Art & Architecture Trip - Day 5

Today was Independence Day - I wore a small American flag pin on my shirt. I sort of missed being able to see fireworks at home and watch the celebration of the Statue of Liberty Centenial (some Germans who live in Koln told me they saw it...). I took an early morning (0630) jog down the Rhein (four miles). One of the Canadians I met last night, Albert, jogged with me. We ate breakfast later. At 0900, we continued our German language studies. Today we learned how to tell time and practiced counting money. Interestingly, it turned out that we learned several important things about money and time that we needed later in the day (see below). At 1100, we boarded the train for Koln. We rode to Ebert-platz and examined one of the medieval gates of the city. It was right in the middle of many shops and businesses, and no one seemed to notice it - just like they acted near the cathedral (Dom). I guess people here are used to the years of history and the artifacts of the past (not me!). We traveled up the old Roman road and then turned down a street to go to Kolnische Stadtmuseum for a tour. We walked inside for several hours and learned about German history (especially about Koln). Afterwards, we had ice cream (gelato) at an Italian place. It was very good - more natural and more flavor choices than at home... It only cost 2.50 DeutcheMarks (about $1.10) for scoops of any flavor. At 1800, after returning on the train, we ate supper at the Jugendgastehaus. After dinner, Glyndie and I went to a store nearby to purchase fruit and soda - the counting and other German words came in handy. We plan to visit this place often so we can practice our German. Later, we all went to see an art exhibit (the opening of a private collection). The paintings, done by a young lady friend of Georg, were abstract art specimens. They were interesting and left much to the viewer's mind. The technique the artist used was enough to capture many scenes in just one painting (impressions of people, the moon, etc.). The theme was "Chairs." The cost of these paintings was between 400 and 3000 DMs. Around 2000, we left Galerie Klapperhof and went back to the Jugendgastehaus. Most of us walked down to the Rhein again - it was still light even at 2300! Several German boys came down to talk with us. I didn't get to bed until 0045 (funf und vierzig minuten nach zwolf uhr!).