Bonn Triathlon - Museumesmeile - Choirs in the Church

What a great day and a great location for the triathlon! A 3.8km swim then 60km on the bike with a 15km run to complete the event. The swim sounds long compared to the other distances but was actually swum from the Adenaur Bridge to the Kennedy Bridge along the Rhine. This is down stream and the current is quite strong. The strong swimmers shoot down river in no time.

Swimmers leaving the Rhine in the Bonn Triathlon; note the spray from the boat in the background

But even the non-swimmers are ok; as long as you can keep your head above water then the current will deliver you to the bike stage. Trust me, there were a few heads simply bobbing along, delighted that the current was working to their advantage! Bonn has turned on a lovely day as well; a few clouds but enough sunshine to keep things warm and a breeze to drag most of the heat away, revealing a beautiful light to see Bonn and a pleasant day to be out and about, watching other people sweat through a triathlon!

Bike transition - swimmers come from below, grab their bikes and ride out by the Rhine above. What a great location for a Triathlon!

I thought I'd head upstream and see if I could find the start of the swim. Unfortunately by the time I'd arrived the last of the swimmers were in the water. I did successfully find a mobile coffee vendor by the side of the river and a cappuccino was just the ticket. I'd heard that there was a family day/event in the Museumsmeile precinct. Remembering Steven Wright's mantra that everywhere is walking distance if you have the time, I set off on foot back over the Rhine toward the DHL offices.

I found the museum district and it was pretty well packed out. I arrived just in time to hear 'Us &Them' (a German Pink Floyd cover band) just as they kicked off the second half of the 'Dark Side of the Moon' album. They were good too; very good! The guy on guitar and the girls' vocals especially. How nice in a Sunday afternoon to be swaying contentedly to Pink Floyd in the now warm sunshine. Sublimely pleasant. The main attraction appeared to be tightrope walkers; I did mention this was a family day. The wire walkers seemed very competent but a little old fashioned; does that sound a little snooty? Too bad! I'd just enjoyed some live (if a cover version) playing of the best album ever made so perhaps lunch was the next best thing to consider. Unlike me, everyone seemed entranced by the tightrope so suddenly the massive queues at the food tents had dwindled to a few grumpy old men. I fitted right in! I succumbed to some fresh bread rolls smothered in cheese (not sure if it was a Brie or a camembert) tomato and lettuce; a taste sensation! The wire walker continued to enthrall the locals and I moseyed out and back toward Bonn central.

It was after 2pm by the time I stumbled into Munsterplatz. As is often the case, a craft market had broken out in the square; Beethoven's statue was once again beset by tents smothered in ceramics, jewelry, leather goods and the like. Some of these folks are amazingly clever; as ever it was most pleasant just to potter from stall to stall and admire just how creative people can be.

There was more music again. This time, a young lady (perhaps more accurately I should say a lady of indeterminate age but just lately it seems that everyone is younger than me so 'young lady' is probably accurate) standing on a box seemingly just large enough for her feet. She plays a piano accordion and has a kazoo (that looks like a plastic trumpet but is obviously a kazoo once she starts to blow it) and a harmonica in a hands free frame around her neck. She introduces each song in German but they are invariably 1930's American swing tunes. Her accompaniment is straightforward but it is her voice that is wonderful. Soaring above the hubbub of the marketplace, she sings with a careless ease and the result is delightful. She has a wicked smile and, while gifted with a beautiful singing voice, has no hesitation in blowing that damn kazoo for a verse in each song! This strange combination of wonderful vocals and annoying kazoo solos combined with that wicked smile suggest she is sharing her little joke with us. It's like she is suggesting that she knows she has an amazing voice but it's only busking for goodness sake! Listen to the kazoo and think what a nice day it is and how much better things will sound when I start singing again.

Time for coffee and cake! This is one tradition I am beginning to embrace with alarming regularity. The coffee here is ok but the cakes are to die for. Invariably the piece of cake offered would feed a small family for several days but, like the brave Antipodean I am, I somehow manage to struggle through and demolish my allotted portion. I am happily killing time with the remnants of cake, waiting for 5pm to roll around. There is a church (in German the Namen-Jesu-Kirch) which is just up from the Beethoven house and museum in Bongasse. It's been closed for renovation since I arrived here and has only opened in the last few weeks. I noticed that there is a choral recital at 5 this afternoon. Choral music in the acoustic wonderland that is a large, old church - how could I say no? Music by Sandstrom, Verdi and Mendelssohn. Strangely to me, not Felix Mendelssohn but Arnold Mendelssohn. Arnold? Sorry for you music buffs, but Arnold sounds like Felix's geeky American or English cousin. My imagination conjures  an image of Arnold as a spectacled nerd who tends to speaking slowly and is enthralled by model trains. Apologies to any  Arnolds reading this ... As a form of apology, I am genuinely looking forward to learning more of the musical genius that is (or was) Arnold Mendelssohn this afternoon.

