Those days wouldn't be so special without Falko being with me.
I met him with my pre-organized list of all places I postponed to visit as I was expecting him to come and wanted to share the joy of seeing all of it for the first time with him.
So here is all we did during this ten days:
1. we went to see Botanical Garden of Köln, which appeared to be lot bigger than we could expect. It is simply grand and with 2 hours wandering around we only saw the small part of it. It all gets understandable ones you google and get to know that its spread on 11,5 hectares. This botanical garden revealed my unconditional love to nature as it was full of all those beautiful, fascinating flowers one could stare and enjoy. Apart from the fact that this garden cultivates nearly 10,000 types of plants, including 2, 000 of very extinct types of alpine plants which grow in some very special conditions, this place is wonderful just to enjoy your evening bicycle rides, or walk hand in hand with your love and have a chilling evening rest on a bench with a glittering view green magic.
Once I was done shooting each bush there and prepared myself to leave the territory, (against Falko's continuous warning that it would close exactly on time which was displayed on the map in the entrance and that i had to hurry, which i obviously didn't) we found out that it really was closed even though we were 2 minutes late from actual visiting time. Having an expensive experience :D of being fined for not having a ticket for just one stop in Berlin U-Bahn (still then when i was first time in Germany), where the controller didn't pity my pardons of being foreigner and not understanding language or how system works here, I fast calculated possible consequences of being illegally in the garden and decided to play my Notting Hill part of climbing the gate, (just despite the movie we were trying to get out of the trapped area). As my torture of climbing the huge gate ended up safely without anyone seeing me, we saw some man approaching gate with bicycle. He appeared to be the gardener who had keys. He talked to us gently and without any further complications let Falko out through the door. I was so mad I had to go through all this for nothing. but then we had lot fun as it was part of great experience too.
2. Next destination was absolutely amazing Köln zoo, which is magnificent with its over 7,000 animals of more than 700 species. Even though it was quite an expensive attration (19€ for adult ticket and 12€ for student one) we never regretted any cent spend on it as it was viel viel Spaß. Only thing I was sad about is that we didn't manage to see giraffes, which I was looking forward to mostly. Ones we got to the spot where these tall and beautiful creatures were supposed to be standing, it appeared that the visit time was over and they were inside already.
Anyway anybody having chance to visit the Köln zoo- thumbs up, strongly recommended.
Here are just some pictures of them:
Here are just some pictures of them:
3. Next day we started our long trip to Freiburg with the purpose of searching flat. It took us 5 long hours to get there as the city is located on extreme south-west part of Germany on the border of Swiss and France.
City itself is lovely. Atmosphere is warm, people are nice and open ( I even talked to one waitress in bar and Falko was totally amazed about it, as according to him this woman had quite harsh accent and was difficult to understand). Innerpart is beautiful with this open water canals, lot green, mountain range around, tiny&full cafes ect.
However, finding a flat in Freiburg didn't appear as entertaining as we imagined. In case it was nearly impossible to find something attractive that would interest us, especially before the start of studying term it seems. Even though the prices are unbelievably high (for Germany at least) and unaffordable as being a student, still the number of flats in the city which one could find was limited to 3. It has to be mentioned that we didn't search a flat on our own but tried to contact each broker in the city, but no one had anything to suggest. Luckily one of those three seems to be working out for us. so I can only keep fingers crossed.
Meanwhile here are some pics of the city.
4. we went to Frankfurt, where a very sweet friend of us hosted and made a very nice guided tour to us .. we enjoyed the city, witnessed protest against ongoing matters in Syria, walked on the shopping street where one skirt could easily cost 7,000€.. This is a street, where one could feel what money means in real life and how far we stand from it.
Then we went to the Main Tower, which appears to be the highest buildings in Frankfurt. On the top of its 200 meters, a 360º view of the city opens to your eyes. One should not worry, people don't have to climb it on foot, the comfortable elevator leaves u at 190 meters and you only have to climb 1 floor of stairs to the top. The entrance costs just 4,60€, which is quite cheap for what excitement you can get up there. I didn't remember Falko had a phobia of height, but it was too fun to observe him standing up there and asking to take pictures of us from different angles.
