Last day in Bonn...

Today was a full day! We met this morning and hopped on a train to a little organic farm just outside of Bonn called Gut Ostler. This farm's specialization was unspecialization as it managed everything from crops, animals, their own feed production, education classes and also served as a party venue. The ownership records of the farm dated back to 700 AD. Can you believe that? Of course the buildings had been burnt down and rebuilt several times as Napoleon came through and the subsequent wars, but the current building is over 200 years old. You'd never be able to tell! They'd like to make a mueseum one day of all the things the farm has done over the last 9 centuries... Crazy!
I learned something else about German society today. Apparently, if you have a business of over 20 people, at least 10% must be handicapped (or you pay a fee). So on the farm, they are not only developing innovative ways to grow food organically, they are also developing people!

Then we went back to Bonn for lunch and I had a fantastic little turkey bagel and my dessert was a cinnamon sugar crepe from a street vendor. Delish! After lunch, we had a lecture from a well know homeopathologist... I don't know really how much a believe in all of that stuff, but it was definitely interesting. To finish off the theme of the day, we went to a local veterinarian who also practiced traditional and homeopathic medicine. Homepathy was actually started in Germany but now many of the scientists in the forefront of the field are Americans.
Lastly, and probably the most fun of the day, was when Olaf took all of us to the next city over (Cologne) and we saw the biggest cathedral I have ever seen!! It was quite a piece of work and they constantly have to rebuild because of the soft sandstond that it was made out of. The cathedral stands a 15,731m or around 46,000 feet tall as it was finished on October 15th, 1880 (it was started in 1248 AD). Oh yeah... and you know the three wise men? THEY ARE IN THERE! Every January, people come from all over the world to see them as the coffins are opened....

Olaf then took us on a tour of Cologne where we experienced curry wurst and another type of Kolsh beer brewed in Cologne as we sat by the Rhine River... We saw the ruins of the Jewish quarters that is being excavated, tasted wine at the Cologne Wine Festival in the city square and then ate gelato.

All in one day... do you believe it?