The concert was amazing; I'd guess there were thirty voices with no accompaniment in a church with fifty foot ceilings. They sang ten pieces with an extra one as an encore and the sounds were sublime. For one piece, the choir moved from the standard configuration at the front of the church to being individually spread around the church. The sopranos led off and neatly, they sang individually with each singer separated by half a bar. The effect wasn't a round but an echo. The spread of the voices around the church just added to the acoustic effect of space and echo. A couple of the pieces also had dissonance rather than harmony. I find these pieces challenging to listen to but always interesting nonetheless. They must also be challenging to sing as they seem to sound 'wrong' but work almost in spite of this. A marvelous choir in the perfect setting. At the conclusion of each piece, the church's acoustics held a couple of seconds of sustained sound, ensuring a full and complete sound. A wonderful day in Bonn. From the Floyd cover band to the young girl's singing and playing her kazoo to the choir in the church built in the late 1600's. Quite the aural excursion.

Briare Aqueduct

Something of a small vignette today; work took me to the small French village of Briare and we finished a little earlier than anticipated. Our hosts suggested a short detour to see the 'aqueduct'.

The Briare canal was built back in the 1600's but the aqueduct was constructed in the 1890's to connect the original canal to a smaller canal that runs beside the Loire river.
So, as lovely as this picture looks, you need another angle to appreciate what has been achieved here.

(Image from http://www.radweg-reisen.com/en/boat-bike-loire-river)

This marvellous postcard from 1900 begins to show just what has been achieved. What they have done is create a massive Victorian-esque bridge across the very broad Loire river. But instead of carrying wheeled traffic, it is designed for boats and barges. The idea of water crossing water (above and at 90 degrees to the flow of the river) feels strange and wonderful at the same time. (Postcard from http://www.dse.nl/~jetse/flying_colours.htm)

But the craftsmanship of the bridge is a joy to behold; the whole thing is a wonder and a delight.

And we only went to look at it because we happened to get finished early and the local team thought it might be nice to see.

Nice!?!?

Lunch was 'nice'; this is magnificent; from an age when science and art could be as one.

Wow - another good day.



Mechernich - RÖMERKANAL-WANDERWEG - Roman Aqueducts

There are times when it is probably better to be on your own when travelling.
Take Sunday, for example; I have my daypack filled with the necessities (lunch, water, raincoat, book, camera and notepad) ready for this week’s adventure. My plan is to return to Mechernich but this time find the Roman sites and see if I can understand what was going on. An aqueduct that runs 100km to Cologne? Seriously?
But this will be a 20km walk and, as I get off the train, the insistent drizzle becomes actual rain. Imagine trying to convince another tourist that ‘this will be fun’! Undeterred, I slip on the rain coat and head off to the first site.

This section of reconstructed aqueduct is simply stunning! It really begins to call out the scope and scale of this amazing project. It also drew my attention to a nearby signpost showing a walking tour that follows the entire 100km from North Eifel all the way into the metropolis of Cologne. If only I spoke German I could have googled ‘romerkanal-wanderweg.de’ and found the beautifully produced 20 page pdf booklet myself. Instead, I had to photograph the signpost and check it out when I got home. I keep getting these subtle messages to learn German and I keep ignoring them at my peril! But the benefit became twofold; firstly, on Sunday morning I now had a trail to follow. This is much better than following the googlemaps directions as they are simply the standard roads. And German provincial roads are not designed for pedestrians; and they are even less pedestrian friendly when it has been raining (trust me – there were a couple of close calls this weekend!) Secondly, it meant I could download the 20 pages of document, run some of it through an on-line translation device and give you some neat information. For example, the elevation at the beginning of the Roman water supply is about 450m and slides away to virtually nothing as it makes it to the Rhine in Cologne; this is about half of the usual 1:100 ratio but seems to have been made functional by the Romans. We’ll learn one of their tricks later in the piece.
You can climb to the top of the aqueduct and even today see some remnants of the original tunnel and certainly observe the cutting in the hillside where the watercourse made its serene way ever on to Cologne.
With the way signposted, I merrily trotted off with a light heart, oblivious to the rain as I now had a trail to follow ...
... and promptly became ‘geographically challenged’ (as AJP would say. I was never lost as I knew I was still close to the village of Vussem). In my defence, I will argue that the very first sign post I followed pointed in the wrong direction and it was only good fortune (and 30 minutes of bush bashing and much foul language) that I found another signpost and was back on the trail.

