Germany - Trips to Aachen and Bonn

These were two short excursions organised by the exchange club in Köln for us.

Aachen is a small town near the border with France, just an hour's train ride from Köln. It is the site of old Roman baths, and also the site where Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor twelve centuries ago. We went there on October 14. I went without a sweater, thinking that the weather would not be so cold. Was proven wrong by the evening and have never ventured more than 100 m from my house without one ever since :) I did wear shorts in Nice in late November though :)

I travelled with a group of mostly Czech students, and we met a girl there who was Czech but lived in Aachen and studied architecture (or was it art?) there. She gave us a guided tour of the city's quicker landmarks. I particularly liked the Mädchen mit Plätzen - a pretty bronze statue of a girl holding a Plate, a local chocolate delicacy. Aachen is a pretty town, but I knew I would see better places soon.

The next day, we went to Bonn, the erstwhile capital of Germany. The Bonn University building is really lovely with a bright yellow facade. The highlight of that trip was the Geschischtes de Deutschland Museum, which narrates the story of Germany since the World Wars ended. We were given a guided tour in German and I really enjoyed straining myself to comprehend the guide, despite him speaking relatively slowly and using simpler words for us. Many of the exchange students from other countries picked up German very quickly - some were able to converse quite fluently within a month of beginning learning. I feel envious of them, struggling as I am to reach decent levels in Gujarati, French and German despite persisting with them for many years.

Bonn was to be my last trip with other people. From then on, I was to travel alone in every one of my trips...