Visiting Raoul in Paderborn

My next stop was in central Germany to visit a friend from earlier in my trip—Raoul. Raoul is a medical resident, studying Neurology. We met at our hostel in Glasgow, Scotland, where he offered me a place on his air mattress should I ever pass through Paderborn. Knowing I’d be in the area, I decided to take him up on the offer!

As Raoul had work until 5pm each day, I was left to occupy myself in the afternoon. After arriving at the bus station, I stopped at a coffee shop for lunch and to ask for recommendations on some activities. I found that the best museums (including what is, apparently, the world’s largest computer museum—perfect for me) were all closed! As I would see on a variety of shop windows, numerous business in Paderborn were closed in the middle weeks of August so that their owners might enjoy a holiday.

Paderborn lies in a highly Catholic area of Germany, and the town contains a Cathedral. I thus decided to visit some of the town’s churches.

After the churches I went to a cafe to read and have a cold beer. I relaxed there for a while until Raoul was done with work. We met up and went for a short walk around the main areas of Paderborn, including some small waterways and authentic, medieval German houses. We then stopped at a cafe for a German beer. We had a lovely waitress that I got to practice some German words on, with Raoul to help my pronunciation.

In the evening, Raoul made dinner for the two of us at his apartment and I met some of his fellow medical students. We also enjoyed a few glasses of Oban scotch whisky (Raoul and I have a mutual interest there, which we indulged while in Glasgow).

Raoul woke before me the next day to head to work, but was kind enough to lend me his bike. I took it out for a spin, in search of a schwarma place that was quite highly rated on the internet. I found it to be closed for middle of August, much like the museums. In desperate hunger, I went to a mediocre pizza place nearby. I then spent the afternoon in a cafe, catching up on blog posts and enjoying a Spanish lesson with my online teacher. In the evening I met back up with Raoul for beer, a fine Italian dinner, and eventually a bit of salsa dancing with his friend Gaia (hope I got that name right). You’ll see a photo of Gaia instructing Raoul on the basic step.