Kölner Zoo und Aachen

So this weekend, I was very busy. On Saturday, we made a trip to Aachen. It was a chilly, cloudy day, but it really didn't rain on us. Aachen is known as a Wasser Stadt because it rains so much (not because it's on any water), so there are a lot of fountains. It is also a Reiter Stadt, so there are also a lot of horse statues around. Basically, it is my perfect town because it is a water and horse town, which are my two favorite things. It was gorgeous, despite the bad weather. The group that I was with got lost after the tour, and we were late meeting up with everyone else for the train ride back. So we just jumped on the train ourselves and headed back to Bonn.
The Kölner Zoo was awesome, too! I love zoos, so it was a pretty awesome day. It was family day, so entry was half price, but that was still 7.50 Euros. I do have to say, it was pretty worth it. There were so many cute animals, and the weather was sunny and nice. I went with Mary, although we assumed that we were going with a bigger group. After our 7:00 am run along the Rhein, we met back at the Hauptbahnhof at 9:15-ish, thinking that we were supposed to meet everyone at that time. The others had gone out the night before, after Aachen, so we assumed that they were hung over and asleep. So Mary and I went to the zoo by ourselves. We got around it in about 2 hours, and saw everything. However, the food there was super expensive, so we decided that we would bring our own food next time. And the souvenirs were expensive too, so we didn't get any of those.
Lately, I have been feeling a little homesick. I haven't been eating quite as much as usual (although still a lot by some people's standards), and I've just been kind of lonely. I have my own room, without roommates, so I think maybe I'm just missing the idea of roommates. Back home, I could just come out of my room and have someone to talk to. So if I could just move the awesome things from home (roommates/all my friends, my family, free swimming pool access) to where I am now, life would be perfect. Because I don't miss home; I just miss the people there. And the weather. It doesn't hail in May in Missouri. Usually.
I'm also missing a lot at this time of the year back home. My brother graduated college, all 3 of my siblings have birthdays (April, May, and June), one of my roommates graduated AND had a birthday in March, and then there's Mother's Day and Father's Day. So I'm missing out on a lot of family time, and I think that's hitting me kind of hard right now.
Anyway, now it's photo time. First the Aachen photos, then the zoo photos.

Oh yeah, I think I forgot to mention that I finally saw the Kölner Dom. I didn't have time to take too many pics because we had a train to catch, but I can now check that off my list of things to see in Germany.

Maddie