Is Koln, like, ghetto?

That would be a quote courtesy of Kati. It took her about 10 minutes to figure out why that's not such a good thing to say in the middle of Germany. It made for quite an amusing train ride.

So, we're finishing up our stay in Bonn and it's been so great! The atmosphere and attitude here is so relaxing and refreshing. You can sit outside and just watch people walking all over the place and sitting at the outside restaurants eating a nice lunch with friends and pets. The fantastic weather hasn't hurt either. We've done all sorts of good things here in the city. We took 3 different tours of the city over the course of the first 2 days. I must say, it did help us get around a little easier on our own. We went to a research farm, an organic farm (where I held a chicken), attended a lecture on homeopathy (which I still don't understand, but is very cool nonetheless) and went to a private practice with the cutest vet ever. Her outfit matched her clinic. It was adorable.

I also had my first German beer on Monday night at this great Italian restaurant. The beer is called Kolsch and is apparently very popular in this area. There's tons of microbreweries in the area that make this stuff. They always serve it in these really tall, small glasses too. Apparently it preserves the flavor or something. Either way, it was really good. The food is pretty stellar too. They have falafel and this thing called Doner (a lot like Shwarma) everywhere and it makes for an excellent cheap lunch. Also, the gelato is to die for.

Today, Olaf, one of our guides/trip organizers here in Bonn took us across the Rhine to Koln. We had such a fun time. We visited the cathedral there which is absolutely beautiful. It's also really famous because it has the remains of the three wise men. You can see the sarcophagus and everything. The church is really amazing, and this is only the one part of it.

We also happened to run into a wine festival that was going on in the middle of the city. We all invested in a couple of glasses and really enjoyed the traditional German singing and accordion playing that was happening around us.

All in all, we've been having a complete blast. Everyone is totally wiped out from our busy days and from traveling all over, but it's definitely not stopping us from having a good time. Tomorrow we're off to the Netherlands where we will be doing a mud-walking tour through an intertidal zone and visiting a seal rehabilitation facility among other things. I imagine it will make for some really interesting pictures :)