On to Koln/Cologne!

This morning started out early, because I had a lot to do to get us ready to leave for Cologne.

Barsinghausen is such a charming little town. Oma lives above a bank and has the entire second floor of the building. Her windows look out on one of the main streets of Barsinghausen, so I awoke to the sounds of people walking and talking and starting their day. After we were all up and dressed, we sent Punkin to get bread for breakfast. There is a bakery right next door, so Oma gets fresh bread every day. Punkin had instructions on how to get there but, bless her heart, she was disoriented and walked right past it - she walked all the way down to the park (with the see-saw) and realized she'd better turn around. Came back home, and we pointed her in the right direction. She went in and ordered ("funf brodchen, bitte") all by herself, and was quite proud of herself - and is excited that she has such a funny story to tell about buying bread.

We left for the train station, and boarded a regional train to Hannover. From Hannover, we boarded the ICE (inter-city express) bullet train - think 140 mph! The girls really loved it, since they'd never been on a train before.

My Hero's brother picked us up at the hauptbahnhof (train station), and brought us to our hotel. It is a lovely little place called the Eifel Hotel. Our room is great, and very colorful. Cologne seems to be in one of the more "permissive" areas of Germany - one of the girls' first comments upon walking into the hotel was "there sure are a lot of naked people in the decorations" - and they're right!

And our bathroom has a glass door, with "Think Big" on it. I'll try to post a pic tomorrow. I ask you - what exactly is the point of having a clear bathroom door?

My Hero's brother took us to dinner at a Greek restaurant. I never knew this, but Greek restaurants usually have lots of grilled options, which is great because of Punkin's egg allergy (no breading with egg for her). We had a great dinner and great conversation.

Now we're back in our hotel room and about to pass out from exhaustion!

Gute Nacht aus Deutschland!