Last week, I began re-telling my first ever visit to Koblenz in Germany, which is something that has laid dormant for the past decade or so. 18-year-old me went abroad to attend the Modern Talking Fanclub Party. On this particular day, I went to a book shop to use the internet, and got some VERY unexpected and VERY awesome news …

Thursday, 4 January 2001:
KOBLENZ

Said goodbye to Eveline and Raphaël (who I had breakfast with), and went back to bed after breakfast – 8am is too early to get up! At 10:45 I was more accustomed to the idea, so I went up. I took the shortcut (“shortcut” being a relative term) Ewan McGregor (I don’t know his actual name!) told me about, and took the bus into town.

I started out at H2O, a second hand record store near the Zentralplatz, and then I went to the Liebfrauenkirche. I went inside (the first Catholic church I’ve ever been in, I think), and it was a nice-looking church. Weiter nach Eltzerhofstrasse and Faustus Brasserie. The cheapest meal was 15 DM (out of my dinner budget), so I just took a picture of the outside.

This picture right here.

I switched from MT-tourist to normal tourist, and went to Deutsches Eck and the statue of Kaiser Wilhelm. By then, I was hungry. I tried to find one of the Internet cafés, and found Reuffel bookshop, i.e. one of the Internet cafés. “Café” also being a relative term. 30 minutes cost 5 DM for those who want to know. I logged on, checked my emails, and went to eGroups to give TAML my live from Koblenz report.

In DBP, I found a message saying “AND THE WINNER IS……… TRAXY THORNFIELD”, which of course caught my eye. Julian (DBP member) had found out I was the winner of a competition, and not just ANY competition, but THE competition where you could win a date with Thomas Anders. I was like “Whaa? Who, ME? How…? Where…? Me? Wirklich? I WON? And you’re not joking? I won? I get to have a candle-lit dinner with Thomas Anders? WOOOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!” :c) I was sitting there, almost falling off my chair, and shaking… and went to the official TA site, and there it was again. I was the winner. For real. Moi. Wirklich.

When my time was up, I was so happy and could hardly move and walk out of the shop. I went to the Löhr-Center, finding no place where I wanted to eat, so I went back out, took pictures of the Herz-Jesu-Kirche, and went to McDonald’s across the toad. After eating (my first ever McChicken. The alternative was McFish, but I didn’t want that. Due to BSE I’m staying off meat while I’m here. Better safe than sorry, as I see it.), I went back to Löhr-Center where I just walked around, and then I got on bus line 2, where I got off at Zeisigstrasse. I found house #14, and took some pictures, and then waited for the bus to come back. I listened to a tape, but the batteries were too low. :c(

Thomas and Nora used to live here, way back in the 1980s.

It was getting dark, so I went to the tourist information office and got a map (for a friend), and postcards, a can of Sprite (pronounced SPRITE just like in English, and not Schprite, or Sprrrrite)… even though I wanted a Coca-Cola thanks to that TV-show last night! I got on the bus to the stop where I got on this morning (i.e. Ehrenbreitstein Bf). They could do with some lights around here! It was dark and scary to walk up the fortress, but I got here in one piece.

Dark and looming, isn’t it?

When I got to my room, more things were here than just my stuff, and in came a woman who was very startled to see someone in the room. The woman comes from South Korea (can’t remember her name, because she tried to explain what it meant and all, so I got confused), and knows “ein bißchen Deutsch” and no English whatsoever. *frown* The top window is open, no wonder it’s cold in here! Cold-ish anyway. I’ll see if I can close it without waking my room-mate, and then I’ll do like ET and phone home. Tschüß!

Right, I’m back now, eating strawberry-flavoured Yogurettes from a vending machine in the hall. Strange, the best reception on my mobile seems to be underneath my pillows. *LOL* I called home (on a payphone, not mobile), and they were fine and I was fine and etc. Tomorrow, I will see Münstermaifeld, Höhr-Grenzhausen, and the Moseltanzpalast. On Saturday I’m the happiest girl in the world. :c) I’m in denial now, though. And it’s only 8:20pm! OK, I’ll do something else now, there’ll be more to write tomorrow, not to mention on SATURDAY!!! *gone*

See? I said it would get more interesting as it went along! 😉 To be continued next Sunday, when you’ll find out what it’s like to take the bus when you have no idea where the heck you’re going and the bus driver doesn’t speak English – and you don’t speak German …