My first 3ish days: Germany

Hello!  I wanted to update you on the first few days of my trip in Germany.

 After being hugged and kissed goodbye by these two fabulous people in Georgia, I hopped on the plane across the ocean.  It was hard saying goodbye to people so sweet...

My flight from the States to Germany was pretty nice!  I sat next to a man that taught me many things about German history, ate some pretty amazing food (no joke), and was able to sleep for oh... maybe 2-3 hours.  I 

was thankful for that, because when I landed in Germany, it was 7:30am in Germany, but my body was on 1:30am time.  From Dusseldorf, Katinka and I drove to Koln (Cologne) to spend the morning sightseeing.  

Before we started our walk around town, we stopped at a familiar friend's house and ate a blueberry muffin.   (You'd think I was sick of them from all that baking from Kaylee's wedding, but it was still YUM)

Well, after we had out little

 breakfast, we walked to Cologne Cathedral, a REALLY huge establishment that just about took my breath away.  It's been around for-e-ver, but it's still amazing.  We walked to the top of it (our legs were burning) and got to look around.  The walk up was in a narrow spiral staircase, and it was so sad because there was graffiti all over it!  An ancient building, vandalized like it means nothing!  We got to the top, took some pictures, and tried to not blow away in the cold wind.  It was a wonderful view from the top.  

 

After we walked around, ate an amazing lunch of qebap (not sure of the spelling, but it's a Turkish food that is very popular there I think?) and Mezzo Mix (coke with orange...tasted mostly like coke to me) we drove to Aachen, where Katinka lives.  It's such a beautiful town!

Things to note: Every May 1st women wake up and if they are dating someone, they will most likely find a tree adorned with different colored paper outside their house/apartment.  On the last day of April, guys go buy or cut down a specific type of tree, decorate it, and set it up in front of the house of the girl that they love.  The tree stays there for all of May, and when the guy comes to remove it (by the time I saw them, the trees were all dead looking, but still awesome!) the father of the girl traditionally gives the guy a case of beer.  haha I think the tradition is really unique and I like it!  On leap years, the girl has to take her turn at tree decorating.  :)  

 Also, apparently German swans like to eat shoes. Specifically black ones belonging to Katinka.  We had quite the time in the park!  It's getting late where I am, so I will have to finish this post later.  It's more time consuming than I thought!