KÖLN

köln!

or “cologne” for all you english speakers…
actually, its cologne for me too, as my german skills are … stunningly poor. lucky in fact that i am writing this instead of dictating it as my pronounciation of any german word, no matter how simple, is absolutely drenched w the sound of my ineptitude.

but despite my linguistic shortcomings, i’ve begun my germanic adventure the same way i approach everything: with joy and enthusisam- the kind that makes people wonder if you’ve recently fallen in love, or are a little bit crazy….
i’ve recently fallen in love! and i hope as i describe my suroundings you’ll understand why…

i’m actually physically writing this on tissue paper with a borrowed pen at a small café in the “♥ of köln”. i have tissue paper because i had to buy shoes today (the impractical wedge sandals i have been wearing broke yesterday) and do not have a journal because of the completely pointless “15 items or less” rule i put on packing for this trip. i thought to myself one afternoon “man i hate wearing a backpack… wouldn’t it be lovely if i could get my whole trip packed into my handbag?” so that’s what i did. then i made my travel companion do it too. i told him that only sissies and drama queens needed more than 15 items on a 3 week trip and ludicrously he believed me…. guys, if you have a friend who routinely comes up with insane and meaningless challenges, don’t let them rope you in. poor bryan.

but, back to köln…
as i said, i’m writing this at a small café in the center of the city. a short walk will take me to the famous (for good reason) kölner dom, the breathtakingly impressive king of gothic cathedrals, a unseco world heritage site, and one of the only great buildings not bombed into pieces in wwII. but assuminging that didn’t suit me, i could instead walk to the rhine river, whose dramatic presence gives this stunning region its name: rhineland. i could sight-see, shop, listen to street music, get my hair done (all of which i’ve already done today)… but no. i’ve been walking all day and for now, i’m happy enough to just sit (and drink.).

mostly because i’ve found what feels like the jackpot of all hideaways. a sometimes shady, sometimes sunny narrow stretch of patio, i am literally squished between the graceful glass walls of a center for fine arts and the stain glass windows of a tiny cathedral. on each side of me are olive trees (with actual olives on them) and to my right, a tiny sliver of modernity- the impressive glass ball structure that houses the new shopping center of köln’s neumarkt.

sitting at my table for 2 (except there is only me… with 2 glasses) w my back to new fine arts, i am enchanted everytime i look up to see the arched windows, mournful gargoyles, and storybook spire and bell tower- reaching, reaching reaching………
and above all that is a blue sky with white clouds and the promice that this day will only get more lovely. and it will!

it is 4:30 now, which means i have at least another 5 hours of daylight ahead of me. eventually i will trade in my sundress for the sweater and jeans more appropriate for a german spring evening (yes, all pakced into my handbag) and will join in for a night of merriment with friends i have been lucky enugh to make through my years of traveling… this could easily be the glass of reisling and the heffeweissen that i’ve consumed as i wrote this talking, but what a beautiful thing is traveling!! (that extra exclamation mark is the heffe for sure…)
these brick walls, these cobbled roads, these fragile details… they are beautiful- certainly. but when compared to the dusty horizons of tanzania… the pagodes of china… or even the flat grasslands that are my texan home- all of which are breathtaking in their own way- they are also truly special.

this is köln. and you really should see this….