Cologne, Germany and Brussels, Belgium

This weekend I took a tour of Cologne, Germany and Brussels, Belgium. It was a really fun trip! I haven't laughed so much and so hard in a very long time. The three girls that went with me and I all just experienced a lot of funny situations and just had a ton of fun together. The sights were awesome too of course! I think this was definitely one of my ultimate favorite trips so far.

First we started out driving all of Friday night to Cologne. When we arrived in the morning, we walked along the Rhein River to the Dome Cathedral, which is a really old, breathtaking gothic Catholic church. They started to build it in the 1200's and finished in the early 1800's, so that just goes to show how much detail they put into it. During World War II, when all the opposing countries bombed Germany to death, they purposely respected and avoided the Cathedral. Five bombs did accidentally land on the Cathedral, but not one of them went off. I think Someone upstairs was watching out for it! I went into the Cathedral and all the way up into the highest point in the bell tower. I could see all of Cologne from the top! I have lots of pictures of this for you to see! We also went into the Lindt Swiss Chocolate factory and had free samples (who could turn down free chocolate??).

I went to mass at the Cathedral on Saturday afternoon. It was Pentecost, so I was able to witness Confirmation in Germany! I couldn't understand a word of it because it was all in German, but it was amazing to realize that the same Holy Spirit in the same Church is here in Germany, in another language, and everyone was the same faith! It's pretty awesome being Catholic. :) The Cathedral was so huge and open that about half way through the mass, all the music and the sound from the microphones built up and started to ring around the church. It kept circling around for the rest of mass, so it was difficult to hear the Bishop. I've never heard something so amazing, since it was too old for sound-proofing.

After mass I went out to a German pub with my travelmates. I tasted the German beer, but I'm not a fan of beer so I thought it was gross. ;) I did, however, enjoy a delicious glass of German Riesling white wine. We found a pub that was playing polka music, so I was very excited! They didn't have any space to dance, or I would have. They had some creepy fake mannequins playing the accordion and the tuba, so it was technically live music, but the people weren't real. There were a few older ladies who were really excited and were clapping and cheering for the mannequins. It was quite funny. (I can tell I've been in England for awhile, since I just used the word "quite").

On the tram on the way back to our hotel in Cologne, we had a hilarious and wierd experience. We got on the correct number tram that we were supposed to take, and were riding it for a few minutes when it stopped and opened its doors in the middle of an open field. We thought it was odd, and waited for people to get on. Nothing happened for a few minutes, and suddenly and older man appeared in the doorway and started talking to us in German. We said we only spoke English, and he just kept saying the same thing over again in German. We thought he was a confused older man trying to get onto the train until he started whistling and pointing out of the tram. This is when we realized that he was the driver and he was kicking us out of the tram into the field! We had no idea what he was saying, but he kept pointing back to the station we had just passed. We walked back to it and laughed at the wierd experience. We waiting for another train and then tried pronouncing the stops in German while riding it. The German people sitting next to us were laughing at us and told is in English that we weren't very good at German. It was fun.

The next morning we drove to Brussels, Belgium. There we stopped to see the Atomium Monument, which is a giant iron structure that resembles the Iron Crystal molecule. It has restaurants inside and is a big tourist attraction. There were some people at the base of the monument square dancing in traditional Belgian skirts. It looked like a ton of fun! After we took pictures of it all, we drove to the city center. We walked around a market area, the Cathedral (St. Michael the Archangel and St. Gudula), and lots of neat shops. We also walked to the Grand Place, which is a beautiful old square that is surrounded by detailed buildings on all four sides. In the center of the square were artists painting the scenery and selling their work, and a jazz festival that was setting up. We found an AMAZING Belgian waffle place that we rushed to for our lunch. The waffle was covered in a sweet glaze, then topped with strawberries, whipped cream, and drizzled with chocolate! It was a heavenly treat. We walked around the area more and went into the Cathedral, which is absolutely gorgeous! There was a section inside that you had to pay a Euro to go inside, so I did. They had tons of old chalises, monstrances, reliquaries, priest vestments, a high altar, and paintings that were hundreds of years old! They even had a relic of the true cross. I was very impressed! After this, we drove to the Parliament building, which is the seat of the European Union, for pictures.

It was a very long, packed weekend, but definitely worth it! I can't wait to go back to these countries sometime in the near future and see more! :)

Here are my pictures for you:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2191765&id=30308465&l=451cac4722