Weekend Update (02.-03.Sep)

Heard the story 'The Pied Piper of Hamelin'? I literally lived that story during the weekend. It was a wonderful trip to meet my friend there. I went there with another friend who lives here in Cologne. Had to get up early to take the train at 6:21 in the morning. Reached Hamelin on time at 10:10. My friend was waiting at the station. Took the bus from the station to his place. It's a small place so it just took about 5 minutes.

After taking a small break in his room, we immediately left to go to the city-centre. It was filled with people, eating and drinking and shopping around. We noticed a line of imprints of rats (in white) on the road. I heard that it represents the path taken by the Pied Piper to drive the rats out of the city. Also saw a statue of the piper. Everywhere you look, you will find something with a connection to the story of the piper.

My friend treated us at a Mexican Restaurant for lunch. I tried something called 'Chicken Enchiladas'. Mmmmmh it tasted yummy, but a lot of cheese. We didn't wanna get drunk so just settled down with just a glass of beer (type was called 'Ratskeller', typical of Hamelin). After lunch we were just walking around the shopping center and then got home to take a break.

In the evening we climbed a small hill that was about 800m tall. Got a good view of the place from there, also tried a panaromic shot of the town (the stitch wasn't so good though, you can see it under the title of this blog). After that we went back to the city-center and had some ice-cream. Later on saw some live band playing at a Summer-Fest and finished the day with dinner at a Greek Restaurant. I tried some Giros. It got me filled to the nose with meat. It was a tiring day. Got back to my friend's room around midnight. It was surprizing to see that the town went dead around midnight, unlike Cologne where the party just starts at that time.

Got up pretty late the next day. We just had time to cook lunch. I wanted to make some cauliflower manchurian, but finally got to know that none of the required ingredients were available. Had to settle down with something close to it. Took about an hour to finish frying the two cauliflowers that my friend bought. My friend made some nice carrot and peas kurma. Once that was done, we had lunch and left for Cologne.

Hamelin was a different place compared to Cologne. You get to experience serenity in its truest form there. Pretty refreshing for someone living amidst the hustle and bustle of a big city like Cologne. Moreover, visiting this place reminded me of the school days when I read about the piper's story or saw it on TV. A truly refreshing weekend indeed!