saturday in cologne

i'm feeling much, much better today. i got up thinking, damn, i'm really really tired, but as the day has progressed i've gotten better.

if i have to come back here the hubs is definetly coming with me. even though we've never been to cologne together there are just so many memories of our time in germany that are flooding back.

i wish everyone could experience it. the sights, the history, the sounds, the smells. cologne is right on the rhine river, actually have to cross the river to get to the show complex.

things i'd forgotten about germany. tight jeans--on guys and girls. i'm talking skin tight how the hell did they get into them tight. funky hairstyles. i saw a kid on the train today, maybe 12, with a short hair cut and swirls shaved into it. and germans don't understand recycling. the drinks that you buy, warm mostly, are in glass bottles, very few plastic bottles around. when we lived here the beer trucks would drive into neighborhoods and you'd buy wooden cases of beer, soda and spetzi, which is a mix of an orange/lemon and soda, very yummy. when your bottles were empty you'd put them back in the case and return them with your next order. the singles you buy on the street or whatever are just thrown away so i've seen people poking through the trash looking for them to redeem i guess.

i attempted to travel legally this morning and not with that free pass the show gave us. fortunately a girl at the ticket vending machine spoke a little english and very nicely helped me buy a ticket for the train. 2.50 euros to go one stop--i think that's expensive. at the show i ran into the guy from the show who invited me to begin with and he said my pass was good and basically travel on the public transportation is more or less based on the honors system and you are rarely asked to see your ticket. since my train ride from frankfurt on the ICE (inter city express) i haven't seen one conductor/ticket agent.

i stepped into a mini-grocery at the train station to look around. i want to buy some german ketchup to bring back, definitely different flavor, but they had hine's in this store, and mcdonald's ketchup. the candies are funny. many of them we can get at world market and then they have a lot of american candies too. i haven't seen any pepsi at all, just coke products. i've been drinking a lot of juice and water. in the room minibar it has juice and water, free of charge. the hotel also has a great, complimentary, breakfast buffet. i had muslie for the first time this morning. it's like a cold oatmeal, i think it's yogurt, oats, raisins and other stuff. pretty yummy. they also had pickeled herring (which i passed up) nurnberg bratwurst, boiled eggs, all sorts of breads, jams, nutella (a chocolatey spread like p-nut butter--we can get it at costco), lunch meats, etc.

i worked the show for a few hours today and now am going to the cathedral and hope to find some places to shop.

at least i don't LOOK out of place here, everyone assumes i am/speak german.

i'm supposed to meet the show guy and a bunch of american vendors at 6pm for the press event tonight. i had planned on just grabbing a bite to eat alone, but i think i'll go so what it's all about.

i'll probably post again later.

(for some reason the spell checker isn't working and now i'm seeing blogger in german! LOL i hope i'm pushing all the right buttons!)