koeln, germany, and other tidbits
21 february 2000

hi everyone,

here is the latest installment of deb and gary in europe. we just spent the weekend in koeln{cologne}, germany, a mere 3 hour train ride from amsterdam. we couldn't decide where to go in germany because we could only go for the weekend so we needed to stick fairly close to home. well, it was definately the right choice! we love trains, to begin with. i think i mentioned that before and the great thing is you can just show up and buy your ticket 10 minutes before you want to leave. we did learn some valuable info the hard, embarrassing way, of course. we didn't have assigned seats and assumed that no one else did so we parked ourselves and got pretty comfy until the people that had those seats got on. we were confused because our tickets didn't have specific seats but apparently above each seat is indicated whether those are assigned or not and if not you can sit there. now we know. what does it take to get assigned seats? don't know, we weren't given the option. we'll just have to ask next time. anyway, we had breakfast in the dining car, which is always a fun thing to do on a train.

upon arriving in koeln we went immediately to the huge gothic cathedral, called the dom, located directly in front of the train station. how convenient. as all of them are beautiful and vast, this church was too. the gothic design is really something to see and i can now recognise that style of architecture with it's tall pointed arches and flying buttresses. the weather in koeln was rainy and very cold so it was a good thing we planning to take in a museum. {i still don't have a decent umbrella; the cheap leopard one i bought in a'dam has already turned inside out a few times}. so on to the ludwig museum. gary loves contemporary art{ i like certain styles} and this is the place!! what a spread of picassos! they were really jumping off the walls. there were other less famous artists represented; some really great paintings. we spent several hours taking it all in. we then took a break and had a grand time "people watching" in the cafeteria. by the way, european museums all have very good restaurants, something i have never experienced stateside. the ludwig itself is a beautiful building, very modern with a lot of light coming in. we found the paintings displayed in such a way that they were each given a lot of space. i dislike seeing paintings all cramped together. this was a really great museum.

by now it was pouring rain and we decided it would be a good time to find a hotel room. gary's favorite way of traveling is to just go there. i've had to get used to this "not booking ahead" but he assures me he's never had to sleep on a park bench. we do always seem to get a better price this way. we found a very old, charming hotel which dates back to the 1100's. that building was really old and we decided it had enough character to be worth an overnight stay. breakfast was included and it turned out to be a very nice one. we later found out that the building had been used as a cloister to the church next door, another beautiful cathedral.the floor had more creaks than you can imagine and there was a great winding staircase. don't ask about the elevator; it was tiny and i didn't think we would actually make it but we did.

one of the great things about koeln was that everything we needed was in the same area. we probably didn't go more than a half mile from the train station the whole time! on sat. night we showed up early at this incredibly gorgeous modern concert hall and got tickets for the symphony. it just so happened that sir andre previn was conducting! now we knew we were in the right city! we bought tickets and sat behind the orchestra in order to watch previn from the front. it was a real treat and i don't think i can ever sit in front of the orchestra again. it's much more interesting from this view. there was a guest soprano, who of course blew the roof off. five curtain calls!! poor, andre, who is fairly elderly, had to keep going up and down steps to receive all those curtain calls. the audience was really going nuts. the whole thing was grand, especially the mahler 4th symphony.

on sunday, the sun was actually shining,{it was still freezing}, so we snapped some pics with our cheap disposable camera. we also took some digitals but who knows when we'll acutally post them. then off to visit the chocolate museum. it was a really neat place, with a history of chocolate through the centuries and also full descriptions of how the cocoa plant is cultivated and processed. they were manufacturing chocolate as we toured the plant and i realized i had chosen the wrong week to give up sugar!! i was doing very well up til then but it was a lost cause once we bought the truffles and dark chocolate. oh well. who says belgium has the best? this was right up there.

then it was back to the ludwig so we could cram in the exhibit we didn't get to see on sat. the focus was how indigenous cultures influenced european art; quite interesting with works by gaugin, paul klee, and more picassos. we managed a lovely stroll by the rhein river and were thinking we might take a boat to dusseldorf and catch the train from there, but no, we realized no tickets were being sold so maybe it's a summer or seasonal thing. anyway, all of the cities we've been to so far look and feel completely different from one another, koeln included.

that's the beauty of europe, i think!

in other news, closer to home, we bought second hand bikes, finally. now we're true amsterdamers. NOT! so far i've managed not to get killed; a small miracle. people are maniacs here and i don't know why there are traffic signals because no one pays any attention to them. except me of course and i feel pretty stupid doing it. i guess i'll get more agressive with time. the great thing is that you can really zip around quickly and i'm learning that riding a bike is no longer a "weather permitting" activity. yes, folks, i've been out riding in the hail already and didn't much care for it but it's the way it is.

dutch class is going very well and we have alot of fun while we're learning. it gets a little faster each class so i try to spend some time working on it everyday. i don't quite have the confidence to just blurt it out in public but i do try sometimes. my ear is getting better and i'm starting to understand here and there. it's a long process, but you have to start somewhere. i've made a new friend who is a singer and has worked in theatre in ny. we have some things in common and i think a nice friendship is developing.

still the days seem to fly by. i've enjoyed having more time to read books and am still doing a gyrotonics workout twice a week. gary works long and hard but will be getting about six weeks of vacation this year so we'll be looking forward to taking some longer trips. we may still get a car, can't decide yet. last week we went to the ballet and are going again next weekend. the national ballet is doing a stravinsky festival this month and since the first program was so great, we had to see the other one as well. several pieces by balanchine are on the program as well as "les noces" by bronislava nijinska and i've wanted to see that one for a long time. next month nederlands danstheater is performing and batsheva dance company from israel will be here.

i also visited the tropenmuseum, which is dedicated to indigenous cultures and the theatremuseum, also a fun place to explore. the weather remains fairly unpleasant but every once in awhile the sun peeks through and the sky is blue. the days are getting longer and i see some crocuses popping up. the current flash is that our furniture will arrive next week and not long after that the rest of our things. i'll believe all that when i see it!

that's the latest from holland. please keep those emails coming!!

tot ziens,

with love, deb