In the morning, we were up a bit early, but at 845 the bells of our church went off – for over 5 minutes. They were lovely, but I imagine they might be annoying if you were trying to sleep. They certainly got the boys up and going. We went back to our local shop for coffee and breakfast. It was already feeling quite hot.
We went to St Andreas which is the church next to our hotel. It was amazing, a mix of stark and modern and ancient. The stained glass was quite modern and almost shocking, there were ancient works of art that were exposed on the walls. I loved it.
Back to the hotel to finish packing and then checking out.
Off to the train station. We came across opposing protests in the square, it took us a while to figure out what it was all about, but it seemed there were some far right Germans protesting Muslims, and some people protesting them.
Into the train station. Becky and I went off in search of some supplies. We found earrings, groceries, water bottles, sweat rags, vitamins, candy, dresses. It was delightful.
Found our train to Amsterdam, it is wonderfully cool and the AC seems to be strong and steady. It’s been great having our first class tickets. Worth it.
We have a fairly short journey today, less than 3 hours.
Thoughts on Cologne. It definitely redeemed itself yesterday. Because it was bombed heavily in the war, the mix of old and new is quite marked and it feels more city and less historic. There are 12 churches throughout the city, it seems like everywhere you look there’s another one. The parts of the city we went to were quite compact. I thought it was an interesting place, but to be honest, I’m glad we weren’t staying any longer.
Looking forward to our time in Amsterdam…
Amsterdam was interesting. I actually have a great love for the city – it is so lost and debauched and yet so beautiful and full of people in need of hope and help.
The Netherlands seems to be actively rejecting God and morality. Within the city it is super obvious with the drug use, coffee shops, smoke shops and the erotic shops and prostitution. We ventured out to the countryside and it was evident from the abandoned churches. Apparently 2 traditional churches a week are shut down and the buildings need to be converted for other purposes.
It’s brought up a lot of discussions.
We arrived in Amsterdam and made our way to the hotel – it’s a pretty cool hotel. G&B are in another building. We had a huge room. It was quite warm – no AC. We did have a fan though.
We went for food – ended up at a Chinese place – it was ok. We walked a lot and ended up in a park – Westerpark. It was midsommar and there were a bunch of Swedes celebrating with singing, dancing, drinking, flower crowns, and games. We were quite tired and thirsty. We found a supermarket and got drinks and ice creams.
We got back to the hotel and didn’t even try to sleep for a while. Our room was above the street and it was very loud – and hot. We finally shut the windows and struggled to sleep. In the middle of the night I woke up and opened the window thinking it would be quiet – it wasn’t but I kept it open anyway.
Lamppostings 