Cologne

There's definitely a difficulty here in finding hip-fun-happening things and places in the hip-fun-happening cosmopolitan focal points here in what many porpoises believe to be hip-fun-happening-Germany. The Lonely planet scoops tried, didn't really work out since their presenter was too fried on acid in a shifty East Berlin cafe - we tried traveling around Hamburg, Hanover that sort of thing looking for hip-fun-happening anti-commercialist, semi-cultural and early evening activities to pursue and atmosphere to imbibe. Alas, disappointment looms high in the territory. More often than not one just ends up wandering around getting progressively more damp occasionally stumbling upon a funky looking shell of a hip-fun-happening pseudo dead end that wasn't pseudo at all but was, in actual fact, absolutely dead.


Cologne on the other hand proved to be a truly live place to be. In the begargoyled and scaffolded shade and soap bubble breezes of the great cathedral buzzed and hummed the hip-fun-happening international crowd that pulse through the whole city spicing up even the most humble city trudge to a nice tingly degree.


Just around the cathedral was an anti-war protest held by both Arab and Israeli activists who oppose the disaster currently sweeping Lebanon and the Middle East at large.

The police were present but the protest was very peaceful if heated. Many had lost loved ones in the conflict so far and anything short of an utter stop to the violence is far too short to quell their anger. To them, it's hardly a question of views.

It's a just married rickshaw darting through and around the tense scene above - just married to what we'll never know. Probably another rickshaw. Very imbibable. Browsing through the streets was rather cool. Anti-commercialism aside, the store-browsing gets a very unusual 3/5 fairly happening rating mostly due to the untiring crowd flow couple with an array of street performers ranging from your happily strumming Rastafarian singers pouring out a healthy pinch of soul to impromptu string quartets refining the air. After picking up a evil six pack of dunkin' donuts (I'm such a sell out I know, but Bavarian cream!) we headed out for lunch in a nifty little Indian restaurant unsurprisingly called the Taj Mahal in which faces were stuffed to the extreme. The donuts were relegated to snack-in-lieu-of-dinner. As an additional bonus we happened upon an 'English Store' which imports all sorts of Avon sourced succour. Real tea was acquired.

Early afternoon was spent by the Rhine, watching the locals stroll, a rather eccentric ladies' club drinking champagne in hats, and some of the more ambitious catching some sun. On the way back we watched the end of a street acrobatic and comedy show done by "Winston".

Good stuff, high wire and everything with politically incorrect and sharp humour. Hope to see him again sometime. Well, there are the highlights of the day - today's dedicated to recouping and getting ready to slaughter more bacteria on Monday. Till next time!