DAY 34
FRIDAY JUNE 3 2005
My journal page has been revamped as I had received many responses saying it needed to be more user friendly. I hope this new layout works better.
I woke up and went to breakfast and did laundry. Since I was staying in the hostel and the rooms were locked down for cleaning I couldn't return back to my room. Darn, I hadn't even showered, put deodorant on, or brushed my teeth. I just went straight to the laundry room. I wasn't even really dressed. My clothes were in the washer. All I was wearing was a white tank top (no bra), cycling shorts, shoes without socks, and my stinky (no matter how many times I wash it) yellow cycling jersey. Damn, these aren't even really shorts, they go under the shorts that a person would normally wear, as they are heavily padded. Oh well, I'm decent enough I guess, especially for this hot, humid day.
So, I took off to the Hyatt Regency Hotel which is across the street from the hostel. I spent several hours yesterday looking for wireless or some internet cafe that would let me use my laptop. No such luck. So I knew a swank hotel would be able to meet my needs, after all they have teleconferencing and all that. I have never seen a swank hotel neglect a way to make money.
My guess proved very fruitful. I was able to post to my website. The concierge didn't even blink twice at my attire. Sweet. He met me with a smile just as if I were dressed in a Prada outfit and gave me a LAN line. While I was there a guy came in and they also signed him on.
The internet room was really well designed. We each got a full sized office cherry wood desk with soft lighting and music. Damn, swank, man! For 24 Euros an hour it better be. Anyway the guy across from me kept having problems and was asking me questions. Fortunately I had an answer for everything. Humph, now how often does that happen? I felt just like tech girl. I wrapped up about an hour and half later and left him to it.
By this time it was 12:30 so I went upstairs for lunch. I felt a little out of place dressed as I was. A man approached me wearing a full suit and tie, I thought he was going to ask me to leave, but it turned out he was the waiter and took my order. Jeeze, even the waiter out dressed me. I hadn't intended to leave the hostel like this but I was making the best of it. A matronly woman across the restaurant was looking down her nose at me. It didn't bother me at all. Think about it, my specialized cycling gear that I am wearing, costs just as much as her outfit, she is just more turned out and not as frumpy/sporting looking. Besides I learned in high school when I met Miss Alaska for that year, looks have nothing to do with class. She was a beautiful woman but just a gross, ill mannered human. I learned then that no matter how nice your dressed it doesn't mean you have class and grace.
So I sat back and had my Italian dish for 12 euros and was happy to pay that amount. I would have paid that amount for the view alone. I found out then that the view the Hyatt has is the best in the whole town! It was absolutely amazing! Words won't describe it well, but I'll try. I looked out the window and immediately see the whole beautiful cathedral surrounded by trees on the opposite bank of the wide Rhine river. Right next to it is the bridge spanning the Rhine. This bridge was built before the world war and hopefully I would be cycling across it tomorrow. Nothing spoils the view. As the sunlight glitters off the Rhine, my food is delivered, and I settle in for a nice relaxing meal. Music is softly flowing over the sound of the wall sized water fountain. Now this is worth it! To me, ambience is just as important as food.
I take two bites of my food and immediately have a dizzy spell. Mmm.. its the spices. I am allergic to a spice that I have been unable to identify so far. This dish contains it. I don't mind though, its like having a nice buzz after a shot of alcohol. Besides, nothing serious usually comes from it, although I note it was a rather immediate and strong reaction.
I have always enjoyed a nice long lunch. It is the private time I set aside for myself to relax and enjoy this life. I very rarely have lunch with anyone. This time is my time and when I do end up having lunch say with my co-workers, no one realizes that I just gave up my most favorite time. I absolutely enjoying eating lunches alone, surrounded with lovely abidance, good food, and sometimes a good book. This does not bother me, to eat alone, I savor it. It is my own personal "Calgon take me away" moment. For 12 euros I was getting a real deal.
Until the man from the internet room came and sat down at my table and ordered himself a drink. What the hell? How rude! This is my own table. Not a public bar. After he orders a drink he asks me if it is ok to sit here. I answer sure, go ahead, thinking all along: like I was going to say no then? It would have been rude, and there was enough rudeness from him for both of us.
I try to finish my meal and I can't. To me, it is just plain rude to eat in front of people who are not eating. It is just plain bad manners. I cut up my spaghetti into little pieces with my fork trying to get myself to eat and I just can't. I reach for my soda and I can't drink. Look, I have been dieting for a long time and when I diet I hate to see people eat chocolate in front of me. Its a torture. He has no food and I not inviting him to stay for lunch. What balls! He just squashed my nice relaxing lunch flat! He starts telling me about himself as I motion to the server to bring my bill. All this takes about sixty seconds from the time he sits down.
I mean come on guys, what the hell? Why would he do this? I look like crap. He didn't even ask permission to sit down here until well after he had done it and ordered a drink to boot. What balls! After the bar fly I don't need this. But maybe I am touchy. Maybe its me? After all the bar fly left me pretty freaked out.
As I wait for the bill he tells me he is from New Zealand and this is his first few hours ever in Europe. Ah, I see. I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he is a new traveler in town and wanting to connect with someone. So I immediately go into my "tourist office mode" and tell him all the highlights of Köln and what's the best way to get where, what not to do and the like. I can see that he starts formulating his plan for the day. I have only been in town for 24 hours myself, but I am good at this. I should work at a tourist office one day, I would make a super agent. By this time the server brings my bill and I pay and wait for my change. They kept it and gave me a receipt instead. Perhaps they thought it was a tip? He tells me he is going to Amsterdam and Paris also. So I give all the tips I can on those cities as well, shake his and leave. There is something just not clicking here.
I shake his hand good bye, wish him a great trip and exit with more class and good manners than he showed me. With in five to eight minutes after he has sat down I have left my meal and drink unfinished and am gone from the table. How intruding he was.
As I leave the waiter gives me a smile and says goodbye in German. We trade German and English words for a moment which leaves us both smiling and laughing and I go down the grand "Gone with the Wind" staircase exiting into a very humid, hot day.
All is well and good, then. These last few days have been filled with so many moments of laughter since I got my passport. What a pleasure.
I went back to my hostel and laid down for just a few minutes. Three hours pass. I went to sleep without my mouth guard and have a headache and toothache in my sleep. This is giving me nightmares. I normally don't do this. I can only assume that the food I was allergic to and the incredibly packed last three days cumulate in me taking a three hour nap in the middle of the day. Gosh.
I finally wake up at four thirty pm and take that shower I meant to take at nine thirty am. Then I revamp my journal page and meet the new gaggle of girls in my dorm room. By this time it is ten pm and I grab a pizza a the hostel bar. I sit and listen to some really great reggae music and ask the bartender who it is as I would like to buy the CD. He is an artist that is making an international hit over here called GENTLEMAN. The bartender gives his CD to me with a smile and says to rip it on my laptop. How friendly and sweet. I do and love it. Don't worry, I'll make sure to get a real copy from the store when I get home. Probably every CD the artist has made judging from how much I like his music.
So ends my last day in Köln.