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The MH Crew
Group photo before we all headed our separate directions Summer camp ended today. That’s staying at the Mountain Hostel felt like. It’s a small place and with no city to explore at night, its very easy to get to know everyone staying there. Richard and I decided to catch the 12:25 train from Interlaken to Basel and then finally from there to Cologne. Fortunately, the Mountain Hostel Gang (Chris, Rebecca, Allison, Tim, and the Aussie girls) needed to head out of town to their various next destinations around the same time so we all floated off the cliff from Gimmelwald at the same time. We had an hour or so to kill in Interlaken so we all hung out at a café. Richard and I were the first to split from the gang to catch our train. Traded e-mails with them and then waved them goodbye before hopping on the train. Watched the Alps fade away and before we knew it we were in Bern, then to Basel. We had probably half an hour to kill so we ate a snack and then stepped outside the station to take a peek at Basel for two minutes. Saw a Burger King and buildings with Swiss, German, and French flags on them.
We stepped back into the station at went to the track to catch out train. The German ICE trains are immaculate, very sleek on the outside and modern on the inside. Comfortable seats and a bathroom that looked like it was a replica of one from a Four Seasons (ok, maybe not that nice). Over the Rhine River and we were officially in Germany. Small rolling green hills, scattered clusters of houses, and thick forests with skinny trees are what I saw from the train until we got to Frankfurt and then the conglomerate of urban areas north of there. After about five hours of total travel time we arrived at the station in Cologne. As we were walking out of the station, I was reciting the written directions to the hostel to Richard “ok, so when we exit we should see the Dom on the left” and then at that moment we looked left and the Dom was literally fifty yards from us on the left. The thing is massive, very tall, aggressive, and gothic looking. After being taken back at the immediate site of the Dom, we were happy to at least know the directions were dead on. We walked about five minutes and found the hostel, The Station for Backpackers. Checked in and walked up to the fourth floor where our room was. One thing that has plagued us in Europe is the doors are all push it seems, even the ones with handles in the States that obviously suggest to pull. So we get up the hallway and there is a sign pointed us down a hallway on the right to a group of rooms that include ours. Except there is a door you must go through to access this hallway and being stupid Americans we thought we were locked out of this hallway because we kept pulling and the door wasn’t budging. Finally, just as we were about to head back down to the lobby to see what was up, I kicked the door and it swung open. One of those moments where you question your own intelligence. Anyways, we found our room and dropped our bags off. It was probably 7pm, we were both hungry, so lets go find some authentic German food and maybe have a glass of Kolsch beer (which Cologne is famous for).
We found a restaurant down the road from the hostel. Had a delicious dish of beef and pork and potatoes and vegetables. No Kolsch though, I haven’t been feeling good since I got here, think I am coming down with a cold or something. After dinner we walked around this huge shopping district right by the Dom. It was like an outdoor mall, but had pedestrian streets the shops lined. The shops were small and compact, so there were multiple stores of the same company in the district just on a different street. We counted five H&Ms and three Foot Lockers, and of course, there was a United Colors of Bennton. I have never heard of this clothing store, but there has been at least one in every city I have been in so far in Europe. I refuse to acknowledge any city I visit out here in Europe that does not have one. We walked around the district for a bit, all the shops were closed, everything except restaurants and bars close at 7pm. Headed back to the hostel, I was still feeling sick so I took a nap for a couple hours until Richard woke me up with quite a story. He had gone out to take pictures of the Dom at night and stopped at a payphone to call his mother and Sarah with his calling card. As he was talking to Sarah, he noticed this guy kind of vulturing around him, pacing by the open-air phone booth Richard was in, then leaned against a wall probably ten feet from Richard. After Richard hung up with Sarah, he reached into his pocket, pulled out his calling card to call his mother, and as the card emerged from his pocket, this guy lunged at Richard. Richard put up his fists like the Notre Dame mascot, with the card still in his hand. The hoodlum gracefully swiped the card from Richard’s hand and took off running down the street. He probably thought it was a credit card. He also probably was severely disappointed when he rounded the corner and realized he had just snatched a calling card with ten minutes left. Crazy. Spooked Richard a bit. Think I am going to just call it a night. We might take a stroll through the shopping district tomorrow morning before heading to Amsterdam. Can’t believe Amsterdam already, which means Paris after that, and then home. The trip has blown by so fast over the past week. Time does fly when you are having the time of your life.
Have fun,
Matt
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