This will be a shortish post as I am in the midst of packing for my next country (Miri and I fly out tomorrow morning for Romania where we are doing a walking tour in the Carpathian mountains).
We were briefly back in Berlin for a couple of days last weekend, which was spent with Miri catching up with people and me wandering around the city. On Sunday Miri had a meeting in a town 4 hours away for her volunteer OMF (missions organisation) team. I tagged along to the meeting and it was interesting to hear what their plans were to celebrate 150 years in 2015. After the meeting we drve another hour or so to her aunt's place, near Dusseldorf in the west of Germany. Her aunt and uncle are away at the moment but they graciously let us stay there without them.
Monday we decided to go and explore Cologne which is about 40 minutes drive away. We explored the cathedral there. Very interesting. It houses a gold statue that supposedly holds the bones of the 3 magi who visited Jesus. It was bought to the cathedral in 13th century and people have been coming to worship it ever since. Kinda misses the whole point. Was sad as the statues in the cathedral all seemed to be of past priests and such. Not much pointing to God, but mostly of worshiping people.
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| The cathedral is magnificent and very gothic (gargoyles are ugly and should not belong on churches) |
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| This is just a very small piece of one of the spires of the church (I think it's being repaired) |
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| The box that holds the bones of the 3 Magi |
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| In Europe there is a tradition for lovers to put a padlock on a bridge with their names on it. Not sure exactly what this means, but it's interesting to see. |
We got caught in the rain so stopped for coffee in a coffee shop. And when we sat down we both realised that we were very tired and that we didn't really want to do anymore exploring. So we went home and vegged on the couch. I think the amount of traveling we have done in the last 3 weeks had caught up with us and we were too tired to look at anymore old stuff.
Tuesday we woke refreshed and ready to explore Maastricht. A smallish town across the border in The Netherlands. Miri had been there before and so knew the places to show me. There was a church there that was originally built next to another church that all the monks/priests attended. This church was for the common people so they could worship somewhere. I loved it's simplicity. Got a great leg workout in as we climbed to the top of the steeple. We found a great coffee roaster where Miri could stock up on good coffee before she leaves for China. We also found a bakery that still grounds it's own flour. We bought some flan. VERY tasty (the pastry is more like a sweet bread, and oh so very good). We found a church that has been converted into a bookshop and coffee shop and we sat and drank our cappuccinos (yes I have gone to the dark side of being a coffee drinker after almost 32 years of swearing off the stuff). Was a lovely day. Then Miri and I realised we were only about 20mins drive from the border of Belgium and why on earth would you not use this opportunity to go and find some chocolate. So we drove to the closest town we could find, and there right on the main street was a chocolate shop that we managed to walk to 5mins before it closed. And I reckon it might be some of the best chocolate I've ever had.
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| Maastricht town hall |
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| I have no idea who thought up the idea to wear wooden shoes but it can't be comfortable |
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| The church for the common people...like me |
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| Even the common church seems pretty fancy to me |
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| At the top of the church |
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| Miri with her piece of flan |
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| The bookshop/coffee shop in a church. This would be my favourite place if I lived here. |
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| Me in front of the city gates |
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| The random town in Belgium we stopped in |
Wednesday we slept in and then after lunch drove the 5 hours back to Berlin, arriving in the evening.
And today I found my way by train to a local mall and shopping area to buy a couple of things I needed before our tour tomorrow. Not sure of internet access while we are away so it may be a week before you see another post.
