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Our first few days in Cologne have been pretty busy and we expected that to be the case.  Tuesday started with the grocery store.  As usual, it’s not a fast process.  The majority of items require translation on our part to make sure we are buying what we think we are buying.  Obviously, each store is laid out differently so it is not like running in and knowing right where your items are.  We always manage to find what we want and it’s usually a pretty fun process.

That afternoon, we were able to spend time with one of our friends who works for the band.  We enjoyed several Kolsch beers at a spot right next to the Cologne Cathedral.  Those visits are always so much fun.  We haven’t yet been able to convince him to actually start writing his book (changing the names to protect the innocent of course).  He has some really great stories from his years working with various bands and also other types of productions.

After the visit, Sandy and I walked over to the Cathedral and they have a very nice brochure that allows for a self-guided tour.  This building took 632 years to build.  Much of Cologne was completely destroyed during World War II.  The Cathedral survived with comparatively little damage.  There was some – you can still see bullet holes and other minor damage, but not too bad.

There are a lot of impressive aspects to the Cathedral, but I guess my favorite part is the stained glass windows throughout.  Really beautiful.

A couple of other highlights for us were the Crucifix of Gero and the Shrine of the Magi.  The crucifix is over 1000 years old and is considered to be one of the first larger-than-life sculptures from the middle ages.  The shrine was created around the year 1200 in order to hold the relics of the Magi (bones of the three wise men).

New recipe for dinner tonight – well, new because we always find the ingredients to be a little different than what we are used to.  Sandy made chili tonight and it’s a keeper – we’ll have that more as we make our way around the world. 

We had a logistical highlight today as well.  Because we have started our trip with the Depeche Mode concerts, the clothes we want to take with us on the rest of the journey are not the same as what we need/want in Europe at this time of year for going to concerts.  Before we left Sarasota, we shipped the clothes we wanted post-concerts to our friend Manuel here in Cologne.  He delivered them to our apartment tonight.  We’re excited to have that step in the process complete.  It was strange because we had to pay customs on the shipment.  I think we were not clear in our indication of the contents and the value because the customs office here in Germany must have thought they were clothes to be sold here.  Oh well, we learn.

On Wednesday, we found a nice gym not too far from our apartment and went for workouts together.  We then stopped by the post office to get information on shipping our Depeche-related clothing back to the States.  It seems like that will be an easy enough process – we shall see next week when we actually do it.  Tonight was a concert night, so we headed to the area of the venue (Lanxess Arena) and had dinner at a Croatian restaurant.  We both had salmon with a rice/tomato side.  We were both craving some kind of fish so it was the perfect meal.  The first Cologne show was another good one.  We watched from the floor a little to the house left side of the mixing desk.  We were hoping Martin would do Somebody since Sandy hadn’t seen it when he did it the last time, but he did not.  His songs tonight were Strangelove and Home.  It was fun visiting with friends after the show and then we took the tram back to our neighborhood.

Today (Thursday) offered decent enough weather that we went for a great run through some of the parks near our apartment.  We basically did a two mile out and two mile back route. 

For the afternoon, we stayed around the apartment because a maintenance person came to do something to the water meter.  We’re not sure what, but he did what he had to do and we still have hot water so all is good.  Staying around the apartment gave us a chance to work on our next destination.  I don’t think we’ve mentioned it in our journal so far – we are next headed to Morocco.  We aren’t sure how long we will be there but we are pretty sure it will be for at least six weeks.  It was great to get some of those logistical plans started.

Afterward, we took a walk in the neighborhood (Ehrenfeld is where we are staying and when we are back in Cologne, we’d absolutely be happy to stay here again).  Our friends, Manuel and Tina, wrote a book called Lost and Dark Places of Cologne.  There is a series of books and I think they are all German towns.  The Cologne book offers 33 places that have a somewhat dark history or have been abandoned or have basically been forgotten. 

We visited the place that is closest to our apartment.  While there, we had our Google Translate going so that we can understand what Manuel and Tina had learned and shared about the location.  This spot was an old electrical factory that also made lights for lighthouses.  They built a lighthouse at the factory to test their products and also serve as an advertisement for the business.  It is rather strange to see a lighthouse in the middle of a city that is not near the sea.  We really enjoyed this first stop and we talked about how fun it would be to go see all 33 places – and then even go to other cities and explore the history in that way.  I think Manuel and Tina could also offer tours based on their research.  It’s a great idea and not anything I’d have ever thought of.