The Start of Winter Break!

Me at the door of the cathedral!!
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So for winter break I decided to go to Germany, because they are known for having really amazing Christmas markets, and I thought if I can't get a real family Christmas, the closest substitute is lots and lots of Christmas decorations and such.  Two other girls that are studying abroad from UC schools decided to come along as well, so the three of us went for 8 days.

We had to start out early in the morning, in order to catch the flight from London, which unfortunately meant leaving at three in the morning to catch the 4 o'clock bus.  After a lengthy ride to London, we caught our flight to Cologne, and took the train to the city center.

Our room in the hostel
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As soon as we left the train station, we saw the best part of Cologne, which is their massive cathedral.  We made it to our hostel, which was really nice, and got some much needed rest.

We managed to make it to mutliple Christmas markets, which were really cool and festive.  They sell so many different types of things, and they have lots of really good food there too.  At night they had live music, and they were pretty much packed all the time.  Most of our free time was pretty much spent at the market by the cathedral.

The cathedral at night
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We went inside the cathedral, which was really pretty, and they let you climb up one of the towers as well, which was defintely a workout.  It was 509 steps to the top, all up a little spiral staircase so we had to take soe breaks, but once we got to the top it was an amazing view.

Other than that,, Cologne was kind of a small city, but it was really nice to relax and explore the Christmas markets.  My only problem with it was it was freezing!!  My sad lack of any sort of knowledge of the weather led me to believe that going south would equal warmth, but it was about ten degrees colder!!  I definitely miss the California sun, but at least it wasn't snowing!!