Germany!

Last week Ben and I headed over to Germany for his cousins wedding. It was an awesome trip and we had an amazing time. I had not met all of Ben's family living in Germany, and I don't really speak German, so needless to say I was a little nervous. Turns out you can love people even when you can't effectively communicate with them. His family hosted us so graciously and I am so happy that I get to be a part of his family.

This is a picture of the street that Ben's Aunt Ika and Uncle Heribert live on. The live right next to a forest and the area is absolutely beautiful. Plus it is full of houses with quintessential German charm.

The following day we took a train with Ika and Heribert into Cologne. What an amazing city. The Cathedral is absolutely stunning. It took some 600 years to build and because it was made of sandstone, it is constantly needing repairs.  Some fun facts about this cathedral are 1. It houses the bones of the Three Magi 2. It has the oldest remaining monumental crucifix in the western world. 3. Many of the painting, mosaics, alters, and monuments date back to the 1200's. The inside is absolutely stunning, but my cell phone doesn't take good picture is low lit cathedrals, so here are some pictures of the outside detail. 

Literally all of the cathedral has this amount of detail. 

View of another entrance.

And another angle of the cathedral. 

And another entrance. 

View of the front of the cathedral. You can easily spot the newer repairs because of the discoloration of the older stones. In WWII 90% of Cologne was bombed, including the cathedral. It had to undergo massive repairs, but here it is still standing today. I think I also read somewhere that it has the largest facade of any cathedral, and it is no wonder. It looks this intricate for every side. 

As I mentioned above 90% of Cologne was bombed in the war, but they have rebuilt the old town to look how it did before the war. The buildings are charming and they overlook the Rhine. The cobblestone streets wind past cafe's, ice cream shops, restaurants, and of course bakeries.

There are also more modern buildings. Here is a building that has a giant ice cream cone on top. Yup.

The next day we went to a naturpark. It is a nature area that houses deer and wild boar AND has a cave.

Here I am feeding the little deer. They would come and eat right out of my hand. They ate dries corn and oats. They were so gentle and cute it was a blast to feed them.

Next I got to feed baby boars! They did not eat out of my hand, but came running when I tossed them some food.

After all the excitement of feeding the animals we went on a guided tour of a cave that is conveniently located next the the animal enclosures. Ben and I are standing in front of the entrance to the cave.

Look at the rock formations. It looks like it is melting. The cave was really really cool. There were lots of stalagmites and stalactites and some of them were massive. Fun fact, it takes 100 years for a stalagmites or stalactites to grow 1cm.

After the cave and feeding animals we went to the Paderborn Cathedral. Although the outside was not as stunning as the Cologne Cathedral, the inside was absolutely beautiful. He is an alter carved out of wood.

This hare window is an ancient symbol of the cycle of the moon rising and falling. It represents the beginning and the end of life but also the cycle of creation.

This mosaic is a war memorial for those who died in WWII. I love the men at the bottom all looking up with their hands grasped in prayer.

 The following day we went to Ben's cousins wedding...but we were enjoying the party and didn't take any pictures. So onto the Munster Zoo! I made a friend with a penguin. The penguin in the background was trying to impress me by showing me that he could swim on land, but I liked the little guy who actually came up to say "hello."

The zoo also does a penguin march. Where the let the penguins out of the exhibit and let them walk down the sidewalk. This may of been one of the best ideas anyone has ever had. It was so fun to see the little penguins march down the sidewalk.

 Ben made friends with a parrot.

These seals put on a marvelous show. Here is one playing catch with a big blue ball.

And here are a bunch of pelicans.

And here is an ostrich for good measure. 

After the zoo we walked around Muster. Side note, munster cheese has nothing to do with the city of Munster.  Here is the palace of Munster. It is an impressive building, but the sun was not really in the best place to take a good picture of it. 

Munster also has beautiful old churches. 

And more churches, and a flag lined shopping street. This street is the town center and is packed with shops and places to eat. 

This statue was also in the city center. I liked the guys classes. 

And those are all the highlights from our trip. On top of seeing amazing things, we also ate lots of really really good German food. I am a currywurst convert, and sandwiches for breakfast? Bring it on. We can't wait to go back for another visit. Here is a picture of our last day there. We are standing with Katrin (Ben's cousin) and her boyfriend Andre.