See pictures from this day. The green one.
I’ve put captions on my pictures via Google’s Picasa. Amazing program… Quite fun to do it while the memory is still fresh.
I got up at 4.30 AM because I went to bed at 8 PM the night before. Did a walking meditation before breakfast which is not bad at this hotel. Decent coffee and bread. Wide selection of jams. Quality of bread and bakery stuff in Cologne is impressive, compared to, say, Thailand or the US.
It’s 7 PM now but there’s still light outside. It was cold and windy this morning but finally the sun came out.
On the overall, I love Cologne. Easy to get around. Safe. Friendly people who speak English. Lots of stuff to see, especially stores (any brands can be found) and churches. Not too hectic. Good looking (when young) & nicely dressed people. Caucasians do not seem to age very well. Germans, at least in Cologne, are as good looking as Scandinavians. Very nice eyes… Almost fall for farangs.
I succumbed to my desire and bought a Freitag bag (Freitag is the last name of the founders who are brothers) Saw their bag before but just learned that they are made in Zurich, Switzerland (Swiss URL extension is ch. Isn’t it interesting?), from used materials from trucks: tarpaulins—water proof fabric, seat belts, inner tubes and air bags. I love their design (creative down to their bag packaging and their store interior), their ideas and their ok price. The store front displayed pictures of people planting so I thought it was a gardening shop (explained later that it is translated to “green” products), but the inside was so colorful that I went in. And my money went too… I didn’t buy because I’m green, but I love their products. Anyway, learned from CNN that today is Earth Day too.
Read that there are about 270 churches in this city. I like St. Aposten and St. Andreas, i.e., any churches that let me go in and walk (some churches block visitors with iron dividers). I find that inside churches, not only that it’s quiet but there is some sense of peace in it. Perhaps it’s because positive energy has been accumulated when people come to pray, over such a long period of time. At St. Andreas, I saw a couple of young men came in to sit. One guy sat and prayed. I guess, no matter how technologically advanced we are, we still need a sanctuary, a refuge…
I also made money donation to most churches I’ve been to so as to give them financial support (they don’t charge visitors). I kidded myself that I didn’t get to go to Spain because I have to visit all these churches in Cologne. Like I was here before so I must return…
I was told that a hard-core Buddhist doesn’t believe in randomness. Things happen for a reason. But I still couldn’t quite figure out why I didn’t get to go to Madrid that it frustrates me. So far, when the course of my life changes and I wasn’t happy at the time, eventually, it happens for the better.
Many churches show pictures of the places being bombed during WW2. Some churches were totally wrecked; only the wall remained. But they rebuilt them to look just like they have been around for centuries. I am impressed.
I’ve put captions on my pictures via Google’s Picasa. Amazing program… Quite fun to do it while the memory is still fresh.
I got up at 4.30 AM because I went to bed at 8 PM the night before. Did a walking meditation before breakfast which is not bad at this hotel. Decent coffee and bread. Wide selection of jams. Quality of bread and bakery stuff in Cologne is impressive, compared to, say, Thailand or the US.
It’s 7 PM now but there’s still light outside. It was cold and windy this morning but finally the sun came out.
On the overall, I love Cologne. Easy to get around. Safe. Friendly people who speak English. Lots of stuff to see, especially stores (any brands can be found) and churches. Not too hectic. Good looking (when young) & nicely dressed people. Caucasians do not seem to age very well. Germans, at least in Cologne, are as good looking as Scandinavians. Very nice eyes… Almost fall for farangs.
I succumbed to my desire and bought a Freitag bag (Freitag is the last name of the founders who are brothers) Saw their bag before but just learned that they are made in Zurich, Switzerland (Swiss URL extension is ch. Isn’t it interesting?), from used materials from trucks: tarpaulins—water proof fabric, seat belts, inner tubes and air bags. I love their design (creative down to their bag packaging and their store interior), their ideas and their ok price. The store front displayed pictures of people planting so I thought it was a gardening shop (explained later that it is translated to “green” products), but the inside was so colorful that I went in. And my money went too… I didn’t buy because I’m green, but I love their products. Anyway, learned from CNN that today is Earth Day too.
Read that there are about 270 churches in this city. I like St. Aposten and St. Andreas, i.e., any churches that let me go in and walk (some churches block visitors with iron dividers). I find that inside churches, not only that it’s quiet but there is some sense of peace in it. Perhaps it’s because positive energy has been accumulated when people come to pray, over such a long period of time. At St. Andreas, I saw a couple of young men came in to sit. One guy sat and prayed. I guess, no matter how technologically advanced we are, we still need a sanctuary, a refuge…
I also made money donation to most churches I’ve been to so as to give them financial support (they don’t charge visitors). I kidded myself that I didn’t get to go to Spain because I have to visit all these churches in Cologne. Like I was here before so I must return…
I was told that a hard-core Buddhist doesn’t believe in randomness. Things happen for a reason. But I still couldn’t quite figure out why I didn’t get to go to Madrid that it frustrates me. So far, when the course of my life changes and I wasn’t happy at the time, eventually, it happens for the better.
Many churches show pictures of the places being bombed during WW2. Some churches were totally wrecked; only the wall remained. But they rebuilt them to look just like they have been around for centuries. I am impressed.
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