Day 6: "A Bonn-ding Experience!"

Day 6! We decided that after our adventures in Cologne, it was time for us to take a short excursion to the nearby town of Bonn. Bonn is a small town that happens to be the place where Beethoven was born, thus bringing it fame and many a traveler. We headed to the train station early in the morning and stowed our stuff in a locker machine. We aren't entirely sure how it worked, but it managed to keep our stuff safe and secure for the whole day, so it wasn't a problem. We hopped a train to Bonn and 20 minutes later, there we were!
The morning was spent in the Beethoven museum. The museum was insanely detailed, filled with pictures of Beethoven, his friends, his pianos, his manuscripts, and his letters. He composed a ridiculous amount of music, more than I thought he had. We got to listen to a library full of it and see what his pieces sounded like. He was an impressive composer for his time, and I'm glad I got to learn so much more about him.
After that, we walked around Bonn. It was an awesome city, but we decided we wanted to leave after lunch. Lunch was at a place called Back Werk, a cafeteria-style restaurant with good prices and good food. We enjoyed our pastries before walking back to the train station.
Once we arrived back in Cologne, we realized that we still had 7 hours before we had to get on the train to the next town we were staying in. So, we got on a train to a town called Duren, in the mood for an adventure.
Duren was a cute little shopping town with a lot of fun things to do. We stopped for ice cream by the street and watched the people go by, before continuing through the pedestrian-only roads of the city. We settled at a cafe, the Cafe Extra Blatt, and sat outdoors for some drinks. When I went inside for the bathroom, I was shocked to find out we were actually sitting at a two-story restaurant with a full bar. We opted to stay outside and discuss our plans and the things we'd seen.
After a peaceful afternoon in Duren, we headed back to the train station only to find that everything had gone to chaos. Our 8:28 train had been delayed by 25 minutes and we weren't going to make the connection in Frankfurt. We hopped on a train minutes before it left and found seats next to strangers. We switched our connection to Mannheim, and somehow got to Hiedelberg earlier than predicted. We were sleepy after our wild train connection, so we decided to hit the hotel and head to bed.
Sorry there aren't any pictures- no photos allowed in the museum and we didn't do much in the afternoon. I'm headed to bed but I'll update you tomorrow!
Sarah Jackson