Deutchland. Took a train up the Rhine to Cologne, or Köln, city of the huge cathedral, stopping at Trier along the way for a few hours to take in some Roman ruins. Köln cathedral is a whopper, no doubt, and I had a nice view of those twin spires from my bed through the window each morning. Spent three nights there while taking day trips to Aachen and Dusseldorf. Remember dorf on golf anyone. Anyway, had a good time in the area. Becoming a fan of day trips. All three of these western German cities were great, full of activity and beer gardens along the river. There was some great architecture including a cool tear drop shaped department store in Köln and a great housing complex by Gehry in Dusseldorf. I met a cool Canadian in the hostel who was very worried about my diseased chicken stories from Thailand. He was in pre-med and we discussed bird flu and how we most likely will be screwed at some point in the near future. So I decided to go to Aachen and pray to Charlemagne´s grave, then took in a hot springs spa in a really cool building set around roman ruins. Feeling pure I was ready to head north to Holland.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ethan.ahlberg/CologneAachenAndDusseldorf
