so some boring stuff first...i'm not writing this from my computer so i don't have pictures to insert and second if you are getting tired of checking in to see if i've posted something new there is - i believe - a way for you 'to follow' the blog...i'm not sure but check all the way at the bottom for the link to atom posts. you'll have to do some investigating to figure it out...now onto the good stuff.

cologne will go down as one of those pleasant surprises of the trip. when i was in england my friend oliver gave me the contact info of his friend tom in cologne and told me i had to get in touch with him. oliver was pretty sure i could crash at his place and that we'd hit it off. i wasn't sure about the whole thing because i left him a message and he never returned it. turns out tom can't always get his voicemail. so while on the train from berlin to cologne i tried him again - this time he picked up. he was out running errands with his girlfriend and said he would meet me at the train station.

once at tom and stephi's place we had a few kolsch - a beer that's only brewed here in cologne. tom and i stayed up late because he didn't have to be to work until 1pm the next day. tom's a bike mechanic and bike messenger so we had lot's of bike stuff to talk about so next thing we knew it was 1am...off to sleep. the next morning we were going to ride around town on a bike borrowed from a friend. that would have been awesome but it was locked with a key that tom didn't have access to...oh well. off on my own to see the town. the big attraction, figuratively and literally, is cologne cathedral. it's towers are about 400ft tall and it's just a marvel of construction that first began in the 12th century. the part i was most looking forward to is the climb up the south tower which is 530 stairs. the observation platform is 97 meters above the ground. it's an awesome climb...all but about 60 or so of the stairs are in a spiral staircase that as you are ascending others are desencing. my only complaint was the stopping and starting caused by all the traffic. in my mind it would have been fun to see how long, without stopping it would take me and if i'd have to stop at all because of tired legs. it's just amazing to me the amount of detail that they put into this thing even 300 feet in the air where the planners thought only caretakers would ever be able to see in detail.

i met back up with tom and stephi in the evening and now we had access to the bike that was locked up earlier so we headed out to go on a little scenic ride along the rhein and then to a little brewery. there are these small breweries around colonge that brew kolsch beer and other than some softdrinks that's all they serve in the way of libations. the one we were at had a pretty extensive menu and it smelled pretty good but we had eaten already. so in these breweries the waiters carry around these trays with beer. they are probably about 12-14" in diameter have a handle that comes up from the center and 10 or so holes cut out for the glasses to fit in. basically they walk around with a tray of beer and come up to your table and if you don't have your coaste on top of your glass they will pick up an empty and leave a full one. so here's the thing, the glasses are 0.2 liters or about 8 ounces and the beer is not particularly strong as german beer goes so it's pretty easy to just keep drinking. for us the end came at midnight as that's when they close which was probably a good thing because we were on number 7 by that time and we still had to ride the bikes home. the ride home went just fine and we stopped by the cathedral to see it lit at night...as amazing as it is in the day it's quite dramatic at night.

one more beer at home and then it was off to sleep. right now i'm on a train to a small town outside of stuttgart named strassberg. this is not the strasbourg that is in france and most people know of. it is the home of the mom of a friend of mine who has graciously opened her house to me and i believe is going to lend me one of her bikes to ride around the country side with.
a friend of tom and stephi's was with us drinking beer and when he heard i was heading to munich after strassberg he said that he would get in touch with his friend there and see if i could stay with him for my two nights there. if that works out it would mean 5 nights with out a hostel stay. don't get me wrong the hostels have been lots of fun but my time staying with locals...in london and cologne has been all that much better. if my stay in munich works out i think that i will feel better about trying the couchsurfing option...as of right now i'm having mental issues with contacting a perfect stranger - albeit one who expects to be contacted by perfect strangers - and ask to stay their home...we'll see.


happy trails,
dan