Cologne

This past Saturday we took our first USO trip to Cologne, Germany. The weather was sunny and FREEZING, but the city was really cool! There's this GIANT Gothic Cathedral that's like 600 years old and still being completed. It's the largest Gothic Cathedral in Europe. That statement meant more to me when the tour guide said it was bigger than Notre Dame because I really had no idea what any of the other Gothic Cathedral were... Anyway, we started our day with an hour tour of the city. We learned about the Cathedral, saw an ancient Roman floor, saw this giant clock tower that has a face that sticks out it's tongue like a cuckoo clock to chime the hour, went into the Cologne shop where cologne was invented, and that was about it! We then proceeded to shop, get lunch, and eat delicious pastry! We also checked out the Cathedral and went to their Treasury Museum. The museum was really cool! It's all fancy scepters and bishop's rings, and all kinds of other pure gold and gem stone Catholic things. The only downside was that we couldn't take any pictures of all of the precious artifacts.

OH! And the important thing about Cologne is that in German it is Koln with the two little dots above the o. If you say 'cologne' instead of 'koln' to a German you're not talking about the city, you're talking about the fragrance. It's an important distinction. We learned on our tour that Cologne used to be the capital of Germany, so it was large and crowded and the people liked to party. The city was therefore very dirty and smelly, thus the need for a fragrance to help cover the smell - cologne! It actually smells quite nice, though it is VERY strong. The cologne shop has just straight perfume so it's not eau du toilette or anything "watered down" it's just pure perfume. The attendants said it takes about a 1/2 hour for it to mellow out to it's premium scent... Yeah, we all smelled ALL day.

On the shopping end I got a sweatshirt, a pair of knee high khaki colored suede boots, and super cute coral tennis shoes! The shoes were only 10 euro each, AND I got a pair of thermal leggings! They're lined so they're like sweatshirts for your legs! SO warm and cozy in this FREEZING weather.

It was a really fun trip, and I'm looking forward to taking more trips through the USO. Up next, Prague, for the three day weekend!

Sidenote about this chocolate shop! We went in just to buy some chocolate and ended up with a whole story! So, we go in and we're trying samples and it turns out the owner is working there. He decided that one of the girls looked like Monica Lewinski and gave us free samples! It was DELICIOUS chocolate! He then told us it was his birthday and we sang to him, and then he gave us champagne! So we toasted and he told us all about his business. He owns 95 of these shops in Holland and 4 in Germany and is looking to keep expanding. All of the chocolate is organic and free trade and just incredible! It was such an awesome experience! We had so much fun, and it was a totally random but unforgettable experience!