Today Elizabeth and I headed straight to the Koln Zoo. Luckily the Zoo is on the S-Bahn line and we were able to take public transportation directly to the zoo. We had bought a transportation pass the night before and were not entirely sure if our ticket was still valid the next day since we had forgotten to validate it the night before. Just as we were going to get on the first tram that pulled up we noticed ticket checkers get on and because we were not exactly sure about our ticket, we decided to wait for the next tram.
We eventually got to the zoo and bought our tickets. The day was a little chilly and it started to drizzle on and off while we were there. But we found the four hippos--Jenny, Afro, Albert and Kiwanga. Yes, a hippo named Afro! Too good to be true.
What also was too good to be true was that the keeper came out of the hippo house just as we walked up and Elizabeth was able to talk to him in German about the project so that we could get their names. He told us about them (with Elizabeth translating back to me) and was able to point out who was who. The other great thing was that as we walked up the hippos took this opportunity for three of them to get out of the water and walk around outside of the pool, making it a perfect chance to take the pictures. I was so excited and as Elizabeth chatted with the keeper, I took pictures.
Albert, the biggest of the four, stayed in the water but I was able to get some great pictures of him doing his own thing. We thanked the keeper as he went back to what he was doing before we stopped him and promised him that we would check out the new Elephant Haus which had just opened not even a week ago.
Once all four hippos made it back into the water, we left and spent some time watching the sea lions for a bit and dodging the rain by getting hot chocolate. When the rain stopped, we went and looked at the new Elephant Haus which, ironically, is a "green" building--the type of eco-friendly architecture that Elizabeth is so fond of. It had a roof garden and everything. We walked around and took pictures of the building before heading back out of the zoo, stopping at several other animals on our way, including the massive community of monkeys which were quite a site to watch.
We stopped at the gift shop and gathered some information about the design of the Elephant Haus and were on our way back into Koln. We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting the Dom (one of the biggest cathedrals in Germany--supposedly the sarcophagus behind the altar contains the remains of the Three Kings...) and climbed the 500+ stairs up the South Tower to get a view over Koln. Not only did you have to climb up a huge spiral staircase (and in huge I mean long--the stairs were not all that big) but once you thought you just were about there, you had to climb this massive iron staircase that basically went around in a square fashion, straight up in this huge room. Definitely not something for those with fear of heights. It was a lot of work, but we eventually made it to the top. The view was amazing (with that many stairs it really should be!) and we stayed up at the top, checking out green rooftops of course and trying to find where our hotel was.
We walked back down--which is almost even more than a challenge going up. Not only are you trying to go down fast which makes you incredibly dizzy from the spiral staircase, but you have to deal with the people passing you on their way up and with people who are barreling down the stairs faster than you are, which can be quite something when two huge men are basically on your back the entire time.
But our shaky legs got us down and I have to admit I was relieved to make it! We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Koln which is a really nice little city. It is where Eau de Cologne was first made (Koln in English is Cologne). Everything in Koln is actually relatively close to everything which makes it completely confusing for Elizabeth and I for some reason. I guess we assume that things are farther distances than they really are, and this just has thrown our whole sense of direction and distance off. But we do eventually figure things out and end up at our destination more determined than we set out, but also a lot later than we had hoped. We spent the rest of the evening out on the town making some friends along the way...
Friday, September 24, 2004
Thursday, September 23, 2004
Frankfurt, Germany--Koln, Germany--Day 236
Eliz and I spent the day walking around Frankfurt and chilling out in a coffee shop before catching an ICE train--the Intercity Express train--to Koln. The weather in Frankfurt was drizzly and raining, but that didn't stop us from walking around with our umbrellas and going to the train station to figure out Elizabeth's train tickets for this month as well as get reservations for the train to Koln. We were able to leave our stuff at the hotel for the day, after we checked out and went back to get it an hour before our train.
