Kolsch

The night before last it rained quite a bit here and ever since then it's been quite cold (about 60 degrees) and very wet. I never expected to need to wear my sweater and jacket and a scarf with an umbrella in the middle of July. 

Today we went to Cologne where we toured parts of the city and learned about its history. This is just one of three tours we will take in Cologne. Next trip Cologne Cathedral! However, on this trip we only saw the outside of the Cathedral. It's so big and beautiful that when you look up at it and walk towards it, it doesn't look real. Seriously, it feels like your walking up to a giant picture and it's not until you get right next to it that you realize that it's real. 

We also had a bakery tasting where we got to sample 5 or so different bakery pastries and then rate which ones were the best. If there's one thing you can count on in Germany, its the bakeries. They bread and sweets are always made fresh and they just can't be beat. The bread here is much heartier and the flavor has more depth. Food is just as important as anything else.

 

After the tour most of us went our separate ways. I stayed with two of my guy friends, Chris and Ryan, and we met up with two German kids that went to Chris and Ryan's school for a while this past year. They were pretty cool and I had my first beer in Germany. I was waiting to have a really good beer as my first one here, even though it's hard to get a bad beer in Germany. The beer was called Kolsch, which is a light beer made in Cologne. Supposedly Cologne is know for its beer called Kolsch and Dusseldorf is known for its beer called Alt. Cologne and Dusseldorf dislike each other so much from this stand point that if you try to order Alt in Cologne they will tell you to "fuck off" and visa versa. On the menu of the beer garden we went to they even had Alt listed on the menu but next to it it said "go 50 km north". haha. 

Overall, I would say another great day.