Bonn

The next day I woke up around 9 and hastily readied myself for the day. The night before hadn't been that taxing but I stayed up late even though I knew full well I would be up early the next day. Rosa, the president of the international student club on campus, had promised us only 75 spots on the tour and I was bound and determined to get one. The club had planned an excursion to the city of Bonn, which was located about half an hour south of Cologne.

I was excited to visit the city mainly because of the history it had. Bonn had been the old German capital after the second World War mainly because the Chancellor at the time had lived in Cologne and wanted to keep the capital city close to home. Currently it still maintained several important United Nations facilities and hosted the prominent persons of the German government on a regular basis. It was said that a plane left from Cologne to Berlin every 50 minutes. Bonn was also the local headquarters of several huge telecommunications companies such as Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile. Several other large companies were also headquartered there which made Bonn and interesting study in business because despite its relatively small size it was an important city.

I arrived in front of the international club a little early and chatted with a few girls from France and China as well as a guy from Italy. Finally a large group formed outside and I excitedly caught up with many of the friends I had made over the past few weeks. We took off from the main southern tram station in Cologne. The train ride took the promised half an hour and I spent most of it examining the German country side. This was the first time I had been out of the city proper and many parts of Germany reminded me of the rolling countryside of Iowa or Minnesota. Of course the farmhouses and villages off in the distance were entirely different but apart from that everything was very similar.

We arrived in the Bonn Hauptbahnhof and walked a few meters to a square. It had started to rain and my Converses were instantly soaked with water. I huddled under an umbrella with Becki from Hungary who was kind enough to share the space underneath, provided I held the umbrella since I was the taller of us. The group decided to split up to grab some lunch before continuing to the museum of German history where we were to have a tour. A vast majority of the group hurried for the shelter of a nearby Burger King but my group decided to avoid the crowd and headed to a Subway that was just down the street.

We ate our lunch (nearly indistinguishable from an American Subway) and then rejoined the group outside in the rain. By that point Chris and James (the Americans) had found the group. They had stayed near Bonn the night before. We caught up with them and headed underground to the tram station, where a tram would take us directly to the museum. About 4 stops later we stepped off at another underground stop and entered the museum where the first exhibit was saw was an old and expensive looking BMW car with German flags flying from its front bumper. Several students snapped quick pictures of the vehicle before we were ordered to put our cameras away and follow the German students upstairs.

The museum was huge!! After storing our coats and bags we were taken around the 5 stories of the museum by an English-speaking tour guide from Poland. He spoke with a very thick accent but I could easily understand all that he said (a job made more simple by the fact that he wore a microphone that was sent directly to earpieces we each wore). Unfortunately no pictures were allowed in the museum so there is not photographic evidence of its epicness! You're just going to have to take my word for it. It was like walking directly through German history. The museum was neatly arranged by time period, with artifacts detailing every important event from the end of World War II to the present. Mind = blown!

After the tour we assembled on the main level and hashed out a plan. There was a fair in town for the weekend just outside the city and the German students wanted to check it out. The group split about in half, with one half returning to Cologne on an incoming train and the other half hopping on a bus and heading to the fair. My small group and I joined the fair-goers. When the bus pulled up at the front gates it was quiet a sight. Gigantic booths and rides had been erected on a gravel street which was jammed with people walking almost shoulder-to-shoulder.

The crowded fair streets

Filip with a candy apple. Happiest guy I've ever seen.

Bahahaha!

Our group walked down the main street of the fair, looking at all of the booths and the interesting people both managing them and visiting them. We stopped about 30 meters down the street at a currywurst stand and were not disappointed with our purchase. I hadn't eaten since the Subway (a long time in when it comes to Gage and food) and the wurst was delicious! We continued down the street, chatting while our eyes flicked every which way. We made a complete circuit of the main street and headed down a side one, following James and Chris. The two of them had visited the fair last night and knew largely were everything was.

They led us to a massive beer hall that brought up instant flashbacks to the Summerfest I had experienced in southern Brazil two winters ago. The hall was huge with beer and pretzel stands lining the walls and balconies wringing the entire structure. I bought a beer from a stand with Jeremy from Belgium and we drank slowly with the rest of the group at a standing table at one end of the hall, listening to a German band preform both classic German drinking songs and American and English songs from the 70s and 80s. After the beers had disappeared we returned to the busy street.

Yes Mom, that's a beer

Roberto, Alexia, and Merina chowing down on German fare.

We walked around for another half hour or so. James, Merina and I stopped at a stand for German crepes on the way out of the fair. In total I spent about 8 and a half euros on food. I think it was worth it though. We ended our day in Bonn with a long bus ride back to the central train station and then another half hour ride on a regional train back to Cologne. By the time I arrived home my feet were achy and soaking and I was hungry (once again) and tired. When I got home I collapsed into my comfortable desk chair and relaxed.