Bonnevoie

Day 30:

Today was a little rocky for us, but had its upsides too. We woke up late again because of those fortress style blackout curtains and had a hearty breakfast. Then, to make sure we got to the station as efficiently as possible, we left our directions to Google Maps. Who proceeded to add over a mile and half an hour to our journey by having us zig zag our way to the city center. After finding out we didn't need reservations for our trains, we decided to stick to our plans and check out the cathedral again. We checked our bags into a storage locker and headed there.

We went inside the church again, and yes, its just as awe inspiring the second time. This time we were able to go behind the altar and see The Shrine of the Three Kings. Its the whole reason the church was built, and said to contain the remains of the three Magi. It was delivered, with a huge medieval precession of course, to the city of Köln in 1164. It sort of isn't worth trying to describe, so best bet would be to google it. Its this golden, shining box that contains the remains of men who were already old enough to be kings going on long, stargazing journeys at the turn of the.... not century, not millennium... era? So these fellas were born in fill-in-the-blank BC... crazy.

We bought tickets to both climb the tower (why we would do this again is confusing) and the treasury. The tower climb was very cool and we had amazing sights of the Rhine River and the whole town. The tower is known for having the largest free swinging bell and we saw that beast! But again we found everyone around us huffing and puffing as we were just unreasonably scared. Luckily, we were contained inside for all of it, though. Its nice to take a minute and just think about where we are and how many people have been in the towers over their time. Speaking of numbers, realizing that you're 98 meters above ground also gives you a certain feeling...

Then we went to the cathedral treasury. We are so sad that we weren't allowed to take pictures, because the items in there were beyond words. There were items from as far back as 300 AD, perfectly maintained coins, other things that we don't exactly know how to describe since we're not Catholic, and even the remains of an ancient Roman plumbing system from a building built on the site prior to the cathedral. The detail that people were capable so long ago is truly impressive.

After our revisit of the cathedral, we headed towards Luxembourg. Unfortunately, we made the assumption that regional trains in Germany wouls be similar to those in Scandinavia... not so. We rushed to the station and were hard-pressed to find seats with any storage above, but finally did in the bike section. Everything was peachy for about 4 stops. Then the electricity shut off and it simply (in German) said get off the train. Apparently they were leaving several of the cars behind, and we had to scramble up to the front 3 to continue. So we stood for a couple of stops before seats opened up. After situating ourselves, a herd, yes, herd of a family came on and took over the whole section. They were loud, smelled awful, and were moving around the entire time. Time came for our switch and we had to just short of run to to reach the next train on time. We felt a sigh of relief after that.

A short-ish walk later and we got to our next place to stay. Then we went to the only place serving or selling food within a half hour walk, a Thai place. We ended up having to run back after our meal because when they say rain in Europe, they mean RAIN. Not a slow start, not a trickle, like heavens opening rain. Somehow between goofy running and an awkwardly created bouquet of weeds and trees, it was a good night. Let's see what tomorrow brings.Read more