COLOGNE; DORTMUND; BOCHUM

GERMANY

I'm falling a little behind with the up-to-date-ness of recent events, so I'm gonna compile my last 3 outings into one handy post.

First stop on my recent trip was Cologne, for the second time in as many weeks. This was particularly nice as it was catch up time with all the Leeds people, some of whom I hadn't seen in over 6 months. It was also a pretty good excuse to sink back into the 'student' mindset, which saw the novelty of mulled wine for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This picture is a good indication of the effects of mulled wine for breakfast. We're getting pretty into it. Maria can also be seen on the left. She is an awesome host.

Tragedy struck late in the evening when Emily realised she'd forgotten her golden syrup and was already en route back home. Seven missed calls from Emily means that the shit has hit the fan, or that you've done something wrong. Thus, we were scrambled to Dortmund to return the lost golden syrup, which retrospectively meant another city for me to explore, and which I'm therefore fairly happy about. We also went for Chinese.

Because it was late and Neuerburg is in a galaxy far, far away, I decided to crash in Bochum with Dora and Glennchen, where a fair amount of skilful DIY was done.

The next day we looked round Bochum a bit more. We looked in a fair few shops, where Glen and I tried on hats.

Imagine if my face was wrinklier and I was wearing big clawed gloves, and I could probably be Freddy Krueger.

The highlight of walking around Bochum, or lowlight depending on your taste and open-mindedness would have to be the three piece busking group we saw outside Saturn electronic shop. The term '3 piece busking group' probably puts you in mind of something more than what we ourselves found, but I'll let you make your own minds up.

There were 3 girls, aged about 14-15, sporting a violin, a saxophone and something else which I've forgotten. First and foremost - credit to them for their unwavering confidence. That, or their warped sense of humour.

I don't know who'd taught them to play, or perhaps for how long, but the unchangeable fact is that it was painfully embarrassing. Imagine a bunch of cats having their testicles being put through a mechanical laundry press, while being tasered. Simultaneously, someone in the background blasts out short, unconnected parps from a saxophone at about 50 decibels. I remember now - the 3rd one had a recorder. Purely because it was a recorder, I'm inclined to think she thought along the lines of "My friends play cool instruments - what's the quickest way I can join them short of using a triangle or a tambourine?"

She could have played recorder on the world stage and they'd still have been awkward to watch. I was torn between feeling sorry for them and musing seriously as to whether they knew they were shit but were still in a state of denial and unswallowed pride.

So we left god's gift to earache and went on our merry way to a sushi/Japanese restaurant called "Best friends", which is so shamelessly Japanese it's untrue.

This is me eating tuna fish and rice

And this is Glen and Dora eating Miso soup.

This is me and Glen in Bochum Hauptbahnhof, before I begun my trek back to the 'burg. I call this my 'hey, who farted in Bochum Hauptbahnhof?' face.

Thats pretty much all of it. I'm still in Neuerburg, where it has snowed like Snowy McSnowson. After all my complaining about the boring sleet we were having, Karma reared its ugly head and dropped a payload from the very arse of Winter himself. I have never seen so much snow in my life. Pictures will follow soon, when my hands have thawed.

I did nothing today. School now finishes at 1.05 because of the snow. I've spoken some Denglisch, eaten pasta and drew a picture of a witch.

Tomorrow I'm going to Trier to check out the christmas market. Brace yourselves, Rheinland-Pfalz.