This worked out well because the trail took me along the actual path of the aqueduct. I was actually heading ‘upstream’ but that’s fine; so you get to see little vignettes like this one. As near as I can tell, this little channel is the original line taking water to Cologne but on the right (and buried under the ivy) is another channel which diverts the runoff water from hillside, ensuring that the main channel is not contaminated in any way. This water is for drinking after all and the Romans went to great pains to keep it pure and clean.
Or how about the Sammelbecken or Collecting Reservoir? The sign posts are latter day but this collection point allowed for water to in from Urfay and Dreimühlen and then on to Cologne. Ingenious!

But the ultimate came when I ducked into this little house almost at the top of the irrigation system. To be honest, there is a solid door that was closed and I thought, just my luck, I’m locked out just as the rain began to fall once more.

But the door opened and inside was this well house.

As near as I can make out, it seems that there was a spring in the square pool at the base of the well house. The water bubbled up and flowed from here out through the channels on the other side of the concrete walk way. This channel then flowed to further reservoirs where more water was sourced and added to the flow, ultimately winding along its 100km journey to Cologne.
And all of this done by Roman engineers using their funky counting system; for folks who never had the zero, it is amazing what they achieved.
Of course, there is always some who has to put their mark on things; graffiti is as old as the Romans anyway. But I did like this addition; it reads ‘Romani ite domum’ and translates as ‘Romans go home!’ I know this because it comes directly from ‘Monty Python’s Life of Brian’. For those who have studied Latin, the scene where the soldier corrects Brian’s attempt to write ‘Romans go home!’ is hysterically funny; absolutely how I remember my Latin grammar classes.
From here, i found myself near the little village of Kallmuth and still about 8-9km from Mechernich (with its warm railway station and coffee shop). As the rain began to fall, I thought I’d head directly north rather than the circuitous way I had come to this point.

It all worked out but there were a couple of moments where I wondered just where the hell I was. Remember, the roads just aren’t pedestrian friendly at all so I found some small roads and tracks and headed effectively cross country. Unbeknownst to me, I was walking past the site of Mechernich’s main claim to fame some 100 years ago; the mines. Walking along, I happened past a series of noticeboards (where these historical photos have been lifted from) and it’s only in retrospect that you can imagine how terribly and terrifyingly the land was laid waste back in the 1920’s to recover the ores here.

There were deposits of Manganese and other minerals but it seems the big metal to be mined was Lead. As the pictures show, look how the land was devastated almost a hundred years ago.

Mining ceased in the late ‘50’s and since then, many of the open cut mines have been used as rubbish dumps and it is really only since the 80’s that the recovery of the landscape has begun to kick in.

Note the before and after shots taken from the sign posts.

A really interesting day; the ingenuity of Roman engineering and how 2,000 years has virtually hidden their accomplishments contrasted with the Lead mines and how 50 years still hasn’t been long enough for the scarred landscape to fully recover.

Dusseldorf - Schloss Benrath

Dusseldorf

I’ve been to Dusseldorf probably 5 or 6 times in the last 20 years but Sunday was the first time I had the opportunity to walk along the Rhine during the day. Being a Sunday, there were plenty of folks out and about, enjoying the marvellous weather and sipping a coffee, a beer or a cocktail, depending on the mood.

This photo seems to capture the moment so well; a busker playing his piano (I hope he has a reasonable road crew!) with a crowd simply listening, watching the river flow past. The river being something of a simile for life on this pleasant Sunday morning; calm but still inexorably flowing along.

I hiked along the river front and then ducked back into the Aldstadt and came across zum Schiffchen (literally translated as ‘The Small Boat’) has been in operation for almost 400 years.

The part I like most is ‘Napoleon’s Corner’; so called as Napoleon and his general staff are known to have celebrated with beers after a victory parade through the streets of Dusseldorf back in 1811. You can’t buy that sort of history!

The Dusseldorf Altstadt was a curious mix of people; students filming and photographing themselves outside of the Art Museum; well dressed, middle aged folks just leaving their early morning church services; tourists (I heard accents from France, the US, Australia as well as Germany) swarming through the streets. All of us seemed to spend some time in Königsallee.  Königsallee is the heart of the expensive shopping district in Dusseldorf; but of course, being Sunday, none of the stores are open so most of us happily admired the fountains along the moat in the centre of Königsallee. In this picture you can see the Triton Fountain; quite breath taking and spectacular in its image.

