The Ramblings of Rev. Karl

My last full day here. Originally I was planning on going back to the Spiel, but my shopping is done and I don't feel like spending the day fighting to get into games. I decide to take the Aachen recommendation and am glad I did.

( Aachen and a short trip into Belgium )

Today is our field trip to Amsterdam - the whole crew is going, 8 of us all together, piled into the van.

( Bicycles, Canals, and Prostitutes, Oh My )

"In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death." - Anne Frank

The games I got to play:

( The games )

Finally it’s time for the main event, Spiel, commonly just called “Essen” here in the states – the largest gaming event in the world, nearly 150,000 people – that’s 5 times the size of DragonCon or GenCon. The convention center itself is also suitably huge, 110,000 sq. meters of exhibit space (about the size of the DC and Baltimore convention centers combined). It is really a trade show rather than a convention – all of the exhibit space is taken up by vendor booths, most of which have tables for them to run demos of their games.

( More games than you can imagine )

My first full day in Germany I am much refreshed and ready to go exploring. I go get back on the train (which is late) and head south. Passing through the mostly industrial landscape it's not very different from much of the northeast or midwest parts of the U.S. - overall Germany strikes me as much more similar to the U.S. than say, England. I think because it feels like a newish country - almost all the construction in this area is post-WWII, the medieval landscape has been erased with just the occasional building surviving - anything older than 100 years is given the "historic landmark" treatment much like it is in the U.S. Of course one of those buildings is the Cologne Cathedral. This trip is weird in how little preparation I've done for it, I don't have any guidebooks, or a definite plan of what to see - but I figure I can't go wrong by getting off at Köln and looking for the big frickin' cathedral.

( Cologne and Koblenz )

First things first, pictures are all at http://pics.livejournal.com/kmusser/gallery/00040f1s I'm going to try to fix the ones that came out too dark to see.

Anyway, our journey begins Monday morning with a drive out to Philadelphia and then a flight to O'Hare. I get a surprise visit with zammis in the airport, who finds me during my layover while she's waiting for her flight to Seattle. Yay for Zammis time. Anyway, soon it is time for the very long trip over the pond. I think Lufthansa has the smallest seats I've ever encounted. I did not get much sleep and arrived in Düsseldorf a very sleepy camper.

( First day in Essen - Zollverein )