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It is April 29th and we are at the Cologne main train station, awaiting the arrival of ICE 513. We register with a big relief that nobody overslept and all students and chaperons are at least present, even though some are not awake. We learn of a late night disco visit until 4 or 5 AM and some never saw their beds on the last night in Cologne. The train is on time and we grab any open seat, after we had noticed that our original seat reservations were made out for the wrong date!
This is the fastest train in Germany and we are flying at ground level : 300 km/h (187 MPH) is our speed and we do not feel any track noise or vibrations. I walk up to watch the train driver through the glass door and it is fun to see the train tracks in front of us, racing under our car. We arrive at the Frankfurt airport train station in less than 1 hour. After disembarking, we all are standing on the platform and Gabi has the great idea to make a “group check”, her proven system to ensure that all are present!
One student is missing !!
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Today we walked down “Hohe Strasse” And “Schildergasse” one last time. In Roman times they were called “cardo maximus” and “decumanus maximus”.
Cologne had its beginnings under the Roman General Julius Caesar, who in 53 BC wiped out the Germanic tribe of the Eburones,living here on the east bank of the Rhine river. Next the Romans formed an alliance with the Germanic “Ubier” tribe and, in 39 BC, founded the settlement
“Oppidum Ubiori”.
The city of the Ubii became a Roman frontier town and capital of “Lower Germania”.
In 50 AD, the Roman Emperor Claudius, who had just married his niece Julia Agrippina the Younger, granted Cologne the rights of a Roman city ( at Agrippina’s request). Cologne’s official name was : “Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium” (CCAA), meaning a city with Roman rights(colonia), founded during the reign of Claudius(claudia), site of an altar(ara), and initiated by Agrippina.
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They rocked me alright, especially my eardrums and brain!!
I am talking about the Musical “We will Rock You” which we attended with the students on Thursday night. I physically suffered through the show, with my brain being tortured by over-amplified music and a lead singer with a very poor voice. I wanted to quit at intermission, but Gabi reminded me that we were on duty and had to stay with the students! All the things, I have to do in the name of German-American friendship!
At least now I know what the British Rock group “Queen” was all about. Today is our last day in Köln and I am doing some shopping and packing while Gabi and her students are touring more museums
I have to admit that Gabi had exposed her students to a wide variety of “cultural” experiences during this short stay in Germany.

On Wednesday, April 26th, we visit “Phantasia Land”, the German version of Disneyland. The younger crowd has a good time, while Gabi and I stick to the slower rides. She cannot afford to get sick on this tour! We see some good shows, with mostly Asian or Eastern European acrobats and jugglers.
On Thursday, we take the train and tram to the German History Museum ( Haus der Geschichte) in Bonn. We have a great tour guide, who had a degree in history and political sciences. He gave us a fast-paced, very interesting tour through German history from Hitler to the reunification of Germany. He pointed out some parallels with the Irak war, immigration laws and present- day politics.
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We are in Köln (Cologne) this week, and Gabi´s students go to school and stay with their German host families.
Yesterday, Gabi took the group to the Museum Ludwig. It has a great collection of contemporary art and our museum guide explained some works of Andy Warhol to us.
We also saw paintings of German expressionists and a special exhibit of the surrealistic art of Salvador Dali. At the end, I explored the museum on my own and saw a collection of photographs of celebrities.
I learned that Queen Victoria was the most photographed person during the 19th century. The pictures of her, during her 60-plus years of being the Queen, were used for political purposes and shipped all over the British Empire, which included about 25% of the world population at that time.
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Our week in Köln is racing on. On Sunday, Gabi and I drove our 2-seater Smart to Düsseldorf and spent a nice evening with friends and relatives. We met Anne Marie and Hubert, a friend since 5th grade; Elisabeth and Henning, my “oldest” friend since Elementary School in Strümp; my nieces Kerstin and Birte, with husband Normann. It was good to see them all and I had a great time.
I learned something about German restaurant customs. I remembered that the customer has to remember what he had consumed during the evening, so he can tell the waiter when it comes to paying the bill. The waiter kept bringing more Düsseldorfer “Altbier” (dark beer) glasses throughout the evening and I had no idea how many Gabi and I had enjoyed. In the end I just paid for the rest, after my friends had paid (and kept track) of their share. Like we always say : it helps to know the local customs!

On Saturday, it is “Bundesliga” soccer day in Germany. We meet our students and chaperons, all dressed in our red GAPP (German American Partnership Program) t-shirts at the new Cologne soccer stadium. Coincidentally,the colors of the 1.FC Köln soccer club are also red, so we fit in very nicely with the hometown fans. Lunch is a quick “bratwurst” with mustard on a hard roll.
(Did I mention yet that we have been lacking time for sleep and meals on this trip; Gabi wants to show her students everything there is to see in Germany.)
We are lucky and watch an exciting soccer match, Köln winning against “MSV Duisburg” 3:1. The crowd of 47,000 fans is celebrating in the stands, singing 1.FC Köln songs.
In the evening, Maria, Joachim, Gabi and myself are having a nice dinner at “Decksteiner Mühle”, a restaurant located within a 2 minute walk from their house.
On Sunday, Gabi and I are actually sleeping-in for the first and only time on this tour.

Another early morning rise and we take the bus #100 to the German Reichstag (seat of the German federal parliament). The sun is coming out and we climb the glass dome, looking down into the representatives’ assembly hall. The symbolism of this open architecture is meant to represent the ability of the German people to keep a watchful eye on their legislature.
We walk through the Brandenburg Gate and take the S1 (subway) from “Unter den Linden” to “Potsdamer Platz”. There we see the remnants of the Berlin Wall and a metal track across the pavement, marking where the Wall stood from August 13th, 1961 until its fall on November 9th, 1989. It was a symbol of the cold war between East and West and at least 89 Berliners, trying to flee into West Berlin, were killed here by East German border guards.
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On Thursday, April 20th we manage to move the whole wagon train (32 of us) from the Munich A&O Hostel to the train station. The adults had only 4 to 5 hours of sleep, no idea what the students did. Regardless, we make the 6:36AM departure of our ICE train and 7 hours later arrive in Berlin. Along the way, we are passing some beautiful German countryside and later Gabi points out the differences in architecture and infrastructure between the former West Germany and communist (and poor) East Germany.
It is a short walk to the next A&O Hostel and we check into our rooms with a view (of the train tracks and “Bahnhof Zoologischer Garten”. Gabi leads the group on a sightseeing tour of Berlin, pointing out the more famous landmarks of the German Capital from the upper deck of the public bus #100. We get off at Alexander Platz and the kids study the mating ritual of a pigeon couple, cheering on the male, chasing the female. Teenagers probably can relate to this type of behavior.
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Yesterday was my first day on this trip and we finished the day with dinner and musical entertainment. We took the bus from Oberammergau back to Garmisch and walked with the students through the downtown area. Gabi had booked our dinner at the restaurant “Fraundorfer” and we had typical Bavarian cuisine plus accordeon music, songs and performances of the “Schuhplattler dance”( dancing with hitting your palms on your shoes and “Lederhosen”).
Dinner selections included things like “Radi” (raw horseradish slices with salt), beef tongue,
“Sauerbraten,” “Schnitzel,” “Weisswurst,” “Haxen” (pork leg on the bone), and so on. We were surprised by the willingness of some of our students to try new food items.
We walked back to the train station and took the train for the 2 hour ride back to München.
We finally went to bed around 12:30AM and had to get up again at 5:30 the next morning for our
ICE train from München to Berlin.
Our whirlwind tour of German cities continues and I don’t even have time to notice jetlag.