Day 16
Today was a travel day. I left Bruges at 8:15 and had a 20 minute walk to the train station in the pouring down rain. My bags got soaked but nothing was ruined. I swear that my bags get heavier each time I move. The commute was miserable and I am exhausted from lugging these bags around.
I had to take a train from Bruges to Brussels. Bruges is a much smaller train station and does not have trains that run to Cologne. From Brussels, I took a train to Cologne. I had to reserve a seat on this train. I had no issues finding my train and the correct seat. Now to get a cheap train reservation, I had to take an early train. I was to arrive in Cologne at 12:15 but I could not check into my Airbnb until 3:00.
I arrived in Cologne at about 1:00 so I went to Starbucks and started researching how their local transportation works. I went to the train ticket counter and bought three day passes and then headed down to the metro. Their metro started underground like Brussels and Paris. However, it went outside and acted like a street tram, similar to Zurich and Geneva. Their is much more space on these cars than there was in Brussels. I got off on the right stop and easily found my home, but I was 30 minutes early. I rang the doorbell but no one answered. So I messaged my host that I was already at the apartment and apologized for being early. About 10 minutes later I saw a lady in the entry way of the apartment and she asked if I was the Airbnb boy. She took me up to my room and gave me instructions. She did not speak much English so we conversed in German. This was good practice for me, although I did not know how to say some words. Her native tongue is Spanish so she did not understand some of the German words that I was saying. Knowing German is already proving to be quite beneficial on this trip.
My next thing to do was to get groceries. I located a nice grocery store by one of the train stations and went inside. I purchased some fruit and croissants, paid, and began to leave. Then, a police officer starts screaming at me in the store, thinking I was shoplifting. This man did not speak any English and was screaming to see my receipt. I pulled it out and showed him it and he started to count my items. He did not see bananas on the receipt so he started screaming again about the bananas. He finally found the bananas on the receipt and told me that the exit is somewhere else. I quickly walked away and just exited through another door. I forgot that you must bring your own bag to a grocery store. Because I had my hands full of food, he probably thought I was shoplifting. I understand why he questioned me, but it was not a pleasant experience for my first day in Cologne.
By the grocery store, I saw a German restaurant so I decided to go eat there. I hadn't eaten since 7:00 and it was not around 5:00. I had some schnitzel which was absolutely amazing. Schnitzel is by far my favorite German dish and I missed it so much from the last time I was in Germany. The schnitzel was huge by the way. Here is a picture:
These days where I move cities are quite stressful. Carrying all my bags, getting to the trains on time, figuring out each cities' public transportation, finding my Airbnb, and finding places for food. Taking pictures does not even cross my mind on these travel days. Tomorrow I will explore Cologne and will have a lot more pictures to share. I miss Bruges a lot but I am ready to use my German skills and enjoy my time in Germany.
On the way to Cologne, something interesting happened. The lady in the seat behind me starting having pains and her husband ran for help. A few of the conductors came to our car and made an announcement, asking if any doctors on the train could come to car 22. A lady in the back of my car had experience with first aid so she came up to try and help. What I found interesting was the use of languages. The lady in pain spoke a language that I did not recognize, something from the Middle East I think. Her husband spoke German. The lady who knew first aid spoke English and her son spoke a little German. So the first aid lady asked her son to say something to the husband who would then say it to his wife. An exchange of three languages there. The boy did not speak good German so two middle school-aged girls had to translate some sentences as well. The lady had pain on her left side. The lady asked if she is pregnant and she responded yes. The conductors stopped the train at the nearest stop and medics came on board. Now these medics only spoke French so the guy sitting next to me translated French into German for the husband and French into English for the first aid lady. She was eventually taken off the train to receive medical attention. This delayed the train about 35 minutes. It was interesting to see how four languages were spoken within just a small section of the train.
I arrived in Cologne at about 1:00 so I went to Starbucks and started researching how their local transportation works. I went to the train ticket counter and bought three day passes and then headed down to the metro. Their metro started underground like Brussels and Paris. However, it went outside and acted like a street tram, similar to Zurich and Geneva. Their is much more space on these cars than there was in Brussels. I got off on the right stop and easily found my home, but I was 30 minutes early. I rang the doorbell but no one answered. So I messaged my host that I was already at the apartment and apologized for being early. About 10 minutes later I saw a lady in the entry way of the apartment and she asked if I was the Airbnb boy. She took me up to my room and gave me instructions. She did not speak much English so we conversed in German. This was good practice for me, although I did not know how to say some words. Her native tongue is Spanish so she did not understand some of the German words that I was saying. Knowing German is already proving to be quite beneficial on this trip.
My next thing to do was to get groceries. I located a nice grocery store by one of the train stations and went inside. I purchased some fruit and croissants, paid, and began to leave. Then, a police officer starts screaming at me in the store, thinking I was shoplifting. This man did not speak any English and was screaming to see my receipt. I pulled it out and showed him it and he started to count my items. He did not see bananas on the receipt so he started screaming again about the bananas. He finally found the bananas on the receipt and told me that the exit is somewhere else. I quickly walked away and just exited through another door. I forgot that you must bring your own bag to a grocery store. Because I had my hands full of food, he probably thought I was shoplifting. I understand why he questioned me, but it was not a pleasant experience for my first day in Cologne.
By the grocery store, I saw a German restaurant so I decided to go eat there. I hadn't eaten since 7:00 and it was not around 5:00. I had some schnitzel which was absolutely amazing. Schnitzel is by far my favorite German dish and I missed it so much from the last time I was in Germany. The schnitzel was huge by the way. Here is a picture:
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