The train to Koln was fast and we got there in just over an hour. The train station in Koln is located right in the city center--right next to the magnificent Dom Cathedral which is truly an amazing site. Built in the 1300s, it wasn't ever finished until 1500 years later due to lack of funding, finally completed in the 1800s. Amazing! We took the U-Bahn to where we assumed our hotel to be, found the hotel and checked in and then went back out on the town. Dinner consisted of amazing sushi and beer, and we explored the night life of Koln which found us seated at a smoky jazz club listening to a great, if not on the older side, live jazz band who probably have played there every night for the past thirty years. The night was definitely a hit and we wandered back to our hotel in the wee hours ready to hit the zoo in the morning.
German word for the day--Schmeckt. It means, it tastes good!
The train to Koln was fast and we got there in just over an hour. The train station in Koln is located right in the city center--right next to the magnificent Dom Cathedral which is truly an amazing site. Built in the 1300s, it wasn't ever finished until 1500 years later due to lack of funding, finally completed in the 1800s. Amazing! We took the U-Bahn to where we assumed our hotel to be, found the hotel and checked in and then went back out on the town. Dinner consisted of amazing sushi and beer, and we explored the night life of Koln which found us seated at a smoky jazz club listening to a great, if not on the older side, live jazz band who probably have played there every night for the past thirty years. The night was definitely a hit and we wandered back to our hotel in the wee hours ready to hit the zoo in the morning.
German word for the day--Schmeckt. It means, it tastes good!
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Frankfurt, Germany--Day 235
Entschuldigung. That means "excuse me" in German. One of the first of many phrases that I am busy learning now that Elizabeth is here. We spent the day today walking around Frankfurt with me practicing my new phrases. Elizabeth's German is amazing (she is so modest about it) and its definitely nice to have her here.
According to her family back in San Francisco, they now refer to me as "the hippopotamus friend." I guess that really could not have been avoided, but despite all of this hippo-ing, I do not think that I am actually beginning to resemble anything like them. At least, I hope so.
Anyways, Elzabeth's jet lag proved to be a nice excuse for me sleeping in and we up and at em pretty late this morning. We headed to the downtown area on the U-Bahn and emerged to find a big festicval going on. There were street vendors selling all sorts of wonderful things---bratwurst, cheese, cakes, you name it--and what seemed to be a farm fair, with tractors and farm animals in pens on display. Booths selling homemade honey soaps and wooden kitchen utensils lined the streets. We made our way down to the internet cafe sampling food along the way. After checking email, we stopped to figure out what our next move was going to be and ended up at the modern art museum. It was a nice big building--Elizabethäs interests lie in green architecture--making buildings that are environmentally friendly--like using skylights instead of electricity and having garden roofs be the "environmental footprint" (replacing the greenery that it got rid of by being built by making a rooftop garden. Anyways, Elizabeth was excited about the buildingäs use of natural light and design so I was equally impressed to hear all about what she had to say about it.
The exhibits were ok--we found much of them to be under construction and temporarily unavailable. I guess the newest exhibit was going to open up this Friday so the museum was in the process of setting up the new exhibits. We then headed back out to the rainy weather and walked around, crossing the bridge over to the other side of Frankfurt. We then found a cafe, spent a few hours drinking coffee and catching up. Elizabeth ordered me a "heisse milch mit honig" which is hot milk with honey (which I have declared as my new favorite drink). We then walked around a bit more in search of these green roofed buildings that apparently Frankfurt is famous for. Elizabeth claimed that 60% of Frankfurt has gardens on their roofs, but the architecture company that we stopped at to ask was not sure about that. But the recommended that we go to this galleria and find a good lookout spot to see for ourselves. So we did, climbing up to the top lookout and only spotting one green rooftop. But that didnät deter us--we spotted an even higher building that people seemed to be on top of and decided to find out how to get up to the roof of that building.
So we set out in the rain and eventually found the building and the sky tower lookout that it boasted. Climbing in the elevator "with a lift boy" (as opposed to the one that didnät have a lift boy) we made it to the top and braved the wind and rain to get to the lookout. And there we immediately spotted numerous green rooftops all over the city. It was quite exciting and I think I was just as excited as Elizabeth was about our findings.
