Red light zone in the morning was quite peaceful, and is not different from its neighbors. I left for Hanau this morning, the hometown of Grimm Brothers who created many fascinating fairy tales. People usually regard Germany as a country of rigorousness, preciseness and somewhat dull and indifferent. But actually Germany is also a very romantic country. From the Grimm brothers who wrote great fairy tales to king Ludwig II who himself is an admirer of romanticism, Germany lacks no romantic aspect.

But Hanau is not a very exciting place… Partly because it was very hot and the whether drove away most of my enthusiasm. Moreover, I didn’t feel very comfortable today. Maybe a little ill. My throat was burning. So in Hanau I only took pictures of the Grimm brothers’ statue and left for Cologne.

The cathedral stands just next to the main station. It is… Very BIG. I have seen many churches in Germany, but this one is like no other… So huge and it seems even graceful, although the gothic style makes it a little dark and gloomy. I sometimes wonder how people living hundreds of years ago could build such a gigantic building. This church in Cologne is more than 150 meters tall. How did people build it!? They must be the genius architects of the time, just like Mozart or Bach in music.

What made my day today was a random meetup with Dr. Huston’s daughter on my way to the top of the cathedral. I was wearing a Rice Engineering tshirt today and the woman in front of me recognized this and asked me if I go to Rice. I learnt that she was also from Houston. And then we began to chat. I was first surprised that she knows so much about Hanszen. Then she mentioned that she is the daughter of Dr. Huston, my shortie professor t Rice. Wow! I could hardly hide my excitement. What a coincidence! Is this the wonder of traveling, that it is very likely to meet people who have such a close connection with me? Such a small world!

Oh and by the way Cologne has its own beer called Kölsch. I had some at one of the oldest Bräu in Cologne. It was served in a very small glass that holds only 0.2 Litter, quite unlike beer in Munich which is contained in a 1 liter huge glass. The waiters will continue to add your small glass if you don’t request that you have already had enough. But it tasted kinda different from other beers. Kölsch tastes light and little bit sweet. And I believe it is well brewed, since I became little drunk with only 2 glasses…