Schloss Benrath

From downtown Dusseldorf I caught the 74 tram (about 25 minutes travel time) to Schloss Benrath. One thing Germany does spectacularly well is to preserve its monuments and palaces; Schloss Benrath is no exception. This view across the lake captures the scale of this wonderful palace built between 1755 and 1770.

There are tours through the palace complex but they are conducted in German and it was such a nice day that I felt like staying out in the fresh air. And am I glad I did! Not only do the Germans maintain these sorts of buildings well but they also manage the gardens and grounds beautifully. This image is taken from the rear of the central palace building and gives you some idea of the scope and beauty of the grounds.

I'm not sure that the pictures will be able to justice to the magnificence of the gardens that surround the palace. The brutality of winter is forgotten as the trees and undergrowth are now fully green; overflowing with green; a verdancy that seems to defy belief. Perhaps the green of the forest is brighter due to the brightness of the sun against such a blue sky. What a day! Warm to hot but with a breeze so cooling that it dissipates the heat to a pleasant warmth.

The foliage now so heavy that the trees screen off various corners of the park. I can hear kids laughing and playing in a clearing behind one copse of trees nearby. Interestingly, little kids seem to laugh and play in a universal language. Listening to them, these kids could be in Australia or China or the US; the universality of happy kids at play.

The only plants in flower are the rhododendrons like this one in the picture; the only colour is purple but their size would seem to be as large as any I’ve seen in the wilds of Silvan or Olinda back in my home state of Victoria.

There's something fun about watching grown men sail their remote control boats on the lake in front of the palace. The powered boats seem to fly across the water; these landlocked sailors happy to demonstrate their skills to their peers and anyone walking by. But the sail boat draws my attention. The captain of this craft seems to make adjustments only occasionally but the boat seems to just sail along on its course. Hardly interactive for the sailor but most conducive to a relaxing Sunday afternoon for we spectators.

By the way, the picture with the duck may seem a little incongruous. But the bird is remote controlled too!

I liked being here; just a pleasant day in the sunshine. Maybe subliminally I decided not to do the palace tour so I’d have an excuse to come back and enjoy this wonderful place another time. Another lovely Sunday in this intriguing place.

Chicago

This week’s letter from Bonn comes from Chicago. After a fairly extensive week of travel, it’s been nice to spend some downtime here in Chicago; especially when the weather is warm and sunny.
The only drawback is that this weekend happens to be the NATO meeting here in the Windy City so half of the city is shut down and the other half has police and homeland security lurking in every corner.
Saturday saw me heading off on 2 self guided walking tours; one through the old town and another downtown checking out the amazing architecture.
The Old Town begins near Lincoln Park, named for the assassinated president and inspiration for the band Linkin Park, The walk from downtown does provide a beautiful look back to the city itself.

The tour begins in Wells Street and kicks off with a recommended visit to the Chicago History Museum. It’s not too bad a place; especially if you enjoy 1930’s dioramas. Actually, that’s a little patronising as the dioramas are beautifully crafted and pick out a series of key events in Chicago’s history. The early fur trapper huts, early development of the town, the fire and the re-building that followed and concludes with the Exhibition of 1893.
How neat is that some of the 3,000 one room shanties built as accommodation straight after the fire are still in place in Menomonee Street.

As well, St. Michael’s is a beautiful church; it’s amazing how many people were sneaking in to take a look.

As you can see, who can blame them? The windows imported from Munich in the late 1800’s. The story goes if you can hear the bells of St. Michaels then you must be in the Old Town.

I liked this statue on the right. The whole thing is made of chains and has a feeling of such hardship and exhaustion just flowing from every single link.

It just seems to capture my imagination. Who would have thought?

I grabbed a sandwich and headed back downtown for the architecture walking tour. Sadly, it was defeated by the security services and my inability to walk anywhere downtown and not see some reference to the ‘Blues Brothers’ movie.
But as hopeless as my artistic side is, it was very interesting to have some direction on buildings to look at and what specific aspects to check out.
Sorry but few of the pictures actually came out well but the Carbide & Carbon Building (built in the late 1920’s) is just the classic Art Deco skyscraper, with its black facings (in granite and marble) with green and gold trim. The necked in top part of the building has classic cornices and arches, just to really capture that Art Deco look.
For pure size, it’s hard to go past the Merchandise Mart; it was the world’s largest building (with 4 million square feet) until they built the Pentagon, but again the facades and design are still considerations. It’s like all of the buildings have some artistic and/or design merit. As you walk the streets, you can even see the effort that has gone into houses and small apartment buildings. It may be the facades or the design of the banisters on the walk-ups or the window frames but so much effort and expense has been added to so many buildings; all simply to make them look beautiful. You have to appreciate that.
But then we make it to the Richard J. Daley Center and suddenly all I can see is the Blues mobile finally dying as Jake and Elwood rush in to the Cook Country Assessor’s office with these
statues looking on. And here they are!

