My week in Cologne, so far…

The week breezed by so quick I didn’t realize it’s been a week already. Had a great time here and wanted to share some pictures for friends back home.

As one of our Egyptian delegates would jokingly say “Here in Germany, they don’t have sun!” Well, that’s true during winter. I think for the entire week, I only saw some direct sunlight about 30 minutes in total. The rest of the week, it’s either dark or gloomy. The sky doesn’t light up until around 9am.

We’ve got people coming in from all over — Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Jordan, Algeria, Turkey, Honduras, Panama, Argentina (Joaquin Vocos), Brazil, Serbia, Bulgaria, Pakistan, Malaysia (Khay Peng Koo), Indonesia, Thailand (Orarick), Cambodia (Sokunthea Kung Keo), Germany and India (Seppi Sebastian). That’s why we got flags to waive around — easier to remember the countries than their names.

Loved the food. Buffet table is always packed with interesting menu, though half the time we always had salad and cold cuts. When the main menu is fish, I automatically become a vegetarian and head over to the salad bar.

No need for ice since everything gets cold on their own. Instead of turning on the aircon, I turn on the heater which I always forget and often wake up in the morning with brain cells freezing. It snowed the other night too but they’ve melted down by morning.

We went out to Cologne City yesterday afternoon to do some shopping and have a look around. The Cologne Cathedral is huge and just amazing.

Inside the cathedral, facing the center. The stained glass are magnificent. (German: Kölner Dom, officially Hohe Domkirche St. Peter und Maria)

Everything is expensive in Germany. The euro is 40+% higher than the US dollar so that’s another bummer. They had a Christmas Market beside the cathedral. Had a bratwurst for €2.50 and a glass of Coca-cola for €1.50.

Most of the shops are the ones with name brands and price tags are just crazy. Even the electornic/gadgets are more expensive. Got tired of doing the usual peso-euro conversions– it’s no use, I just can’t afford them.

Luckily, I found this one local shop running a holiday sale. Got that parka for a low €17.95 at 70% discount.