The trip is starting to wind down. We’ve only got four more days until we leave for Korea. We’ve switched tactics and have started choosing a sort of “base camp” to keep out gear, then going on side trips outside of the city. From Interlaken, we headed to Frankfurt, Germany. This is because it’s close to Paris, relatively speaking, as well as close to a lot of other cities we could easily travel to in a day and still make it back to our hotel easily.
The hotel we ended up choosing in Frankfurt was in sleaze central. We left the train station late in the evening, so our choices weren’t that great. It was also cold, so we didn’t want to trek around the entire city for a cheap room. We checked a few places near our destination, but couldn’t afford to stay there multiple nights. We headed into the red light district next to the train station.
We picked a place in the heart of the red light district that was run by, surprise, some Koreans. Across the street was a cabaret that had anime style characters in the window, but the only people in front were fat men and old women that looked nothing like what they were advertising. There were hookers on the street corner, and johns walking around looking up anyone that passed them on the street.
Over breakfast the next morning, we talked to the owner about her choice of location. She said she owned an upscale hotel in another location, but she actually thought the neighborhood was BETTER because of all the sex shops and strip clubs. She said that because it was all here, the police were constantly walking around. Otherwise the gangsters, pimps, and drug dealers would harass the people trying to get to her hotel. She was right, there were police everywhere. It’s the classic problem of the heroin and the egg I suppose. (Egg shot up, got REALLY high.)
Our first day trip was to Heidelburg. This was very touristy. We hit the main strip, then went to a romantic castle on the side of a mountain. It was half-collapsed, which actually made it more interesting. We didn’t go into the place and pay the fee, but it provided some great pictures and some good views. We took a stroll around the city, then headed back to the hotel for the night.
This morning, we left to come to Cologne, which is spelled completely differently in German (Köln). We headed towards Cologne Cathedral (Dom), which is this entirely too huge to believe Gothic church. It was the tallest thing in Europe before the Effiel Tower was built. It’s having a pilgrimage at the moment, so we could only walk around, not up to the top. We also got some 4711 Cologne water as a gift. It’s said to have some healing properties, but to me it just smells like soapy water. We also spent a few hours completely lost in the rain.
This place ALSO has tons of shopping. I found a European electronics store that had Nintendo DS games. I picked up Freshly-Picked Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland. This is possibly the most unique RPG I’ve played, ever. Your health is directly connected to how much money you have, and EVERY action costs rupees (money). You hire body guards, sell maps, and do everything you can to scrape up enough cash to reach Rupeeland, aka heaven. It’s completely awesome. It’s only been released in Japan, and Europe, but the European edition had five languages, including English. I actually brought my DS in anticipation of trying to find this game. Yes, it features a strange man wearing green spandex on the cover, but it’s great. It’s never going to be released in the United States due to Zelda fanboys absolutely HATING Tingle, but I love it. I’ve been playing it for a few hours while we wait for the rain to stop before we go out for dinner. I don’t have any patience for RPG games, but I’ve been laughing outloud as I’ve been playing it so far. So good.
