On Tuesday, I accompanied Amanda - a friend from Millersville - and a few other Millersville students to Cologne to visit her parents who are doing a cruise down the Rhein. Cologne is home to a magnificent cathedral, started in 1248 but not completely finished until 1880.
Der Kölner Dom - The Cologne Cathedral
The cathedral's claim to fame is the that it houses an ossuary shrine for the Three Kings. I remember reading a book about the golden box that allegedly contains their bones (fiction), and having the chance to visit made that seem a bit more "alive."
The Golden ossuary shrine of the Three Kings in the Kölner Dom
The cathedral wasn't as I pictured it in my mind, but it was nonetheless fantastic. And being so close to the bones of the magi was in and of itself a thrill - even if I don't get points in heaven for doing so. (It's hard to believe that the bones are actually interred there, but it's fun to think about anyhow.)
As for the rest of the city of Cologne, it was a bit of a disappointment. I find Marburg to be a lot nicer. The Allies bombed Cologne in WWII, and since it's been rebuilt. You can tell that from way the city looks today. It's rather "modern" and lacks the German charm that a lot of other cities have. Frankfurt is a lot nicer, in my opinion. Germans whom I tell that I find Frankfurt nicer that Cologne say that it's simply because the skyline in Frankfurt resembles an American skyline. As a play on this fact, Frankfurt is called Mainhatten, given the fact that it's full name is Frankfurt am Main and that it's the financial nerve center of Germany and has an "American" skyline. I can't particularly see the American skyline, but it's a nice city nonetheless. (Apropo: I'll be heading to Mainhatten on Saturday with Amanda and Mike from Millersville to do some shopping!)
Wednesday was a day for soccer, and I'll refer you to the post below to see how that all turned out. Because of yesterday's results, the United States will be playing Ghana on Saturday. My British friend Rob and I wanted to go for a drink and discuss politics, philosophy, theology, etc. on Saturday evening, but we decided we'll forgo the discussion and watch the game. It'll be shown wherever we go for a drink anyhow, we'll be doing half of what we planned. On Sunday, the Germans play England, and I'm going to Julia's house to watch the game with her and our friend Kate. I'm planning on wearing red, yellow, and black and a hat with the German flag. Of course, since it's Wednesday, I'll be having Erdbeerschnitten. I'm getting enough for us all at Julia's house and taking it to have Kaffee (see post below) with them. It'll be quite the institution!
I'm looking forward very much to coming home in a month, but I'm not looking forward to saying goodbye to the friends that I've made here. If I could only take them along so that I could have my family and friends all in one place, it would be the best of both worlds - but alas, that is not to be...before coming home, I'm headed in Rome on July 7-11. That's less than two weeks away now...a week after that trip, I'm headed to Venice with some of the others from Millersville from July 19-22. Matteo wants to come visit us while we're there. I'm looking forward to seeing him again. He's already put in a request for Metterwurst (great spread on bread - seriously!!). After returning from Venice, I'll be in Marburg for one day to take care of a very long list of things before coming home on July 24. And of course, there is academia that has to be fitted into the cracks that are left in that travel schedule. On Monday I want to hand in a paper on Luther's hymn compositions and on Tuesday a paper about Heinrich Böll's "Anecdote for the Decrease in Work Morale." I'll also have a big test in Old Testament and have to give a presentation with another student on the Corinthians as a church community in New Testament during the week after returning from Rome. That's how the academic schedule looks for the remainder of my time here. Please keep me in your prayers for the remainder of my time here as I travel about and try to make some academic progress at the same time!
Glad you are having fun. You've come a long way from when you first arrived. Aren't you proud of yourself for stepping outside the box? Sounds like you've made some wonderful friends and memories that will last a lifetime. Can't wait to see you:)
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