Day 20 2/8/2010

Catching up again but hopefully today will be the last and I will be able to write more about my days.

Day 13 2/1/2010

This was a Monday and a rather boring one. We had to be at school by noon for Deutch class but she decided to start early so I felt like I was late. She told me not to worry about it because she told us noon and that was when I got there. We got through that then sat down to work on your group project that we have been working on for a while. We decided to completely change the idea to a different one which later proved to be the best choice. So the afternoon was spent arguing out the details and getting them straight and ready to be presented on Thursday. The day was fairly uneventful otherwise.

Day 14 2/2/2010

Well today was interesting. This was when we really got to revise our idea. We were suppose to be having a work shop in the morning but it ended up that he didn't want to work with us with out us being able to do our own designs. So we were able to split up again to work on our own ideas. He kept asking us these really hard questions and getting us to focus on parts of our story that we didn't really intend to work on in the first place but ultimately we ended up doing way better than we originally thought we would. It worked out so that we had a set story and characters and everything. We didn't talk as much like we had done for the last week. This was pretty much how everyone spent the day. At some points different people went home because we didn't have any classes after 1 but most of us stayed to get the story right. Eventually most of my group had left so I sat down and watched a show that I had been missing for a couple of days. After I finished all that I could watch I went home as well. Mostly to just sit in the living room to talk to people on the internet. Then eventually I went to sleep if I remember right I went to bed fairly late.

