Old Retired Guy Blog

June 28 - 30, 2010

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Cologne and Bonn (Page 2 of 3)

The next day we headed to Bonn.  It's only about 20 miles south of Cologne so instead of moving we took a day trip.  I went to summer school there in 1966 so I was curious to see if the university or the town had changed very much.  As we walked through the train station we saw a poster of Beethoven playing an electric bass guitar.  I don't think it's historically accurate, but it illustrates Bonn's proud identity as Beethoven's birthplace.

The town didn't look very familiar to me until we got to the main square (Münsterplatz).  There I spotted Beethoven's Statue and the big yellow post office.  My brain said, "Yup, this is the place." 

We weren't far from The Beethoven House, so, having been inspired by his poster and his statue, we started our visit to Bonn by touring his birthplace.  It was fascinating to see music in Beethoven's handwriting as well as some of the instruments that he played.  It was sad to see the crude metal "ear trumpets" that he used when he was going deaf.

We said good-bye to Ludwig and headed over to the University.  Some things must be different -- the trees must certainly be larger -- but the big gold building behind the grassy quad looked exactly the same.

We went inside and walked around.  I didn't have a clue where my classes were held so we just enjoyed looking around.  Then we walked back across the quad and out to the main street.  It used to be named Koblenzerstrasse but now is called Adenauerallee.  Despite the name change, the numbers were still the same.  At Adenauerallee 63 we found Newmanhaus, the dorm where I stayed.  Except for the fancier color, it looked just like I remember it.

We had lunch back in the square where Beethoven watched sternly over us while we ate.  Then we wandered over to the Basilica at the south end of the square.  You'd think that after seeing the Cologne Cathedral this church wouldn't be very interesting, but that is not at all true.  The Basilica in Bonn may be smaller, but it is very beautiful nonetheless.  I thought that the stained-glass windows were particularly interesting since they were primarily black and white.

With memories old and new bouncing around in my head, we walked back to the train station to catch a train back to Cologne.  Hopefully, without any difficulties.

'Cologne and Bonn'
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