DAY 3

Thursday 14 July 2011

The big day, that we drove to Cologne to pick up our car, our tiny home for the next year. It turned out to be incredibly complex to arrange to get this vehicle for a year's time, without paying a king's ransom or breaking international law.

Cologne (Köln) bahnof

Went to phone store and researched models then took Mabel the hunting dog to the train station (bahnhof) in Cologne (Köln). We walked to the outdoor restaurant across from the gorgeous cathedral and fortified ourselves with schnitzel and… no, not noodles, but we had cream of asparagus soup, cream of vine tomato soup, and Charles had a Vesuvius-looking baked potato. The Americans went into the massive cathedral while our Dutch cousins stayed cozy at the restaurant with the view. Inside was an impressive array of statues and stained glass windows, and an amazing relic, the bones of the three magi. Afterwards we listened to a Romanian quartet play classical music with two accordians, a violin and tuba. Henri (an undercover policeman in years gone by) said to be watchful of pickpockets in crowds, especially around musicians. He said they are virtually slaves, brought in by organized crime groups so they can work the crowds.

Inside Cologne Cathedral

We were to meet the mechanic Sebastian but he was held up at the government office in a town nearby so we waited… and waited. Finally he came out and showed us the loaner van we could use while ours was being appraised and repaired by an insurance company. He was a DOLL! He had actually flown to Munich the night before to get us a van then drove it back to his town (near Frankfurt), got it PAINTED and fixed up  then bought the correct plates at their DMV. We drove to a nearby McDonalds to conduct the business (money part) and then Charles valiantly drove home in the dark/rain/wind/new car/new road rules with Henri while Nicole, Dian and Roos led the way (and thought we each got a speeding ticket by a camera, but as it turned out ours never showed up!) - what a day!

Our "erupting volcano" potato outside Cologne Cathedral