Jones Brothers Europe 2008

Koln (Cologne) Germany

2008-10-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

Today we went with Christians mom (our German mom) to Germany's 4th largest city Koln. Koln or Cologne as you would say in English was founded by the Roman's in 38 AD and proclaimed an offical "Roman City" in 50 AD.

The first thing you notice as you are approaching the city is one of the world's largest churches known as the Cologne Cathedral.

Prior to the Washington Monument and Eiffel Tower, the Cologne Cathedral was the tallest structure in the world. Trevor and Christian's mom decided they were going to go to the top of church which is over 516ft in the air. Trevor took the following picture:

Here are also some pictures from inside the cathedral:

After checking out the church we went to an exhibit which is the partial original Roman city. It was amazing to see buildings that have been around for about 2000 years.

Zollverein

2008-10-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

The Zollverein industrial complex in Land Nordrhein-Westfalen consists of the complete infrastructure of a historical coal-mining site, with some 20th-century buildings of outstanding architectural merit. It constitutes remarkable material evidence of the evolution and decline of an essential industry over the past 150 years.

Trevor and Christian

Villa Hugel Essen, Germany

2008-10-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly, both Trevor and I were ready to go early this morning. Christian decided that we would start our day by going to the Villa hugel in Essen.

Villa Hugel is an organization that now controls the former home of Krupp Family as well as the business operations of the Krupp business and all of the companies employees during the time the property was in use for business operations. The business was a steel foundry that specialized in many different steel type projects such as locomotives and railway material. Krupp was also the first company to offer health care and places to live for employees as well as bring the social life into the business.

On to the pictures:

This a picture from the front of the main house and office

This is a picture of a propeller that was produced by the company.

Christian and I
The dining room, the table seats 10.

The world's best and most expensive nacho platter

Essen Germany

2008-10-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

Arrival

2008-10-14T22:49:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Dusseldorf yesterday at about 6PM German time and got picked up by Christian. We haven't seen each other in about 14 years and apparently we walked just passed each other. I had to call him and find out he was standing just down the hall from us in at the baggage claim. We then went to grocery store for food and then to Christian's flat (place).

It was crazy seeing someone again after 14 years that you were really close to. it took about 5 seconds to be right back where we were when we were 16.
I'm tired, I've been up for about 18 hours now.

Going to bed.

Pre-Trip Overview

2008-10-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

It almost here. Trevor and I will be on our way to Dusseldorf airport on the 10/14/2008!

I have been to Europe several times as a teen where I did a foreign exchange with a German guy named Christian. I would go there one year and he would come to the United States the next year.

One summer Christian and I spent a month in Ibiza. We were both 16. If you haven't ever been to Ibiza, you would probably see and experience things that would make you blush as an adult. Nevertheless we had a great time and learned a lot of life lessons. :-)

When we arrive in Germany, Christian will be picking us up and we will be staying at his flat. He also has an itinerary setup for us for the 5 days we spend in Germany before taking off to Amsterdam.

Trev and I are hoping Christian will be coming with us on the remainder of our journey, but we will play that by ear.

Our rough itinerary is as follows:

October
14th – 19th Germany
19th – 23rd Amsterdam
23rd – 25th Paris
25th – 29th London