German Rowing

It was my first Saturday on my own after Erin and James left for the states and I was a little tired from the whirlwind of travel I started with. I decided that my first weekend alone in Germany should be spent getting to know Köln and the neighboring areas. After a lazy breakfast and puttering around the apartment for a bit, Marco called asking if I wanted to try rowing with him. Granted I had rowed in college, but I hadn’t been in a rowing boat in 3 years. But after seeing the regatta in Amsterdam, I was eager to get back in it. Marco’s rowing club is very close to in Wahn. It was built in 1907 and some of the boats look like they are from the first fleet. Now I have swept before, but I had never sculled. It is not a bright idea for your first attempt to be on such a large river like the Rhein. The current and the traffic are far too heavy. Marco and I decided to take a very wide double out to a man made pond nearby to practice. When I saw the pond, I almost threw up in my mouth. The pond was full of a kind of seaweed. The water was so dirty, you couldn’t see the bottom. Even if you could, the top of the water was covered in a very thick lime green film. I was praying as we put the boat in the water that we wouldn’t capsize. I sat in the stern and Marco sat in the bow so he could steer as we rowed. It was like rowing through green cake batter. The pond certainly wasn’t very big, but it took us over an hour to row around it 5 times. At the other end of the pond was a fountain. There the algae and seaweed was thicker. It took a great amount of back strength to get through it and every few strokes an oar would get stuck and we’d have to stop and fight to get it out. To top it all off at this end of the pond was a small restaurant where people were having their lunch. I looked up to see them in the middle of my struggle pointing and laughing. I’m sure it did look quite funny from their comfy chairs. There was a small area where the water wasn’t so thick where we could actually row for 5 strokes. That is where I really saw how much Marco was carrying my butt around. I was trying so hard to concentrate on getting full strokes without digging too deep, catching a crab, or banging my knuckles together that I almost hit the resident swans in the head a couple times.

In the end it took us close to 3 hours to maneuver the boat and row around the pond eight times. By then Marco and I had huge blisters on our hands for having to pull so hard, pains in our backs and bored with the small circles with no progress. After putting the boat back up in the boathouse, we sat down at the adjoining restaurant for a drink with the rest of the club. It was here I had my first Ratler; both ways. For those of you who don’t know, a Ratler in Germany is when they mix Kölsch with either orange Fanta or Sprite. It’s for when you are really thirsty, like after a three hour row I guess. I have to say that I liked it with Sprite better because it just made the Kölsch sweeter without the fake orange flavor. Then I tried a Diesel. A Diesel is Kölsch mixed with Coca Cola instead. I have to say it was interesting and not completely disgusting to drink, but I don’t know that I would have more than one in a sitting because the Coca Cola messes up the head of the beer something fierce and if you let it sit too long, the Coca Cola starts to turn into flakes at the bottom of the beer. Not something you want to see after drinking the concoction. I had wanted to get home early so I could try and replace the shoes I had destroyed the night before, but by the time we were done, the sun had set and it was way past dinner. So the only thing left to do was to run home, shower and head out for a few drinks and experience Köln on a party night. Hopefully next time, I’ll be able to go on the Rhein and actually get to row!