A couple of weeks ago I took an ITT tour to Cologne. ITT is the office on base that provides tours to local areas and nearby countries. Cologe, or Koln (picture two dots over the o), is about two and a half hours north of the base. I was still living in temporary quarters and had no car, so the morning of the trip I had to walk to the other side of the base where the bus would pick us up for the trip. The bus then went to the base in Bitburg to pick up another group of people. I learned quickly that I mistakenly forgot to bring a pillow, oh I wish I had.
The scenery on the ride there was very beautiful but we were moving too fast to get any good pictures. When we arrived there we found out there was some sort of motorcycle brigade thing going and all the main roads the bus driver was used to was closed. So, we drove around for about an hour while the bus driver tried to find a place to stop and let us off near the chocolate factory. By the time he drove back to the main road, the motorcycle thing was over and he was able to drop us off where he originally planned. What a waste of an hour. Oh well.
We proceeded into the chocolate factory and took a self-guided tour, kind of difficult since none of us could speak German to read anything. It was interesting though to see the machines used to make all the different kinds of chocolate shapes and the molds for the hollowed out Santas and such. When we were done we went to the store and bought some chocolate (of course). I found some chocolate in the shape of a computer keyboard and another in the shape of a cell phone. Perfect! I also found a tin sign that I have sent to my son, something like: "Teenagers, tired of your annoying parents? Move out, get a job, and pay your own bills while you still know everything!" I thought it was great.
Throughout the tour of the chocolate factory I hung out with two other single ladies there on the tour. One was a nanny for a doctor on the base and another was a counselor working for the family readiness center and was going to be here for just a month (they rotate in and out). After the tour and the chocolate buying we walked along the Rhine river and enjoyed seeing the boats and such, it was a really nice day. We found a restaurant to have lunch and then walked around the town a little bit until we reached the cathedral.
The cathedral is huge and beautiful. It amazes me how people were able to build something like this so many years ago. Here are just a few pictures:
One interesting thing happened while we were in the square outside of the cathedral. We were looking at the chalk paintings some artists had drawn on the ground (and had a hat or box for donations) when we noticed about four college-aged kids in yellow hazmat suits gather in the middle with a big metal can. All of the sudden they banged the can and over a hundred people just suddenly dropped to the ground like they were dead and the guys in the yellow suits started drawing white chalk lines around them. Since we couldn't understand what they were saying we just assumed they were protesting either nuclear weapons or some other hazardous material. Very interesting.
After that we just sat outside by a cafe and people watched until it was time to go. It was a good day and a good trip. Next time I think I will take the train up here if any visitors I have want to come see the city. Taking the train would be much easier then trying to find a place to park around here.
Tschuss