In the evening we went to Japanese restaurant and enjoyed absolutely delicious food, which was so huge that even Falko couldn't finish. Then we bought popcorn, prepared it home and watched The Great Gatsby altogether ( I loved it so much that I am reading it in German now. My first German book, yaay).
5. Next Place we went on a day ride was Brussels. My brother was there on a job trip and he promised me to bring Georgian spices and super delicious Tkemali sauce which can last for one winter at least. And even without this, when I would knew he is on two hour drive away from me, I could never resist a temptation of paying money for train ticket and visiting him.
Brussels looked a bit messy for me after Germany in the beginning. I could never imagine German language would be so much familiar that I already started feeling weird when seeing French signs on the highways and then all over in the city hearing people talking it.
It seems sea-food is quite famous in there, prices are doubled of what man pays in German restaurants for eating lunch, thus we ended up eating our own sandwiches brought from home.
Another drastic change one can easily notice in the streets: bicycle doesnt seem to be that massively used in this city.
The city itself is lovely, small (I mean in the inner-city part one can reach everything on foot when time-wise you can afford it), multicultural, busy..
everyone knows the Manneken-Pis, but I was so happy to find this girl statue while wondering around within narrow streets of the city. I find it too lovely.
6. On our way to North we paid a visit to Falkos very good friend. The evening was lot fun. First we went to Mexican restaurant, then to some pub, where we ended up being on somebody's bachelor party. We talked lot, drank, enjoyed evening, took some shots of Hannover and here they are:
7. We made a surprise visit to Falkos parents and they were very happy about it. I was so much expecting this meeting again, as I missed them since very wonderful Christmas holidays, part of which I got as they invited me and made me feel like home.
It was double wonderful this time as 1) I wasn't any more that nervous as for the first time, 2) I understood and could accordingly (with mistakes but still) answer on some key questions which didn't need such complexity. They organized very lovely grilling on a balcony with candle lights, absolutely amazing view on lake right in front of the house, which makes u feel just like wanting to jump in it (if there is good weather and u know swimming, which i don't know :D, so I can only sit and enjoy it) and red wine, home-made salads, wonderful company of very intelligent, amusing people and spending nice evening. One can't ask for more.
I got very interesting informations, that this night was ,,Langen Nacht des offenen Denkmals.'' This means each year, on first Saturday of September a special mood can be felt in the streets of Stralsund's old town part as on this day City Hall, museums, churches, monasteries, private houses, old vaults, storage and courtyards open their doors and gates and invite you to an atmospheric journey through a Stralsund's arts and cultural scene. It should be very interesting and entertaining as well. I couldn't manage this time to see it but I can always get back and be part of this special event.
Earlier that day we visit Falkos grandfather for coffee. We were lucky as Falkos uncle was there too. Grandpa organized a very lovely tea\coffee time in his wonderful garden which I got so much astonished with. Last time I was there, it was winter, thus i couldn't see what Falko meant when he previously retold me about it. One can easily see that this garden is part of his life and he puts lot effort and love in taking care of it (due to his age he gets support and help of loving an caring people around him).
My stay in Stralsund was so amazing that I dropped couple tears on the way back to Köln.
P.s. For those who don't know much about Stralsund, you should definitely plan your trip to this city. It is located in Northeast Germany in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommen. The two bridges and several ferry services connect Stralsund and amazingly beautiful island Rügen to each other. In the inner-city, one can enjoy with visiting huge Ozeaneum, where you can see various types of fishes and other sea-animals. Plus, since 2002, Stralsund's old town is honoured as a UNESCO World Heritage. .
This is all for now, will get back with the updates next time ))
As it's quite late and I have to stand up tomorrow again at 7 o'clock (to which my bio-rhythm apparently doesn't want to get used to), I bet you can forgive me for my spelling mistakes.
sincerely,
S.
