Ausflug Recap

Yesterday was the three-week mark.
Three whole weeks--- or is it, only three weeks?
Time flies and stands still here. Every moment is long, but looking back, I can't put my finger on where the time went, really.

And.
It's the last week of our language camp.
If nothing else, simply being in Köln made it worth it. I never, ever get tired of stepping outside of the Dom Hauptbahnhof and seeing this.

Regardless of the constant reconstruction , it is absolutely amazing.
The nice thing about having a language camp in Köln is that our group of twelve-something exchange students had a variety of easily accessible places for field trips, in addition to looking around the city itself.

 Ausflug A would be the Kölner Zoo- unremarkable in most aspects except for the really, really extensive duck exhibits. I swear, over half of this zoo is dedicated to ducks- regular mallards, blue-billed things, exotic duck-shaped bird and more- and that's not even counting the other bird exhibits, with everything from storks, to flamingos, to penguins and ostrich-like things. I guess you'll never run out of poultry for dinner at this zoo, at least.

Big dollops of fat and adorableness.

 Ausflug B was a trip to Bonn, and more specifically, a tour around the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (literally, "The House of the Story of the Republic of Germany"). After the tour we did yet more tour-esque activities, going shopping and checking out the city.
My favorite part of Bonn absolutely had to be this one fountain. At first glance, it's adorable, with little children frolicking alongside ducks.
On second glance:

Arme Enten ):

One thing that I finally got around to doing was walking the bridge over the Rhein, with all of the locks in the links of the fence. I've been dying to do so since my first day in the city- it's just so romantic, with the tradition being putting a lock on the fence with your loved one, and throwing the keys in the Rhein after closing the lock to seal your love.

Going over the bridge, it's just overwhelming to think that each and every lock has a different story.

Locks and locks and more locks.

Some locks had the absolute cutest little inscriptions on them, and were total gems.

"The key lies in the Rhein, thus our love will be endless."

Others were a bit kinky...

Meowww

 And others yet were just a bit stupid.

I would think so...

 I think I'm rather going to miss Köln.