Day 15 2/3/2010

Today was Wednesday and it was our second trip to Cologne. This was a great day I was excited to go and see the sites that we were scheduled to see. We left at around 9:30 in the morning. I remember because when I was leaving that morning I was almost all the way to the Underground when I realized that I didn't have my contacts in. I had a moment of indecision and then decided that I would go back to get them even if it did make me a little late. I ran for most of the way back and for as long as I could. I had a painful train ride to the Hauptbahnhof after that run. I wasn't going to leave them because we were going to be doing too many things that would require my ability to see long distances. I refused to miss out. Well, right as my train pulled into the station and I was running up the stairs to meet up with the group Alvaro called me to ask where I was. I love him, he made me feel better when I was feeling extremely left out by the group but that's a minor problem. I got there just as the group was walking out onto the platform to catch the train and as I stopped by Ariane the train we had to catch pulled up. Wow that was way closer than I wanted it. We hopped on the train and rode the 30 minutes to Cologne. We got off and immediately went to meet up with the first tour guide. All the while taking pictures of the Cathedral for the second time. We got a bunch of pictures the first time. So we waited for a tour guide that would take us around the city for a city tour. He told us about the Rhine and the background of the city. How it was named after one of the Roman emperor's wifes and such. He also had a lot of knowledge about the church. We went inside and he told us about it and when it was built in 1248. How it wasn't finished until the 19th century. Its the only completely Gothic church as well as the largest in that style. It is a beautiful church I'm glad that we were able to visit it twice because I didn't feel satisfied the first time. He told us that the relics of the three kings is buried there. I got to see the shrine of the three kings. It was beautiful. I also saw tombs to a few bishops which was kind of eerie. They were sculpted laying down and then buried underneath their likeness. Everything in the church was original the only thing different were that some of the parts of the building have been replaced due to deterioration. The calcium in the rocks is just eaten away by the acid rains. So its becoming structurally unsound so that is what they are trying to prevent. I didn't find most of that out till later on a different tour. He told us about the inside of the church itself and what everything was. It was really Cold in this church because it was so big. It was strange to still see your breath even though you were inside. Well I walked around taking video and pictures whenever I could but otherwise I listened to him talk. He talked about how most of the windows were the originals because they were removed during the war so none of them were lost. Although the vaults had been replaced because of the bombs. We also walked to the Rhine and he told us how Bonn became integrated with the town across the river and he also told us about how the city was here because it was one of the original Roman encampments that was placed every 40 KM along the river to secure the empire from the barbarians on the other side. The Rhine river was the northern boundary for the Roman Empire. I also learned about the Old Town Hall and how it was a copy because the original was destroyed in the war. It was an interesting building. We went inside but it wasn't that interesting. I don't remember exactly what order we went in on that tour. I think it was the Rhine, the Cathedral then the town hall but I don't remember for sure. I guess I could look at the order of my pictures but I'm too lazy. After that tour we walked to another museum with the same tour guide. This was the headquarters for the Nazi Police. This was where they kept prisoners before they sometimes sent them to camps. It was really spooky. I got separated from the group at one point and that freaked me out more than anything because it was easy to get turned around. So I wondered around a bit trying to find them. Turns out they were down stairs in the cellar where they kept the prisoners but when I walked down there the lady working didn't like that I had a camera and she sent me back up the steps I don't understand why because her English was choppy so instead of trying to understand I just went back up stairs and missed out of what was down there. So I have the brief glimpse of what was down there before she ushered me up stairs. Well after that we had about 45 minutes to eat. Allie, Lisa, David and I didn't want soup which was where the rest of the group was going so we walked around the platz and found a pizza place. It took us a little longer to eat than we had time but it ended up that it didn't matter because the tour guide was late so I walked with Ariane to a coffee shop so I could have a cup. It is the best I've ever had by the way. After that she and I went our separate ways. I found a souvenir shop. I spent some time there and purchased two Steins and my doll for Germany. When I walked back to the group to show someone it fell. I hadn't had the doll more than ten minutes and I broke it. Some of the group and I gathered up the pieces and placed them back in the box. I was stunned I'd never broken a doll before. That was the first ever. Trisha told me that she would go with me back to the shop to see if I could get another one. I told the shop keeper that I touch her and she broke. Which wasn't entirely a lie but he gave me a rather nasty look that told me off enough and handed me another one. She and walked around the shop for a bit then went back to the group. Since the tour guide was late it wasn't so bad that we spent so much time in the shop. Finally she showed up and we headed toward the part of the Cathedral that we could go up on. This was the part of the day that I was most excited about. This was when we would be going up on and into the roof of the Cathedral. This amazing and beautiful building. I was going to get to go to the top, or as high to the top as I could get that day. We started the tour at the bottom of the Cathedral with a little bit of explanation of the history for the third time since I've been in Germany but a repeat isn't a bad thing. After that we headed to the elevator and piled in. This was the most nerve wracking part. The elevator was loud and rattly. Most of us rushed off of it quickly when we got to the top. She gave us some more explanation about the exterior of the building this is where I learned about the calcium problem. She also talked about the buttresses as well as what they were doing to maintain the building. That part was rather boring but interesting at the same time. Right after that we walked into the Cathedral near the roof. This was the most interesting part because we were at the very top of the nave above the vaults and the ribs. She showed us plans for the different phases of the building and a copy of an original drawing for the facade of the building. She took us around explaining different things like how the crossing tower is smaller than the space for the crossing. The original plan for it was that it was going to be made out of stone but if they did it would be too heavy so ...someone... convinced them to make it out of metal and that was the final design put in place. It is also held up with these huge metal tube like structures places all around the middle keystone of the crossing vault. She talked about the structures and the roofing. It was made out of lead and replaced every 10 years. all the vaults were built after WWII because they were blown out at that time except a few in the Choir area of the building. She spoke about a medieval wooden crane that used to be a trade mark of Cologne before the building was finished and there was an Eagle on it representing one of the mayors that contributed money to the building it was taken down after the War because it was used by the Nazi's and became a crude symbol in Germany. She also showed us the workshop that the 90 people who work on the building now work to fix and replace the deteriorating parts. Most of the roof was held up with pointed arches as well. I learned a lot more but it is hard to remember. Before we went into the workshop we went up to the crossing tower top. This was the top most part of the main church area not including the towering facade. This showed us a full view of Cologne. You could see for miles. There were all the little churches within the city that the different areas of the city are named after as well as across the river to the 'new' part of town. You could also see 'The Rings' which is a series of streets that follow the original Roman wall line. It is amazing to see all of that from up there. Also I remember another thing the previous tour guide said. He said that the reason the church was never destroyed during the war and why most of the building is original is because it was a good landmark for bombers. They wanted to keep it because you could tell what direction you were going just by looking at the angle of the two facade tower in relation to where you are and know exactly where you are and where your going. Its the same for the locals today they can be placed in any part of the city and as long as there is a view of the Dom they can tell where they are. So after looking out on that breath taking view we headed back down the 'Visitor's Stairs' and that is when we headed to the workshop. Over the workshop was a wooden eagle that was on top the medieval crane that was used to build the building. The eagle symbolized one of the chancellors/mayor leader figure that put in a lot of money to get the building finished and he wanted the people of Cologne to know that he was watching over them. It was kinda weird and conceded but they took it down because they think of the eagle as a derogatory symbol. Right after the workshop, which was mildly interesting we walked down a huge flight of stairs. They were spiral stair cases down one of the columns of the cathedral. We went down to the level of the blind arcade and went out onto it. We were able to look down into the church. It was a really tight fit for all of us there. I wish I could have taken some pictures, however my regular camera is still broken and I have to wait for my mother to send me one. Anyway right after we walked down the rest of the stairs till we were all the way at the bottom. It was just around and around and around, at one point I had to stop because I got dizzy. It was like they were never going to end. Once we were out we walked back to the train station to wait for our train back to Bonn. I pretty much went back to my house and talked to Sean then to sleep after I came back.