Europe Sabbatical

Had the privilege of taking more trains than I had planned for, when a helpful attendant advised me to get on the wrong train. Realized the error when we started to pull in to the airport train station, rather than continuing to head East. Luckily, she hadn't advised me to get on a train headed to France or Amsterdam, and it just meant I had to head back to the Nord station, wait for the same route train two hours later.

Once I was on the right train, I got to do some verbal sparring with a conductor, as no one had given me an it's-not-my-fault sticker and wanted me to pay a new fare. I played up the language barrier, and he eventually gave up in frustration. I was much relieved when we finally pulled into Cologne/Köln and I could get off the train.

I'm carrying two very heavy suitcases filled with souvinere beers from Belgian breweries, so I was eager to stop dragging/carrying them around. Made my way to the Airbnb I'm staying in, which, naturally is located on the 5th floor, so I got to carry the suitcases up as a final slap in the face.

That worked up a mighty hunger (and thirst), so I took a short walk to a local brewery the Airbnb host recommend: Päffgen. They have a few beers available, but everyone is drinking their kölsch, which they dispense from large kegs and repeatedly swap out empty glasses, making a tick mark on each guest's coaster to keep track for the bill. Gotta say it was a cool experience, and the beer was refreshing and clean after a full week of sours and heavy beers.

The menu was entirely in German, and while I was tempted to get the 3/4th meter bratwurst, I opted for something that seemed like it came with veggies, and chose the roast beef over the pig feet.

Bit of an awkward moment when a girl mistook me for her blind date (language barrier strikes again), before she saw her girlfriend and realized her mistake. Then I became drinking buddies with an old German couple. Prost!Читать далее