Today was a very nice day. I got into Cologne at 11:20, only 5 minutes late. I checked my luggae into this locker service at a hotel, and the first thing I did was explore the Cologne Cathedral. It is without question one of the most beautiful churches in the world! It is this very, very big, distinctive black structure that you can see for miles. The inside is even more wonderful. It has a lot of religious iconography that stirs the devout soul. One that especially moved me was this sculpture of Our Lord being buried after his crucifixion. And his Mother was there, and most of Jesus's female friends, looking rather sad.(I hope I don't sound too morbid.) And I know most of you probably aren't religious, but it still moved me deeply- God our Father loved us so, so much that he became a human being. He became one of us, his little playthings, to know our joys and sorrows on this earth; we are more united to his heart than any of us will ever guess! Who can say then, that God does not know us or our needs?

Ah, but moving on. After that, I checked into the AirBNB. It wasn't exactly easy. I was assuming it would be on a certain side of the street when it wasn't. The reality was, it was facing somewhere else entirely, and it took me a while to figure it out. Then, it took me some time to retrieve the key. But, once I got in, I had a nice, long nap. (I had had to get up at 6:00 A.M in Paris earlier today.)

After my nap, i fiddled around with my laptop for a while, then went out for a long walk along the Rhine. It was very pretty, to see the moon shine along the river. There are also some really nice bridges- one in particular is really good for trainwatching! I had a nice time with that. I saw a number of trams, subway trains, and commuter trains pass by. I'll be riding the high-speed ICE train to Berlin tomorrow morning!

After still more walking, I had dinner at this place called Bay Area Burrito Company. It was delicious! (Spicy though! Germans seem to have a higher appetite for it than we Americans do.) And after another 30-munute walk, I am back here, writing you all.

When I come back to Europe, I think I will spend more time in Germany, and especially Cologne. Its such a pretty city, imo prettier than Paris! But in the meantime, as I said, I'll be boarding the ICE for Berlin tomorrow, and that will be a lot of fun. I''m really getting to know Europe's trains!

Good night for now!

Charles.