Friday, August 10, 2012
Breakfast in the hotel room from groceries: spelt flakes, lowfat milk (1.8%), yogurt (orange with chocolate shavings), a banana, hot earl gray tea. Snack at Back Werk. From a distance I thought this was a chiropractice or massage therapy, but I learned later that Back Werk in German translates to "baked goods." I had a medium-sized chicken sandwich and apple juice: 5 euros. (I selected a sandwich from the row with the sign that said fish sandwich but I guess the chicken sandwich was mistakenly placed in the wrong row. Since they were breaded and fried I couldn't easily tell the difference.) Stopped at Gortz 17 to see some shoes that I saw in the window yesterday when they were closed. The insole was glued in and could not be removed, so I did not buy the shoes. I visit MUJI again today, this time to see the 2nd floor. We learned recently that MUJI is coming to Union Square in San Francisco. From this visit I am not that excited about MUJI in SF. Some of the goods are interesting, but not so aesthetically pleasing that I must have it. If I were moving in to a new home I might be more interested, but I mostly have everything I need already, so essentially all of the home goods are not interesting to me. The clothes seem too simple for my taste, and simple often means styles such as boxy shirts when I would prefer them to be tighter or tailored. Continued my walk to Neumarkt. Observed a large truck trapped in a street too small for it. It was attempting to turn a corner but obviously not going to make it. In the process of trying to extricate the truck, the driver demolished a rear-view mirror of a parked car. Encountered picturesque Alter Markt (Old Market), then continued on to Neumarkt. At this point my camera's 2nd set of batteries died. I had thought that only 2 sets of batteries would suffice, but I was wrong. No time now to buy replacement batteries. Lesson learned: it's better to bring the battery charger and two sets of batteries than only two sets of batteries. Somewhere along this walk I spotted a Smart Car that was a sports car. I learn later that this is a Smart Roadster, last manufactured in 2006. 30 minutes to kill before the bike tour. Dessert at Ital Eis Cafe: one scoop of cherry ice cream in a sugar cone. Bike tour with rent-a-bike (koelnerfahrradverleih.de) with Kathi, Lukas, and Denis. The bike worked perfectly, the route was fun, and our guide Lukas did a great job in both German and English. I loved it! Snack from Fana's Grillspezialitäten: Käsewurst (cheese sausage) with mustard and ketchup: 2.50 euros. Fana's grills over open flame instead of on flat metal like other places, and I think this provides better flavor. Listened to live music and a singer on stage at Altstadtfest (Old Town Festival) in Alter Markt (Old Market). Had a small Kölsch. From a kiosk I bought a set of Varta AA alkaline batteries with an expiration date in 2014 but when I tried them they would not power the camera in either play or record mode. I gave them back to the woman who sold them to me and did not ask for a refund. Bought 3 bananas and a golden delicious apple at Lidl Neumarkt 8-10: .89 euros. Nap. Reconned Excorner, Iron, Ixbar, and Exile on Main Street. Late snack from an imbiss: falafel pocket: 3 euros. The pita pocket is much thicker than I expected, making it a tad less messy to eat and a bit more substantial than I had expected. In retrospect, this is a better value than the 1-euro-per-slice pizza, which also looked good. I did not get a beverage because I already had my hands full and this place didn't have tables or seating. I walked to the courtyard adjacent to Excorner and ate there. The crowds from bars overflow onto the adjacent sidewalks. Even the nearby ATM machines are a congregating place. I witnessed 2 instances of public urination. After finishing the falafel, I wanted a drink. Excorner is crowded and the cigarette smoke is too overwhelming for me to endure even a 5-minute wait at the bar. I feel that at the start of this trip I had grown more tolerant to cigarette smoke, but over the course of this trip I have grown less tolerant. All the hotel rooms I have stayed in have smelled at least slightly of cigarette smoke. I consider getting a bottled beer from the nearby kiosk but decide against it because it might be a faux pas. I stand outside of Excorner observing. Several empty drinking glasses (tumblers) are in the gutter. About 8 empty drinking glasses and a large bottled water are stacked on top of a high window box outside the bar. The music from the bar is "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and a Grease medley. After some time a barback emerges and gathers the glasses from the window box. He doesn't touch the bottled water, and he doesn't notice the glasses in the gutter. There are several groups of people in the street and on the sidewalk; everyone is talking and drinking and drunk. One person finishes his beer and sets the empty glass on the ground in the street. Several minutes later one of his companions accidentally kicks it, and it rolls into the gutter. Several minutes later someone emerges from the bar and steps on it, shattering it and spreading broken glass everywhere, including the base which now has shards pointing up. Everyone sees and hears this happen, but no one cleans it or reports it to the bar. On the way home I again stop to marvel at the 21 giant displays inside Westgate Apotheque. It's even better at night. People buy and wear a lot of Superdry here. Even Superdry bags and duffelbags are fairly common. Germans love it. Another brand I see a lot more of is G-Star. Late dessert: one piece of individually wrapped fudge left over from some meal in Amsterdam, some fruit juice. To bed late.