Cologne - Köln

 I have not been to Köln for several years and so when my friend Rike invited me to come over I was up for the adventure. In Germany there is a website called www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de where you can find people to car pool with. This is how it works: they post on the website where they are driving to, you call them up to see if they have a spot free, you meet up with them, give them some money and drive to your destination. So I went to meet the guy at the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof. He arrived in his car and gathered all the people that were planning to drive with him. I saw that he was driving a VW Sharan which seats 7 people, but a quick headcount revealed to me that there were 8 of us. The driver realizes this and proposes: There are only two seats in the very back, but if three of you sit there, then you each only have to pay 10 instead of 11 euros. Two people got in the back right away, but we still needed a third person for the back. Now, for some reason, everyone in the group nominated me to be the last person to sit in the back. I refused since I was not going to sit in the back, cramped between two people and without a seat belt for two hours. So what I did was point out another guy who was a lot shorter than I and told everyone that he should sit in the back. He reluctantly got in the back and so all of a sudden I had become the bad guy of the group. The whole situation was the driver's fault, but for whatever reason they had picked me and when I refused it was suddenly my fault that these guys were cramped in the back. But I was not going to budge. One guy in the back said: "What arrogance!" I responded by putting in my headphones and ignoring everyone. I am glad that I stuck up for myself because the driver was pretty crazy and I glad we were not pulled over by the police. The situation would have played out something like this:
Polizist: "Ok, let's see your driver's license [pauses and reads it, peers inside of the car, counts the people and then counts the seats and comes to the conclusion that the two numbers do not match.] Mr. Nguapi, [African], why are you driving a German, two Turks, two Indians and an Austro-American, speeding and passing on the right lane?"
But I am glad that did not happen. We got to Köln safely and a guy from the back seat my one last attempt at blaming me by shouting: "I need new legs!" I just ignored him and walked off. That concluded my trip there. The trip back was a lot better and safer too.

 All along this bridge people attach locks to symbolically seal friendships or weddings. It was pretty crazy since there were tens of thousands of locks along the bridge. There were quite a few Philipp locks :) I just wonder how many keys are floating on the bottom of the Rhein.

Köln is a beautiful city with some nice architecture. The Kölner Dom is just amazing and really really tall. Rike and I climbed the top which left us pretty tired. There are 533 steps [said the tourist guide], but we did not go to the effort to count them all. Also I went to see the Roemisch-Germanisch museum, which was about the same as the last time I was there. This has nothing to do with anything else, but in Köln there are a bunch of people that walk around handing out roses for free. At least you think they are free, until they start walking after with a sad face asking for a small donation. It is rather annoying because it would be one thing if they sat along the side of the road and sold their roses, but this way they walk after you and try and guilt trip you into giving them money for their roses. Here was my solution: When they came up I just answered in Russian: "Rebyata, mne eto voobshe ne nuzhna, izvini." Needless to say they would leave me alone pretty quickly once the heard me speaking Russian. 
 Unfortunately Rike hurt her foot the second day and so it left inhibited her walking abilities. So as a sitting down activity we picked watching the new Pirates movie, "On stranger tides." I really enjoyed it, I can't get enough of Jack Sparrow's antics. 
That concluded my trip to Köln. It was a great trip and a fun chance to see an old friend.
Thanks for everything Rike!