Final days in Europe

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New Year's Eve dawned cold, but sunny. I grabbed some food at the supermarket and then made the slippery walk to the train station. I caught the 9 am train to Bern and it was a pleasant ride out of the mountains. In Bern I switched to another train to get me to Basel where I picked up a German ICE to take me all the way to Cologne. I didn't realize how much I missed the comfort and speed of the ICE's. Southern Europe's trains just don't compare with those in the north. We crossed the border without any formalities whatsoever. No one even got on the train to check passports, which I thought was a bit weird. The ride took about 4 hours and we pushed all the way up to 260 km/h for part of the ride.

I got in to Cologne in the mid afternoon. The weather was overcast and it looked like it was going to rain so I quickly walked over to the Station hostel where I had stayed previously. I was lucky, they had one bed left, so I didn't hesitate to grab it. With accommodation sorted out I set off to find some food. I settled on a kebab place down the street that I hadn't noticed before and I was glad I went in. It was the best kebab since Dresden nearly 3 months earlier! Plus, it was less than 4 euros for the kebab and a big beer. Gotta love Germany.

I tried to get in touch with Jessica, but eventually I gave up and decided her flight must not be getting in until later. So, I ended up chatting with the guy at the counter about stuff to do for New Year's. He mentioned that people set off fireworks along the Rhine and it's usually a big event, so I decided I would check that out. As I walked over to the river, I came across quite a few people setting off fireworks near the Dom and the station. The stuff they were setting off was pretty big too, we're not talking black cats and sparklers.

I crossed the rail bridge and walked along the Rhine a bit until I found a spot on the wall about halfway between two of the bridges. I had a great view of the Dom, as well as the fireworks that were being set off on that side of the river. People were setting off quite a bit on my side as well, but I focused on the far side mostly. The next 1.5 hours were nice, aside from the light rain that started around 11. Some of the fireworks were pretty impressive, going maybe 100 feet into the air and then exploding in brilliant displays.

Around 11:30 the intensity started picking up. I noticed there were a lot more people out now, and people were packing the bridges as well. Fireworks were exploding almost constantly now on both sides of the river and boats were taking up positions in the water between the two bridges. As the water became increasingly crowded with riverboats, it was amazing to watch new boats arrive and get into position. They generally arrived from upriver, and they would find a clear spot and then swing the rudder around and let the current spin them 180 degrees. I was shocked at the audacity of some of the captains. Several of the boats were quite large and they whipped them around like they were dinghies. Once in place, they would run the engine just fast enough to hold their position in the swift current.

Around 11:45 things started getting crazy. Not only were the fireworks going off constantly, but they were starting to go off quite close as well as directly overhead. The period from 11:45 to 11:55 was the best, I think. There were ample fireworks, and it still felt safe where I was. At 11:55, all hell broke loose. The constant pops and whizzes turned into a maelstrom of whistling, booming, flaring chaos that made me a bit worried. Then I got hit by a spent plastic rocket casing. The weird thing is that it didn't come down from above, but came in from the side somewhere and smacked me in the leg. It was moving fast and it smarted a bit. I figured that I would wait a couple more minutes and then leave once things settled down a bit. Then a big ball of unexploded powder smacked me in the leg. This one hit me in the top of the leg and that's when I decided it was time to go.

Leaving wasn't as easy as I hoped it would be. It was cold and I was wet from the rain, so instead of thinking about the best way to get out I just headed straight for the rail bridge. That was a mistake. It took me more than 10 minutes of dodging explosions, flying rockets, and shattered glass bottles just to get to the bridge. Once on the bridge I encountered what amounted to a mob. There were still tons of people on the bridge itself watching the fireworks, plus groups of people setting them off (on the walkway) every 20 feet or so. Progress was dangerously slow. About halfway across it got even nastier when people behind started pushing and shoving their way through. I got sick of being elbowed in the back and so I stood aside while a group of drunk teenagers continued their shoving through the crowd.

Twenty minutes after climbing up the stairs to the bridge I finally made it across in one piece. I still had to tread carefully to get back to the hostel (mainly because of all of the broken glass), but I made it safely and took a shower to get warmed up before heading to bed. All in all I had a blast even if it was a bit hairy getting back to the hostel. In retrospect I could have just walked away from the river and then over to the other bridge and it would have been a lot safer getting back, but oh well.

I was originally thinking about going to Hamburg for a couple days, but I decided to just stay in Cologne and take it easy before leaving for Asia. I spent the next day hanging out and using the internet for a while. In the afternoon I found a John Grisham book on the hostel bookshelf and I spent the entire evening reading it cover to cover. The weather sucked anyway, so it was a nice way to spend the day.

The next day I got up early and headed out to find breakfast. The supermarket was finally open after being closed the previous two days and so I got some of my breakfast there and the rest at a bakery. After breakfast I walked over to an electronics store and grabbed some blank cd's. I spent a couple hours tying up loose ends and trying to find a place that would let me burn cd's. The internet place I had been using wanted 5 euros per cd. Haha, yeah right! After giving up on that I went back to the hostel and cleaned out my bag a bit.

Around 530 I finally got a hold of Jessica. Her and Markus had a really tough time getting out of the US because of the huge amount of snow in NM and CO. They had finally made it back, but were exhausted so we arranged to meet the next day for lunch before my flight. I spent my last evening in Europe doing what I do best -- drinking with random people from all over the world. This time it was 3 Mexicans, a Guatemalan, and a German. We spoke mostly Spanish, although I spoke English with the Guatemalan and the German. All in all, a fun evening.

The next morning I got up early and took care of some last minute errands before checking out. At 12 I met up with Jess and we had a nice lunch. It was good to see her again, I just wish we had more time to chat, but I had to run to catch my flight. I took the subway back to the hauptbanhof and grabbed my bag before boarding a train to the Dusseldorf airport.

I had no trouble checking in at the airport and so I was left with about 2 hours to kill. I still had 20 euros left so I went in search of an english book. I found Eragon and spent most of the next 2 hours reading. About 30 minutes before the flight was due to leave, they opened up the customs desk. After a short wait in line it was my turn. I had been fretting about this moment for the past 2 months because I was worried that they would think that I had been in Germany the entire time since I had no other stamps in my passport. The customs agent looked carefully through the passport and then settled on the page with the German entry stamp dated 9/29. He looked at me and asked "How long have you been in Germany?" I thought for a moment and replied "Three weeks", which is about right, and then added "I have been traveling throughout western europe on a rail pass." He considered it for a second and then stamped the passport. I breathed a sigh of relief and then walked through to the gate. We boarded the plane pretty much on time, and my time in Europe came to an end.

Stay tuned for Bangkok.

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Photos

The rail bridge
It's a lot easier to get across when it's not mobbed with people...

Cologne at night
Sorry about the blurry pics...

Cologne at night
Sorry about the blurry pics...

Cologne at night
Sorry about the blurry pics...

Leftovers
They did a remarkable job of cleaning up overnight, but there were still some leftovers