Clayton's Visit

Hey there! Once again, I apologize for not having another post in 2 weeks!! I REALLY REALLY mean it this time! My boyfriend, Clayton, who is currently studying at the University of Manchester, came to visit me for the past two weeks. He was only supposed to stay from the 29th of October until the 7th of November, but then he realized that Cologne is so awesome that he changed his flight and stayed another week! So, starting out on the 29th. I picked him up from the airport, and it took us both at least a day for it to feel real that we were actually seeing each other after two months apart! The next day, we went to Aachen with a few of my friends. Its a smaller town about an hour or so by train away from Cologne. It unfortunately was raining, but it was still a fun day trip. The one thing that stood out the most to me was Aachen's cathedral. The decoration and art inside was absolutely spectacular.

The ceilings were solid mosiacs with such intricate detail that we spent at least 45 minutes just looking around (to put it in perspective, the cathedral wasn't that big..). Aachen is a smaller city so we only ended up spending a half day there. Then came Sunday the 31st...Halloween! I hosted a party for my friends so that my American friends and I could show our friends how Halloween is done in the states. Germans typically don't get that into Halloween because Karneval happens about two weeks later, but I'll get to that in a little bit. We had class off on November 1st due to All Saint's Day (the only day I get off this semester...I didn't think it was possible to have less days off than at the U of M!). For the rest of the week, I attempted (and hopefully succeeded..ask him!) to show Clayton as much of Cologne as I could! We went to the Dom, the Old City, walked along the Rhein, etc. My surprise for him was a lock. There is a bridge in Cologne that joins the east side with the west side over the Rhein. Tradition is to go with your boyfriend/girlfriend and put a lock on the bridge and throw the key into the Rhein. I felt very cheesy as we did it, but it was cute. That Saturday, we ventured to Bonn, the former capital of Germany. I had already been there with my family, so I showed him Beethoven's birth house, the cathedral, and the other sights of Bonn. Again, there isn't too much to do in Bonn so we stayed for a half day, then headed back to Cologne. That night, was the "Lange Museum Nacht" in Cologne. Translation is that all of the museums in the city are open from 7pm-3am and for just 15 euros, we could get into all of them. This was a steal considering that most museums cost around 7 euros for students. We visited The Chocolate Museum, The German Sport Museum, The Dom (we went into the treasury and the catecombs), the Roman Germanic Museum, and the Museum Ludwig. The last one is pretty well known for its modern art, and boy, it was pretty out there! By about 2am we were completely drain and called it a night.

The next day, one of my friends organized a trip to a castle. I feel stupid, but I honestly can't remember the name of the castle! It was in a small town called Konigswinter. The castle was pretty cool and very well kept, but it was also only 150 years old so it wasn't anything super ancient. Then the next week came and went. We didn't have much to do, besides class for me, so we mostly just hung around my apartment and spent some quality time together that we had been lacking the last two months. However, that Thursday was 11.11, otherwise known as the Karneval "kick-off". Karneval is a religiously-affiliated holiday that happens in the lenten season. But, the kick off for that week is on 11.11 at 11:11 am. For Germans, Karneval means you dress up in a costume (I wore the same as Halloween!) and party all day long. Cologne is known for being the center for the Karneval partying. The Karneval kick off isn't nearly as intense as the real Karneval which is a week long! Clayton and I were exhausted by 5 pm that we called it a night! It was a really fun experience and I was so glad that Clayton got to spend it with me. The picture below is from Heumarkt, one of the main places where the Karneval celebrations happen. There was a band and so many people! The last few days of his visit, we spent mostly just recovering from Karneval and hanging around. I organized a trip with my friends to the Augustusburg Castle in Bruhl yesterday. It was more like a palace, and unfortunately it was only by guided tour, in German!

Needless to say, Clatyon didn't get much out of it, and I caught some of it, but struggled most of the time! I just got back from bringing him to the airport, so I need to stop for now and catch up on everything I haven't done in the past two weeks! I hope all is alright at home (I hear Minnesota got multiple inches of snow?!). I'm going to meet up with Clayton again from Wednesday until Sunday, but this time we're going to Edinburgh, Scotland. So, another post will come soon! Bye for now!