We stayed up there for a while before we came back down and went in search for a WC, which led us back to the building that our first lookout location was. We then hopped on the U-Bahn and got off in an area that we had heard had nice places for dinner and walked around for a while, in the rain, trying to find somewhere. We eventually settled on a Persian food place which was excellent--and we were the only people in there the whole time!
Since it was early we U-Bahn-ed it back to the hotel, determined to head back out on the town when it got a little bit later but after changing into sweats and settling into bed, this was not going to be the case. We were both out by 10 p.m. with no chance of making it out again until the morning.
According to her family back in San Francisco, they now refer to me as "the hippopotamus friend." I guess that really could not have been avoided, but despite all of this hippo-ing, I do not think that I am actually beginning to resemble anything like them. At least, I hope so.
Anyways, Elzabeth's jet lag proved to be a nice excuse for me sleeping in and we up and at em pretty late this morning. We headed to the downtown area on the U-Bahn and emerged to find a big festicval going on. There were street vendors selling all sorts of wonderful things---bratwurst, cheese, cakes, you name it--and what seemed to be a farm fair, with tractors and farm animals in pens on display. Booths selling homemade honey soaps and wooden kitchen utensils lined the streets. We made our way down to the internet cafe sampling food along the way. After checking email, we stopped to figure out what our next move was going to be and ended up at the modern art museum. It was a nice big building--Elizabethäs interests lie in green architecture--making buildings that are environmentally friendly--like using skylights instead of electricity and having garden roofs be the "environmental footprint" (replacing the greenery that it got rid of by being built by making a rooftop garden. Anyways, Elizabeth was excited about the buildingäs use of natural light and design so I was equally impressed to hear all about what she had to say about it.
The exhibits were ok--we found much of them to be under construction and temporarily unavailable. I guess the newest exhibit was going to open up this Friday so the museum was in the process of setting up the new exhibits. We then headed back out to the rainy weather and walked around, crossing the bridge over to the other side of Frankfurt. We then found a cafe, spent a few hours drinking coffee and catching up. Elizabeth ordered me a "heisse milch mit honig" which is hot milk with honey (which I have declared as my new favorite drink). We then walked around a bit more in search of these green roofed buildings that apparently Frankfurt is famous for. Elizabeth claimed that 60% of Frankfurt has gardens on their roofs, but the architecture company that we stopped at to ask was not sure about that. But the recommended that we go to this galleria and find a good lookout spot to see for ourselves. So we did, climbing up to the top lookout and only spotting one green rooftop. But that didnät deter us--we spotted an even higher building that people seemed to be on top of and decided to find out how to get up to the roof of that building.
So we set out in the rain and eventually found the building and the sky tower lookout that it boasted. Climbing in the elevator "with a lift boy" (as opposed to the one that didnät have a lift boy) we made it to the top and braved the wind and rain to get to the lookout. And there we immediately spotted numerous green rooftops all over the city. It was quite exciting and I think I was just as excited as Elizabeth was about our findings.
We stayed up there for a while before we came back down and went in search for a WC, which led us back to the building that our first lookout location was. We then hopped on the U-Bahn and got off in an area that we had heard had nice places for dinner and walked around for a while, in the rain, trying to find somewhere. We eventually settled on a Persian food place which was excellent--and we were the only people in there the whole time!
Since it was early we U-Bahn-ed it back to the hotel, determined to head back out on the town when it got a little bit later but after changing into sweats and settling into bed, this was not going to be the case. We were both out by 10 p.m. with no chance of making it out again until the morning.
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Frankfurt, Germany--Day 234
This morning I got up, ready to meet Elizabeth at the airport at at half past ten. I got ready and went to get breakfast at the hotel when I saw a note just outside of my door. The note told me that Elizabeth's plane ahd been delayed and that she wouldn't be in Frankfurt until 5:45 this evening!
So I ate breakfast and decided to go to the zoo for a second time to see what Mikael, Petra and Kiboko were up to. I got to the zoo just after it opened at 9am and headed to the hippos, finding the three in the same places they were yesterday, with Mikael outside and Kiboko and Petra inside. So I was able to get pictures of mother and baby just before they went into the water, which was key since once they are in the water they are blocked by bars making it difficult to get pictures of them, and of Mikael outside eating grass.
