herumfahren

Noodle walked me to the bus stop early early in the morning. My train ticket worked by days... so I bought 4 days of travel. Each 00:01 to midnight. Riding with free changes from one side of Germany to the other, I think checking out a few cities on the way is the obvious best use of time.

Stuttgart for shopping, wandering, and a few churches:Cologne to see the (arguably) most celebrated cathedral in Germany:
We learned about this Gothic guy in our German architecture course...

So the Cologne central train station had a few differences to others that I am familiar with. In addition to a weird luggage storage system (there are standardized day-use lockers, which are highly convenient might I add, at almost all central train stations), I also couldn't find a big, backlit map with tourist interest points. I was just about to ask someone where I could find the Koelner Dom when I decided to wander on my own.

And thank goodness. I walk outside the open entry/exit and looked up to my left to see an unobstructed side view of this massive cathedral. It was really amazing. I bet the Germans just think it's so funny that one of the greatest tourist attractions of the country is literally on the same lot as the not-so-romantic central point of transit. Actually, now that I think about it, that would have been the ultimate people-watching area to sit and relax. Noted.