A Second Chance

There have been modern art museums in many of the cities we have visited, but frankly after the Pompidou Center experience we have been turned off modern art. However, since we had already paid for it and they had a few Andy Warhol pieces, we decided to visit Museum Ludwig.

The museum had a wonderful temporary exhibit of Gerhard Richter's work, the artist that designed the new stain-glass window in the Dom. In addition to the huge pieces of abstract work, they had a collection of 100, paired painted glasses pieces that were gorgeous. I would love to have one of those in my home.

In addition, the museum had a neat audio exhibit from Paul Plamper called A Radio Play in Space. It was a room filled with tables; on each tables was 2-5 speakers (symbolizing the number of people sitting at the table) and 2-5 chairs. When you entered the room you were greeted with the ambient noise of a restaurant; you could sit down at any of the tables and listen to the conversation. Then something happens; sometimes inside the restaurant, sometimes outside the restaurant and a collective hush falls over the room. It is social experiment in whether people will become involved in the event or become distant.

Other highlights of the museum included:

• 20th century American Pop Art
• A temporary exhibit for filmmaker Jonas Mekas
• A wonderful graphic design exhibit of Thomas Bayrle
• An exhibit titled "Looking for Mushrooms, Beat Poets, Hippies, Funk,and Minimal Art: Art and counter cultural in San Fransisco around 1968"

Maybe the art wasn't so modern, maybe it wasn't so out there, but we definitely enjoyed Museum Ludwig. So much so that we might venture into a modern art museum in the city we visit.

Euro REI

On Saturday night we stopped off at the German version of REI; we heard a rumor that they had a pool inside the store to demo equipment. We visited the flagship REI store in Denver, CO, where they have a track for testing mountain bikes and flume in the river for testing kayaks, and wanted to see how it compared.While the REI stores are definitely bigger, Globetrotter offered a few unique services. The pool in the center of the four story building was designed to test kayaks, canoes, and scuba equipment - a current could even be turned on at the touch of a button. The coolest features, however, were the rain and cold room. To try out their rain gear, you simply put it on and then stepped into the "rain room". Once in the room you can choose from simple rain or storm level rain. I wonder what they do with the jacket if you decide not to purchase it... Once your jacket has passed the rain test, you can demo it out in the "cold room" - literally a room with large ice block benches that is sub-zero degrees and has a wind option.

Oh, the money we could have spent in that store...

Two of a Kind

Koln has museum card for €20.50 for two adults and two children, for which you can get into all the city museums (10+ museums) and use the local transportation. Since we had already forked over the cash, we tried to visit as many of the museums as possible.

After the Roman museum, we visted the Wallraf-Richartz Museum - the local art museum. While it had a smattering of Van Goghs, Monets, and Reniors - the best part of the museum was its temporary exhibit: Kunstler Paare or Artist Couples. The exhibit show the works of artist couples side by side and showed how their work influenced each other. While many know about the relationship between Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, it also explored lesser know couples like Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock, Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Hans Arp, and Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz. For many of the couples, it was clear how they influenced each other - some made parallel works, some worked together on pieces, and some adopted each others' style. The exhibit was fascinating - great art, wonderful text, and exquisite curation.

When in Rome...

Side Portal of the Original City Gate, 50AD

Well, not exactly Rome, but rather a city built in Roman times. The main street through Koln dates back 2000 years and the city was officially recognized by the Roman Empire in 50AD (AKA - made apart of the Roman Empire).

To explore its Roman routes we visited the Roman-Germanic Museum. The highlights of the museum were a mosaic floor from a Roman merchant's house the museum was actually built around and the original arch from the city gate. Apparently if you are important enough, like one of the leaders of the G8 countries, you can enjoy a meal in the museum in the mosaic floor room. We ate our sandwiches outside, under the arch - way cooler! Mosaic FloorRoman Bust

Cologne, Keulen, Koln

We rose extremely early for our train ride to Koln - like 4:20am early - the trade-off for dirt cheap train tickets. Due to the early departure time, we had to ride around the country in order to get to Koln and over five hours later we emerge from the train station.

We were quickly jerked out of our half-opened eye state by the site of the Dom. It was ENORMOUS! We were amazed despite having seen TONS of huge churches lately.


Amazing Facts:

• It was the world's tallest building until 1884 (when the Washington Monument was built)
• It has the world's second tallest church Spires
• It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for "exceptional work of human creative genius"
• Has the largest facade of any church in the world
• It has stained glass from the Medieval time period, the Renaissance, post WWII, and a window designed by Gerhard Richter in 2007
• Houses the largest reliquary in the Western world - the bones of the three wise men
• Has the largest free-swinging bell in the world

You say tomato, I say tomahto...

Tomorrow we are taking a train to spend the weekend in Cologne, Germany. At first when I went to go look for train tickets I could not find the destination. I know the trains go there; it's the fourth largest city in Germany. And then I realized the Dutch name for the city was Keulen. Problem solved; train tickets booked.

But wait, there's no Cologne or Keulen in my trusty Rick Steves' guidebook! Maybe this wasn't a city we wanted to visit after all; I mean if it's not the guidebooks it must be a whole in the wall or a dump or just plain uninteresting.

But a quick Google search told me the real name of the city, as far as Germany or should I say Deutschland is concerned, is Koln. And don't worry Koln is in the guidebook!

Now, why do we rename cities and countries? As Matt pointed out we should either: A) spell them the same and pronounce them differently or B) pronounce them the same and spell them appropriately.

I find it highly embarrassing when filling out electronic forms that have drop-down menus that I have to go ask someone where I am from according the country we are currently in. I got Estados Unidos in Spanish. While I might have gotten Les États-Unis in French without help, I never would have gotten Verenigde Staten in Dutch. I can only guess what my nationality will be next month in The Czech Republic.

Well, off we go to Cologne...I mean Koln for the weekend!

"Let's Call the Whole Thing Off"
Fred Astaire

you say neither and i say neither
either, either, neither, neither
let's call the whole thing off

you say tomato, i say tomato
you eat potato and i eat potato
tomato, tomato, potato, potato
let's call the whole thing off

but oh, if we call the whole thing off then we must part
and oh, if we ever part then that might break my heart

so, if you wear pajamas and i wear pajamas
i'll wear pajamas and give up pajamas
for we know we need eachother so we
better call the calling off, off
oh, let's call the whole thing off

you say after and i say after
you say laughter and i say laughter
after, after, laughter, laughter
let's call the whole thing off

you say havana and i say havana
you eat banana and i eat banana
havana, havana, banana, banana
let's call the whole thing off

but oh, if we call the whole thing off then we must part
and oh, if we ever part then that might break my heart

so, if you say oysters and i say oysters
i'll eat oysters and give up oysters
for we know we need each other so we
better call the calling off, off
oh, let's call the whole thing off