Cologne, August 3

Melinda and I were both getting a little bored with small-town living and talked a lot about moving to a different city in Germany. After considering Hamburg, Hannover and Nuremberg we finally chose Cologne as our new home.
It was hard to say goodbye to our friends in Kiel and it felt a little strange packing all of our things into a rental car and driving out of town. We rented a temporary apartment for the month of August so that we could get a better idea of where in the city we wanted to live long-term. I was surprised how quickly I found work and was equally surprised how long it took takes to get a work permit here...six weeks, ugh!
Cologne is really a terrific place to live and Melinda and I are quickly falling in love with it. It's much bigger than Kiel with a population of 1 million, the 4th largest city in Germany. It's one of Germany's most attractive cities and has lots of great sightseeing, terrific architecture, first-class museums, funky boutique stores, and unique local food and beer. We can't wait for our friends and family to see it in person.

Here it is, the Kolner Dom!! It's Germany's largest cathedral and the heart of Cologne. It's just HUGE and in fact was the tallest building in Europe until the Eiffel tower went up in Paris. It also houses the largest working bell in the world, the 24-ton Peter Bell.

Lots of tour boats on the Rhine during the summer months.

This photo is significant because it's the EXACT spot where Melinda's grandfather was wounded in WWII, the eastern side of the Hohenzollern bridge, facing the cathedral. The guy on the left wanted to help comemorate the moment so we thought we'd include him in the photo.

Cologne has a lot of parks on either side of the Rhine River. The river divides the city in half and I'm told by locals the western side is widely considered the REAL Cologne.

This is why people come to Europe during the summer. The ice cream parlors are in full-swing and the women are beautiful.

This picture was taken during World Youth Week, where over 1-million catholic teens world-wide came to Cologne to get a glimpse at the new Pope, hence the priests. Anyway, this old gate is just down at the end of the block from our new apartment. It's one of only three surviving city gates built by the Romans.

Here's our new street, Gereonswall, strange man in brown polo shirt not included.

Check out Melinda's new ride!! She found it at the bottom of a box of Marzipan Joy-Joys (thank you Simpsons). You know how they say that men who drive fast and expensive cars are just making up for shortcomings? Well the guy who owns this car must be the most complete human being on the planet.

Melinda was so jealous of my life-sized 19th century German soldier until I got her one of her own.

This is the front of the flat where Melinda and I lived during the month of August, it was better than it looks. We had to close that window at night to mute the sweet-sweet sounds of German bar-hoppers but it sure was nice to have a chocolateer and jewelry store one floor below, mmmm...chocolate covered jewelry.

This photo is for Matthew...earlier I was busting his chops over his "coach jacket" but later found my own coach-look. Good game Matty (clap-clap), good game!!

It's kind of sad when your entire life fits perfectly into a blue Opel stationwagon. Melinda can't wait to get on the road.

Benjamin doing his best Carmen Miranda impersonation. What will Kiel do without it's dynamic duo?

Benjamin and Matthew look so sad we're leaving...however, Arthur can't WAIT for us to get the hell out of Kiel.