Biosciences Bonn: OH da COLOGNE!!!!

Cologne, Cologne, Cologne! Today, we took a day trip to the amazing city of Cologne, which is the place where the cologne that you spray on yourself was first invented. I had heard a lot of good things about it from the AIB staff, my host family, and other students who had visited Cologne in the past. We left at 9:30 from the Bonn Hauptbahnhof, and let's just say that 4 layers wouldn't have kept anyone warm. I wore 2 :). We got to Cologne in about 20 minutes by train, and the first thing that I saw when I walked out of the train station was the Cologne Cathedral, which is also known as the Dom. It's HUGE. I don't think it was possible to fit the entire cathedral in one photo. After we finished gawking at the cathedral, we met up with our tour guide that showed us around the city. In addition to the subzero weather, it was pretty damp and windy, so my bones were chilled throughout most of the tour. First off, he took us underground to show us what remained of the entrance to the ancient Roman gates, which was only a small part of the extensive Roman city that existed prior to the fall of the Romans. Then, he took us around different parts of the city and showed us a statue of Tunnes and Schal, a small church with many statues of famous people such as Agrippina, the mother of Nero, and the lower interior area of the Dom. Afterwards, we got lunch at one of the brew houses; the schnitzel, as expected, did not let down. Afterwards, I pigged the heck out. We went to try the infamous Berliner, which I wasn't too interested in, but passing up a 2 for €1 deal is pretty difficult. The Berliner was essentially a jelly donut, but still, it was something I had to try. On a side note, I can eat food nonstop, and I'm ALWAYS down for dessert. After the Berliner the group decided to go to a gelato store, and guess what! I got an ice cream cone haha! After getting that and heading back, we heard a small trio set up shop on a corner of the street. They started playing Canon in D, which instantly attracted a couple others and myself, so we stood there for about 5 minutes, mesmerized by their talent. Next, we stopped by the National Socialism Documentation Center or EL-DE (based on the phonetic pronunciation of the letters L & D of the building’s developer, Leopold Dahmen) House, which used to be the headquarters of the Cologne Gestapo. The tour lasted an hour, but that didn’t even scratch 2% of the entire museum. There was so much to see that an entire day wouldn’t have been enough. We went down to the basement and found about 10 cells that would have housed about 2 people each. However, the Gestapo felt that 20 people would fit better in those rooms. Last stop of the day! The Cologne Cathedral. So, I'm not a fan of heights; the Cologne Cathedral is about 157 meters. You know what that means!! I'll be paranoid about my surroundings for the next hour or so, and lemme tell ya. I was. However, the views from the different levels of the cathedral were breathtaking. We traveled up different increments..first to 20 meters and looked across the hauptbahnhof. Then, we did 45 meters, and finally, we ended at 70 meters above the ground. It was such a beautiful place to be at. Luckily, our tour guide was nice, and he let us stay up at the top for a little longer than we should have. Coming down from the top, I was just astonished at the fact that something this beautiful had been created. We went to look for the famous Eau de Cologne, but all of the stores had closed by the time we finished our cathedral tour, so next time maybe?