Koln - Day 2

This morning was the hardest morning to get out of bed. Our new hostel is practically a hotel and the beds were just so warm and comfortable compared to the rainy weather outside.  Reluctantly we all dragged ourselves out of bed and we dowstairs for breakfast by 7:30.  After a delicious breakfast we got ready to go climb the spire of the Cathedral.

We felt right at home walking to the U-Bahn in the rain.  When we got to the Cathedral we waited outside for a couple minutes waiting for the cathedral to open.  As soon as the door was unlocked we rushed inside to start our journey to the top.  Typically it takes a good 30 minutes to climb to the top but we finished a bit before that.  Upon reaching the top we observed the view then climbed back down.  A few of us got dizzy come back down the stairs since a majority of it was spiral. 

Then we went inside the church which was huge! We observed the church more on our own than as a group which was a nice little chage.  We saw the relics of the three wise men that were placed in the church. 

Afterwards, we went to the chocolate factory.  It was pretty interesting but we were all still pretty tired.  Fortunately, they had some free samples that helped to wake us up!

After we were done Mr. Mobini let us wander Cologne freely as long as we could get back to the hostel on our own. So Jessika, Aaron, Connor, Karan Jagt, Willow, and us went to find a place to eat.  We found this little restaraunt on the Rhein river and decided it would be a great place to have lunch.  Turns out that food there was AMAZING. 3 of us ordered a "flamecake" which is basically a pizza but without the pizza sauce and was not as thick as regualr pizza.  Afterwards we wandered about doing some shopping and just enjoying our adventure together downtown Cologne.  Then we gave us an hour to get back just in case we got lost.  So we got to the main station and half of us said we take the U-bahn and the other half believed we were supposed to take the S-bahn.  After discussing it and taking a look at the map we figured out it was the U-bahn. We boarded the right U-bahn and got to our stop but then we werent sure which way to go to get to the hostel. We kept trying to use the map but it was very confusing until finally Jessika found our current location and figured out how to get to the hostel.  Needless to say we found our way back and even had 10 minutes left until 5! Overall today was a fantastic day in Cologne despite the weather. - Katie & Renee