Sundays in My City

This weekend we took part in two of the thousands of parties celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the end of Selective Availability - or, the beginning of the public's access to the US Air Force GPS satellite data. It made the world better. Thank you America!

If you look at a map of America for the locations of the "10 Years of Geocaching" parties, they cover almost the entire country!

A friend of ours organized a rather different 10 Year event - we were going to walk to Cologne (Koeln). The starting point was very close to our house, the end was the world famous Cologne Cathedral.

You know, the one with the twin points? On the Rhein river?

Anyway, guess how far we walked.

***25 Kilometers!!!***

That's 15.5 miles. I've never walked so far in my life, and I can assure you I will never walk that far again, hehehehehehe.

At about the halfway point I felt I could not go on. My leg joints and my feet were burning with exhaustion. But I had to, cuz I planned it, and I just had to do it. However I must admit, I could not keep up with the speed walkers. My husband was so patient, he slowed down with me and held my hand. He said we could get on a streetcar but I said, "No, I can do it - just a little bit slower than 5.3 KPH!"

In Odental there is this traffic circle with a stonehenge-type thing set up, and we all cracked up as one of our group skipped through traffic to the circle and pulled a geocache out of a traffic sign. Then we also skipped thru traffic and signed our names. I remember I wrote April 31 in the logbook. Uh, that can't be right. May 1st! RIGHT! That is why this tree was all decorated next to that traffic circle. We saw several "Maibaueme" (May trees) covered in ribbons. Someone said it has to do with romance. Hm.

Our route led us mostly through lovely wooded parks - we saw several people out riding horses - and minimal city areas. When we rounded a bend I saw the twin spires of the cathedral and it looked so far away. I said, "How many KM?" My man said, "6." I complained, "You said that 2 hours ago!" (a line I used many times: ))

People were out enjoying the Rhein, grilling and drinking beer on the grassy areas along the river. Anytime I saw a bench free, I sat for a few minutes. As the day went on, moving again after resting became more and more difficult.

We caught up with the others and made our way onto the bridge across the river. I kept flashing back to the Weser river in Bremen, where I have actually spent more time. Both have lovely promenades along the water, including fake beaches where restaurants bring in sand and pretend it's the ocean.


Those gorgeous horse statues were there, guarding the railway bridge.



This is the bridge that was turned into a giant fish symbol for Church Days 2007 (another day when I walked ridiculously far). (In two weeks we'll be going to Church Days in Munich because my man's choir is performing.)



There was a weird padlock phenomenon along the entire bridge. There is a place in West Seattle like this, but people use combo locks not keyed ones. BTW, the white trains are the fast ones.




Finally we arrived at the cathedral and again I was blown away by how amazing it is. If it's not one of the 7 manmade wonders of the world, it should be. I'd only been here once before, with my family, and my man could not make it, so this was our first time here!



There are tourists all around it. In fact, you can spot Americans by the way they look. It's odd being a tourist again. I had my camera out too!






We all had a bit of champagne and had our picture taken as a group with our "10 Years" sign (a requirement for holding a 10 year event is a sign).

Then we dispersed and I suggested a steak restaurant mostly cuz I wanted to sit down on a comfortable chair for a very long time.





Here is my man and our two geocaching friends. I had to take this photo for my family, who will recognize this particular Starbucks next to the cathedral. My family thought the cathedral was great, but they stopped looking at it for a minute as they ran in to get espresso: )






2 hours later we were at another event in Cologne, holding up another 10 Year sign. I held the K for Koeln: )

We didn't stay long, it was gonna be a bunch of trains/streetcars/busses to get home.



It is nice to be in train stations with actual German people who know what they're doing.






Look, I've been here 3 years and I still think trains are cool.







Subways are also cool to a lesser extent.







Candy colored subways. I always thought Germans preferred black.

Finally we were home. I ate 3 bananas so I wouldn't get cramps (is that a myth?) and we went to bed pretty early.





Today I'm fine, I expect to be worse tomorrow. My man, however, is really hurting! In fact, after church he spent the entire day in bed (watching NCIS). I said, "This is what doing a 50 mile endurance ride feels like the next day, except that you're also sore in your arms, back, and shoulders."

All in all we walked 6 hours, and stopped only 3 times for 10-15 minutes rests. I coulda used rests every hour. Now that I've done that, I don't need to do it again.

Cologne is really awesome, but that's what the car is for: )

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