It started raining on and off--first a sprinkle and then turning into a downpour at some points, and so I kept having to take refuge inside the indoor enclosure which clearly hadnät been cleaned of the previous nights, well, dung. The whole place stank and of course Kiboko and Petra didnät seem to mind, but it was definitely overpowering. People kept coming in and commenting on the smell but there was no where else to stay dry.
When the rain let up, I went back and forth between the two hippo enclosures taking pictures and about two hours later decided to head out ot the yoo. I then went down to the main historical plaza area of Frankfurt and walked around--going in the Cathedral which was the only thing that didnät get bombed during WWII. Pretty amazing. I then went to a museum and cehcked out thier new art exhibit and wandered around by the river until I found something for lunch. Went back to the hotel, make copies of the hippo photos from Frankfurt, and then headed to the airport to find Elizabeth.
I took the S-Bahn (the light rail train system) and got to the airport probably about 30 minutes before she was supposed to land. I walked over to the Terminal that she was arriving in and waited amongst the other family members and chauffeurs. I even made a sign with Elizabethäs name on it just for kicks. Finally the display board showed that her flight had landed and I had to just keep waiting.
What seemed like forever turned into forever plus some and I got really anxious. Was she really going to make it?!?! I kept seeing other people on different flights that landed after Elizabethäs coming through--even the flight attendants and pilots!--but no Elizabeth.
But finally, lo and behold, she appeared. Her luggage was lost but at least she made it. What a relief! We sorted out her luggage being delivered to the hotel and headed back to it to drop off her things before going back on the town to get a late dinner.
Elizabeth will be joining me throughout Germany and I am so so excited. Elizabeth is busy teaching me all sorts of things in German, while I will be busy teaching her one or two things about hippos...
So I ate breakfast and decided to go to the zoo for a second time to see what Mikael, Petra and Kiboko were up to. I got to the zoo just after it opened at 9am and headed to the hippos, finding the three in the same places they were yesterday, with Mikael outside and Kiboko and Petra inside. So I was able to get pictures of mother and baby just before they went into the water, which was key since once they are in the water they are blocked by bars making it difficult to get pictures of them, and of Mikael outside eating grass.
It started raining on and off--first a sprinkle and then turning into a downpour at some points, and so I kept having to take refuge inside the indoor enclosure which clearly hadnät been cleaned of the previous nights, well, dung. The whole place stank and of course Kiboko and Petra didnät seem to mind, but it was definitely overpowering. People kept coming in and commenting on the smell but there was no where else to stay dry.
When the rain let up, I went back and forth between the two hippo enclosures taking pictures and about two hours later decided to head out ot the yoo. I then went down to the main historical plaza area of Frankfurt and walked around--going in the Cathedral which was the only thing that didnät get bombed during WWII. Pretty amazing. I then went to a museum and cehcked out thier new art exhibit and wandered around by the river until I found something for lunch. Went back to the hotel, make copies of the hippo photos from Frankfurt, and then headed to the airport to find Elizabeth.
I took the S-Bahn (the light rail train system) and got to the airport probably about 30 minutes before she was supposed to land. I walked over to the Terminal that she was arriving in and waited amongst the other family members and chauffeurs. I even made a sign with Elizabethäs name on it just for kicks. Finally the display board showed that her flight had landed and I had to just keep waiting.
What seemed like forever turned into forever plus some and I got really anxious. Was she really going to make it?!?! I kept seeing other people on different flights that landed after Elizabethäs coming through--even the flight attendants and pilots!--but no Elizabeth.
But finally, lo and behold, she appeared. Her luggage was lost but at least she made it. What a relief! We sorted out her luggage being delivered to the hotel and headed back to it to drop off her things before going back on the town to get a late dinner.
Elizabeth will be joining me throughout Germany and I am so so excited. Elizabeth is busy teaching me all sorts of things in German, while I will be busy teaching her one or two things about hippos...
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