square is bursting with people and beauty.

                I sat down in one of these cafes for some wine and a small snack. I decided to try mini Belgian meatballs and while the taste was quite good, the texture was that of minced meat and was a lot like meaty-mashed potatoes. From the square I walked to the Cathedrale des Saints Michel et Gudule or Saint Michel’s Cathedral if you like. The cathedral was impressive, but nowhere near as impressive as Koln Dom. Again, another one that was free to enter so it gets a higher rating because of that.

                I went to do my favorite activity which is reading in a park, so I walked to Cinquantenaire Park which, was farther away than I thought. The walk said only twenty minutes but it must have been the heat or something because it felt like thirty. I sat reading in the park for a while, enjoying watching locals take advantage of the beautiful day. I ended up falling asleep for a little bit as well. I guess I spent too long in the park because by time I started to leave, I realized I had not left enough time to get back to the train station.

                My train was supposed to leave at 6:25pm. I started leaving the park around 5:45 because originally, my maps told me it would take me 25 minutes to get to my station. Well, I guess I mapped something wrong because when I put the address in again, it told me it was going to take me 25 minutes to get to the city center, which was still a 25 minute walk to my station. Plus, the intercity trains were down (again, why does this somehow keep happening to me?). I started to freak out and put in to see how much an Uber would be. The problem was that if I got the Uber from the park, it would get be there at 6:33, almost ten minutes after my train would have left.

                I basically all but ran to the metro to get to the city center, with my plan to at least get there and hope for the best. As I got on the metro, I put in an Uber to pick me up from the city center station. From there, the Uber said it would get be there at 6:18pm. That was good enough for me, so I ordered with the expectation that the Uber driver was still a little ways away since that what the app originally said. Then I get message saying my driver was 1 minute away while I was still at least six minutes from the station.

                I frantically messaged my driver asking if he would wait and luckily, he was super nice and said he would. I ran off the metro and straight to my Uber as soon as the metro stopped. The traffic in Brussels, at least around 6pm, was bad. We got about a block from my train station when my Uber driver told me if I was in a hurry, it would be fast if I walked the last block since the traffic wasn’t moving. He didn’t have to tell me twice. I hopped out of the Uber then ran into the station and up to my platform with two minutes to spare.

                This is definitely not something I ever want to do again. Brussels was amazing, it’s a great city and definitely a place that deserves more than just a single day. If I had to do some planning over, I think I would change my stop in Cologne for Brussels. Cologne was great, but I felt more at home in Brussels, and there was definitely more to see and do in Brussels than Cologne. (also note, while I went to Brussels, Chase stayed in Cologne and discovered that basically the entire city was closed due to celebrating the feast of Corpus Christi. He could not find one single pharmacy, grocery store, or kiosk to buy tissues from).

                Chase and I had an early morning train to catch to Dresden that next morning, even earlier than the one that took us to Cologne, so again, we called it an early night. I was exhausted after sprinting to make my train back to Cologne and was looking forward to Dresden. Overall, Cologne was a nice quiet city, but it not somewhere I could see myself living.