Western Germany

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Geo: 50.0924, 8.68195

This Blog continues from my previous one. I was still staying in Witten, which ended up being four nights instead of two. Partly because I took a day trip to Koln, or Cologne.
The previous night we had checked the cost at 26 euro, I got the right ticket but when I was on the train the conductor said I had the wrong ticket and slapped me with a on the spot 40 euro fee. I went to the ticket office in Koln and they said I had the right ticket and couldn't understand why I was charged 40 euro. I was able to get my money back but had to send the documents in and they would transfer the money back in to my account. And yet I still see no money return, dodgy train punks.
After the initial shock of spending the equivalent of $90 for a day trip wore off, I was able to enjoy discovering Koln. The first thing that towers over you from the train station is the massive twin towered Koliner Dom. It's visually stunning from the inside and the outside. I don't know why, but there was a large amount of groups visiting Koln that day, most were high school students. This led the center to be rather busy and with that in mind I headed straight to the chocolate museum in hope that it wasn't infested.
To my luck it was ok, there was one group that wizzed through, ah teens, couldn't care less about the information, they would probably you tube it later on anyway.

As you may know or not, I am a huge chocolate fan, one of my biggest weaknesses. As I type this now I have a bar of chocolate next to me. The chocolate museum was interesting, explaining the history, the development, the exportation and importation and the types of chocolate. There are machines to show the process, a few videos of advertisements (all in German though).
The shop at the end is enough to drive any chocolate fanatic in to a frenzy, but I knew I had to be tame.
So I took a walk along the Rhine river and through the streets. I stumbled upon three people doing some crazy frisbee moves, so I naturally took photos. Another one of them saw me and came up to me and introduced himself as Chipper from Los Angeles. He said these people were doing a few shows later that evening for a promotion of a company. He saw my camera and asked me to take a particular shot of one of the girls of her and a tee shirt logo doing a move. Being the professional I am, I was way ahead of him. The last photo I took was exactly that, so I showed him and he was blown away and told me that I should send it in to the company for their catalogue and I could get some money for it. I thought that was pretty cool.
Then Chipper went off to practice and I took some more photos, including one that was a perfectly timed shot of him doing a move, so I showed Chipper the photo and he immediately gave me his details.
Ah, I really love great random moments like that, reminds me of drinking the beer with the Polish guys in Italy.
But unfortunately I lost Chippers details, boo!!
I walked the busy shopping street back towards the cathedral where there was some protest, I wasn't sure what it was about, but there were some pretty gruesome pictures of dead people.
So With my VALID ticket, I took the train back to Witten.

The next day I did another day trip, this time headed North to Essen and to the Zollverein Mine. Back in the days the Rhine Valley area was a buzz with coal and steel works. The old mine is not in use anymore and they have turned it in to a museum which encompasses the history of the mine, the Rhine valley area and it's history and many uses. It also has photo exhibitions and much more. It was quite a big museum and you can see all or some of it as you walk through the old factory in between the massive machinery that was used. It was very interesting but on an otherwise cloudy and cold day.
I tried to see the other parts but I wasn't sure if I was aloud to enter or not.
My stay in Witten was great and I didn't realize that the area had so much to offer, so I was glad I stayed for longer. Although it was time to say good bye and thank you to Joana and take the morning train in to Frankfurt the business capital of Germany.

I had arranged to couchsurf that night and only had the one day in Frankfurt as I was headed to Prague the following day. I saw a few of the sights including a nicely designed shopping mall, Romer square and along the river.
My couchsufing host was Mischa, a late thirties, very tall and very cool guy. Kind of reminds me of my brother Jeremy and what he might turn out to be when he is a bit older. He had been working for Lufthansa for the last 8 years doing computer programming and decided that he would take a whole year off. He was great to talk with and a really chilled out guy who seemed to enjoy life.
I was lucky because there was also another Polish couple staying that night and they were taking the bed, but he was gracious enough to set some layers of mattresses and blankets and was completely accommodating. I was also lucky as he was headed to Austria for a week to ski the following morning. His location was basically on the edge of the river and we all had a few drinks that night in his favourite bar which was 20 meters from his home.

So the next morning was the end to my two week stint in Germany. I had a great time in all of the places I went to and I thank everyone who accommodated me.
Next stop..Prague.

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