Cologne

Today we went to Cologne to see the city, the cathedral, the EL-DE house and the zoo. Coming out of the hauptbahnhoff in Cologne, the cathedral seemed utterly surreal against the very clear, very blue sky. It almost looked like a Hollywood background, staged and cut out. I was suprised at how dirty it was on the outside, although we learned it is almost continually being reconstructed and cleaned.

The city itself was very beautiful, and although larger than Dusseldorf, it felt very small in the cathedral square. Personally, I like Dusseldorf better, but it may just be because I finally have some bearings around here.

The best part of the day was for sure the zoo. I have never been behind the scenes at a zoo before, and I am always fascinated by animals (probably why I am becoming a vet). I cannot believe how soft the giraffe was, nor how smart and ingenious elephants can be. My favorite was of course the bears, because I love bears and they remind me of big lumbering veggie-eating dogs. I will say that my heart was definitely racing when that brown bear was about 2 feet from my face - even if she was behind bars.

The most interesting animal in the zoo however, was the "waschbaer" or plain old racoon. I just saw one of those clever but grubby animals last week at Lake Sommerville and I certainly never expected to see one at a German zoo.

Well, that is all for now. Typing on the blackberry presents certain challenges and my thumbs are getting very tired. Also, I need to rest up for our hiking excursion to Drachenfels tomorrow.