August 17th was the day to say “see you soon” to our friends in Beelen, a place that welcomed us for five days, during which we felt at home, safe and welcome. Beelen strives for a healthy environment, where you don’t see rubbish scattered on the ground, and where everything is very organized, very beautiful and very green, an example to follow of a sustainable and resilient territory, which is well worth visiting. It was possible to see that the objectives of sustainable development are achievable in such a space, and not when they are just limited to “good” intentions.
It was also the moment to thank all the commitment, effort and dedication to the entire Jugendtreff Beelen team, whose work is an example and a source of inspiration of what can be done in building sustainable and inclusive communities. Thank you very much, we learned a lot and in the most varied dimensions.
Back on the train for another trip, this time towards Cologne. There was little time available to see the entire city and what it had to offer us. That’s why the Team Building approach was different, and improvisation was the strategy adopted. With everyone’s collaboration, we added the many suggestions proposed, integrating them into the city’s exploration plan, in order to make the most of the time available.
We started at Cologne’s majestic cathedral, crossed Hohenzollernbrücke, Cologne’s bridge of love, went to the Ehrenfeld district, the city’s artists’ quarter, full of color and teeming with life, and on the way, we were able to see the imposing and iconic telecommunications tower of Cologne. city. Still in the Ehrenfeld neighborhood, we were able to visit the city’s central mosque (Cologne Central Mosque), imposing, and we ended our tour strolling through the streets of the “old town”, perhaps the most genuine part of the entire city, despite the omnipresent multiculturalism.
Cologne’s cathedral is impressive (Kölner Dom), its construction began in 1248 and took more than six centuries to be completed (1880). The Cathedral Treasury, called Domschatzkammer, allows you to see the Sanctuary of the Three Kings, a magnificent golden reliquary that, it is believed, houses the mortal remains of the biblical Magi. This is why Cologne Cathedral became one of the main pilgrimage destinations in Europe in the Middle Ages.
We decided to cross the “Bridge of Love” and the number of padlocks is impressive. At the entrance to the bridge, the pavement shows the place where a thousand gypsy people were shot and killed on May 24, 1940. In the same space, but at different times, radically different feelings and emotions.
Ehrenfeld, is Cologne’s open-air art district, perhaps the largest in Europe. Inside we have a bookstore and restaurant, a meeting point for all artists, coming from all over the world, the Goldmund Literatur Café Restaurant. Altogether, it will perhaps be the most emblematic area in the entire city of Cologne, a unique combination of coexistence between different ways of being, from the most alternative to the most conventional, and where you can find a little bit of everything
With time running out, we went to the traditional market, a lively place full of cafes. The journey was carried out with everyone’s input, trying to accommodate everyone’s suggestions for effective time management. Learning took place, turning the unforeseen into an opportunity, like what happened with going to the Mosque, as well as in other situations, which we managed together, and in which the unexpected can be, and often is, an opportunity of personal and collective learning and enrichment.
