The Pilgramage

Today we went to Cologne to join in a pilgramage from an area on the Rhein to the Cathedral (Dom). It was pretty cool. We walked at least 5km in total with specific relfections and songs to sing the whole way. Pete and I have some pretty good photo's that we'll have to post soon. Anyways, the train to Cologne was crazy but the weather was awesome. We got to play some volleyball on the way to the pilgramage. After the pilgramage we got some food and relaxed in a park. I got a chance to fix my pack sac after eating. It was pretty funny seeing me using a needle and thread to fix my pack...I definatelly didn't look like a pro. After a bit, Andrea helped me with patching up a smaller area...I was very grateful. Then we went to look for a location where they would say a mass, but we missed all the english one's, so we decided to go to confession and then go play some more volleyball instead. When we were walking to the volleyball courts I was thinkng to myself about how I felt during the day. Because of the huge masses of people, I found it hard to sit back and take everything in. The only word I can think of that would describe it would be frenzy. After some badminton and volleyball, we headed back to the train station to get back to Wuppetal. We got ripped off...the train we were waiting for switched platforms about 5 minutes before it arrived...so we were at the front of the line on one platform but on the back on the other. Then...the train we were supposed to take flew right past us to the far end of the platform...there were 500 people on our platform alone, so there was no way we could get into that one. The Italians next to us got ripped off too...I laughted SO hard when I saw the expressions on their faces and then the reaction that they had afterwards. Picture this, about 30 Italians wearing matching hats singing "Shamo...Shamo...Shamo..." and waiving their right hand up and down in front of them. It was the funniest things I've ever seen and I am still laughing about it while I type it. What a great bunch of people that can still have that kind of humour when they know that they just got screwed.
Anyways, we caught another train later on and made it back about 11:30pm...it took about twice as long as it should have. By now, we are feeling bad that we haven't been able to spend very much time with our host family and their 4 kids. They have all been excited to see us and talk to us and ask questions. So, we made a promise to get up early the next day and have breakfast with them...and then try and be home early to visit in the evening.