Köln

Jason and I took our first trip in Germany to Köln (English: Cologne, no umlaut: Koeln) over the holiday week.  Friends we met while living in Winston-Salem were in the Netherlands, so they hopped a train and joined us for a day while we were there!  It was wonderful to be around familiar faces!

First things first in Köln: the Dom.  Also known as the black cathedral, this building was 1000 years in the making (as in, the church started then, the construction on this building was not started until 1248).  As you can see, it's simply stunning!  The first day Jason and I both just wandered around slowly, blocking traffic, staring at the building.  

Forgive the blurry picture, but have you ever seen such a majestic looking church in front of a train station before?  (Tripod was left in the US for some crazy reason)

I haven't seen a whole lot of gothic churches, and certainly none on this scale before (tallest structure in the world from 1880-1884... Do you Americans know what replaced it?  The Washington Monument of course!)  Entering the church is free (a far cry from the churches in London), and when you look up, you have to keep looking!  It's one of the tallest vaulted ceilings in the world!  

We decided to pay the extra 4 euros to see the treasury, but for a building that was started in 1248, the treasury is quite small, mainly due to theft.  I saw a few too many reliquaries (way too many old bone bits for me), including one from the cross!  And, of course, the church was designed to hold the reliquary of the Three Wise Men.  Unfortunate placement of Christmas trees and gates prevented a great pictures of the golden shrine, so you can see a better one here.  The wooden box which housed the shrine originally is in the treasury (this piece here is in the main attraction at the front of the church) and etchings upon it depict the story of the Wise Men starting from when the angel appeared to them and ending when the shrine was presented to the Archbishop of Cologne in 1164 by the Holy Roman Emperor Fredrick Barbarossa.  

This nave organ was built in 1998.  Unfortunately, it was too dark to get a shot of the transept organ (1948).  I'm not certain I would want to sit under this one though (pews are directly underneath).  It's awfully high and looks quite heavy.  Though considering this church made it through WWII, I'm doing the architects a disservice (of course, the architects aren't the ones who installed this lovely organ either).

This cathedral contains so amazingly beautiful stuff not pictured, including a mosaic tile floor.  The Dom is a must see in Cologne! 

GWOTD

Hi Folks!  Jason and I are leaving for Cologne (Köln) in about an hour, and will be without internet access on a regular basis until the afternoon of December 31.  So, here are a few words to keep you occupied this holiday season.


December 27: Jahresabschlussbericht: end of the year meeting/report
December 28: Schornsteinfeger: chimney sweep
December 29:  Kölsch: the dialect spoken in and around Köln, as well as the local beer
December 30:  Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!: Happy Birthday!
December 31: Wunderkerze (sparklers) and Feuerwerk (fireworks)

GWOTD

German word of the day:

die Notaufnahme:  emergency room

GWOTD

Frohe Weihnachten!

GWOTD

German word of the day:

die Schlittenfahrt: sleigh ride or sledding

Wordless Wednesday and GWOTD

18 September 2009, Becky and David's Apartment, Jena, Germany

German Word of the Day:


Ironic to combine Wordless Wednesday with German Word of the Day, but it's time for me to post again, so here goes.  A couple weeks ago, I started posting a German Word of the Day on my Google Chat.  When I told my coworkers about it, they got excited and I asked for their help.  So, before they all left for the holidays, a couple of them got together and came up with a list of German words to last until they get back (Jan 4).  Since most of my readers are not on GChat, I've decided to post them here as well.  So, expect a word of the day for a while!  :)


die Schneeballschlacht: Snowball fight!  
(this one goes out to those in Winston-Salem where the snow is slowly melting away...)

Oh the weather outside is weather...

Snow!  Schnee!  

view from the kitchen

Jena is purportedly one of the warmest cities in all of Germany.  When it rains elsewhere, it's sunny in Jena.  Don't get me wrong... it gets cold here.  According to the weather reports, it won't go above freezing this week.  So the snow we got last night and today will stick around for a bit... however, as you can see, there isn't a ton of it.  But I'll enjoy it while it's here.  :)

view from the kitchen

This past week has been interesting.  I've now spent two weeks at work, and have already attended a department Christmas party.  We started out gathered in the kitchen in the department at three with sweets, coffee, tea, and most importantly, glühwein.  I say most importantly because that's what I was told.  Without the glühwein, the group wouldn't be willing to break out the guitar and sing carols.  Baked apples came out too.  Around six, the ham was brought out... along with potatoes, potato salad, a lettuce based salad, a vegetable salad, breads, and seasoned quark for the potatoes (yum!).

view from living room

On Wednesday, the younger crowd in my department is getting together for another holiday party.  On Friday, Jason's department is having it's Christmas party.  

view from living room

I love the trees here!  They are so pretty!

                                                      

view from living room

Foodie... Sunday?

On my way to work on Friday, I decided to do things a bit differently.  My normal routine (ya know, the one I established in the four previous days) was to take the tram or bus (whichever arrived first) to the city center, grab a Käsebrötchen (translates to cheese roll) from one of the bakeries, and then catch the bus to work.  Unfortunately, the bus generally arrived quickly... and no eating on the bus.  And when I got to work (too late in the morning to mention the time), I wanted to get to working immediately, but no eating at my desk.  Bummer.  So, if I were lucky enough to shove a few bites into my mouth before the bus arrived, that's what I did.  Otherwise my breakfast went untouched.


On Friday I decided things needed to change.  So instead of timing my exit from the apartment to meet with the bus and tram schedules, I decided to walk to the city center.  There are at least six bakeries between my apartment and the bus stop at the city center, so I decided to pop into one to grab breakfast, eat it while walking, catch the bus to work, and arrive at work ready to work with a fully belly.


I decided to pop into bakery number 3 from our apartment... it's about halfway between our apartment and the city center.  I had not been into this one before, but I'd heard it was good.  It looked just like any other bakery, but I saw something new that caught my eye.  Quarkini!

I had never heard of it before, but it looked like a small fried dough ball rolled in sugar, similar to the ones served at New China Town in Tucker before it closed.  I had loved those as a kid, so I was more than willing to try Quarkini.  I've also been on a bit of a quark kick... as in, I had just learned what it was (soft unaged cheese similar to paneer, check this out for a more detailed explanation and uses) and wanted to experience it for myself.  I bought the Quarkini.

Oh my yum!  It was exactly what I was looking for!  Soft light inside, surrounded by a slightly crunchy, sugary outside.  They would go wonderfully with coffee too, but I couldn't wait that long to eat them!


I'll be stopping by that bakery for Quarkini again!

Mhmm... English Breakfast...

During my 4 months of unemployment, I had plenty of time to delve into the blog-o-sphere.  I found one particular blog (not related to food... shocker!) that really fit my needs as an expat, Mid-Atlantic English.  Michelloui has been living in Britain now for 20 years and has all kinds of interesting tips on how to embrace the host culture.  I'm finding these tips incredibly useful these days because I just found out that candy canes and peppermint ice cream don't exist in Germany!  And I was shocked about the peppermint ice cream b/c there is an ice cream joint on every corner!  Almost as popular as kebap houses and bakeries!  I always look forward to the peppermint ice cream.  I can't eat a ton of it and don't necessarily eat some every year, but when I realized I couldn't have it, the cravings got out of control!

One thing I do love about Germany is the presence of tea.  Messmer makes a fabulous Earl Gray that I prefer over some British brands.  But I have yet to find a good Irish Breakfast or English Breakfast.  So when I saw this giveaway, I had to jump on it!  If you are interested, feel free to enter the contest too!