Travels to Germany

Here are some neat-o things worth mentioning from my travels alone to Germany.

1. Cologne is the mecca of all things donuty and pretzely. It is the Kingdom of Heaven of Carbs. The stands are everywhere and these delightful pieces of goodness stare you in the face until you succumb to their power and eat the giant morsels that go straight to your ass.

2. The German trains are much nicer than Dutch trains, until you are shaken awake by the German police barking at you because you are traveling alone from Amsterdam and demand to see your ticket and passport and ask many questions about your visit to Germany since you highly resemble a dealer of drugs in your hot pink sweatshirt and pigtails. Be warned. Pigtails = drug smuggler...

3. There is a store. A giant department store with a beautiful market underneath. In the market there is food. Samples of food. FREE food. Yummy lunch for me :) I tried everything, but the cheese (duh).

4. Becoming a recent vegan/vegetarian (sigh, I've changed my ways back, but at this time I was still doing the vegan thing) - you begin to notice the huge amount of sausage, meat, meat, some more meat, and pig like entrail things hanging all over Germany. I passed all of the beer gardens where they only served meat and creamy things and found a little Chinese restaurant to partake in. No one was there. Well, as they always say..."When in Rome...."

5. On to the shopping. It was much cheaper in Cologne than Amsterdam, so I bought a few things. I needed some toothpaste, and asked some people around me if I was in the right place. People in Germany speak German. No, really. German - not English. So as I was about to make my toothpaste purchase, a very kind girl pulled me aside and said it broken English "You about buy denture." JE ZUS! Thanks! I am forever in this girl's debt because I would have been brushing my little toothies with old people denture cream. Yoikes!

6. The Dom Cathedral. I spent most of my mornings sitting outside the Starbucks (yes, they still exist!! just not in the Netherlands) looking directly at the Dom Cathedral which to me is one of the most beautiful and amazing structures known to man. I attended mass there on Sunday and it was a thrilling experience.

7. The concerts. Hilliard Ensemble plus Singer Pur equals the most perfect sound I have ever heard live. I can't even describe the absolute beauty and purity that rang in the cathedral that evening. As for the War Requiem, conducted by Rilling, you try to compose yourself, but when the baritone soldier sings to the tenor soldier "I am the enemy you killed, my friend. I knew you in this dark; for so you frowned yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed. I parried; but my hands were loath and cold. Let us sleep now..." you can't help but lose control of your emotions. You weep for wars past, you weep for what is happening in America now, you weep for your own struggles, you weep for those you love. You can't stop weeping. When Rilling gives the last movement of his baton and the instruments and voices fall still - nobody moves for two minutes. Two full minutes of frozen silence. You feel as though time is standing absolutely still, then a sniffle, and another one, and everyone has tears falling onto their laps. As soon as Rilling's hands go down, all at once the audience bursts into an applause that lasts for twenty minutes. It is amazing how music can truly touch our souls in such a way that these moments will stay in our minds forever.