Cool. Its like the roads under the elevated railway or ‘L’; sorry this image is a little blurry but again I can easily imagine the Blues Brothers tearing along this sort of street as part of their final scenes in that movie.

The structure for the 'L' seems so old; the supports are thin but very close together. It too feels like a throw back to another age.

One thing that still pervades is the last vestiges of the fire of 1871. It is hard to imagine a fire burning a city to destruction but this is pretty much what happened. The conditions were hot and dry, the buildings predominantly wooden and the fire burned virtually uncontrolled for more than 48 hours until the rain finally came. But by this time most of the combustible material had burned and 300 people had perished.

As such, consider the fire escape here.

It seems almost anachronistic today but I guess it remains functional.

But my favourite is this old water tower.

Making out the details in this picture is tough but trust me, that is a wooden water tank sitting at the top of that building; a genuine throw back to another era. Speaking of another era, away to the left there is some writing on the wall referring to ‘Ferris Wheel Restaurant’. When the Exhibition of 1893’s committee met in their planning stages, they were looking for a statement landmark as per Paris’s Eiffel Tower. The story goes that one George Washington Gale Ferris (an engineer usually focused on building bridges) had an idea for a massive wheel that would allow patrons to spend 50 minutes riding up and around and getting a wonderful view of the fairgrounds and Chicago in general. The design was accepted and, in spite of the massive depression of the early 1890’s, the Ferris Wheel Company raised the money necessary and a new form of entertainment was born.

Sunday dawned just as warm and, after doing a little work in the morning, I decided to walk to Wrigley Field and see what all the fuss was about. I did make it to Wrigley Field but I didn’t make it into the game. I walked around the stadium and, for those who remember the VFL in Melbourne, it has a real suburban feel like Carlton’s Princes Park or Collingwood’s Victoria Park. Basically, the stadium just seems to materialise at the side of the road, seemingly to emerge out of the shops and houses in the area.

Pre-game vibe is amazing; this might be driven by this game being a cross town derby between the two Chicago teams; the Cubs and the White Sox. I have to be honest that I do have an affinity for the Sox. Like my Aussie Rules team (Sydney Swans), the Sox went through an extended drought before winning their most recent World Series. The Sox waited 88 years while the Swans endured 72 years of agony but they both won their pennants in 2005. Today’s game concludes a triple-header played over Friday, Saturday and Sunday and I’m happy to report the Sox won all 3 games and managed to keep the Cubs to 0 runs in today’s game. Yay!
But prior to the game, the Cubs fans were out in huge numbers; the surrounding bars were over flowing and there was a real feeling of carnival or celebration.

Ticket touts were everywhere and they had special deals for everyone. Score card and program vendors were yelling their wares (and at $1 for this special souvenir program, they were providing good value compared to the Footy Record). Plus there were stall holders selling shirts, caps, pennants and the like. The place was humming!
The neatest part for me was walking around the back of the stadium and finding these boys (may be 12-13 years old). About 8 of them were standing and staring at the top of the stands, their gloves ready and waiting. This is pre-game and the boys are waiting for practice pop flys to come out and over the back of the stadium. But it is the intensity of their watching that is captivating; they are expecting a ball at any second; at any millisecond. Their focus is palpable and it is easy to imagine that they will fight and kick to capture that one fly ball. So intense and I get a feeling that this has been going on for many, many years.

I left the stadium and began a pseudo bar crawl back to the city; a chance to get a beer or two on this terribly warm day, simultaneously keeping tabs on the score. By the 7^th inning it became clear that the Sox were likely to win so I headed off the main drag and down to the lake. So many people! And all of them out and busy whether it be sun bathing, biking, walking, running and roller blading. They talk about the obese Americans but I didn’t see too many at the lakeshore today. I was more concerned about folks running and exercising in this heat.
Anyway, I eventually found my way back to the hotel and have to pack and get ready for the early flight tomorrow. This hotel’s location is great and Chicago was a lot of fun. I didn’t even talk about last night’s visit to the House of Blues; just amazing but would be better to share with someone. The music was wonderful.

See you next week when I’m back in Bonn.

Rhine in Flames

The first Saturday in May has the Rhine in Flames. The deal is that a huge armada of boats (cruise boats, pleasure craft, ferries, almost any craft that can comfortably carry passengers) leaves Linz and travels downstream to Bonn. As the flotilla passes through each town and village, a series of fireworks are set off.

Obviously, this all happens after dark, and with Bonn at the end of the line, there is quite a wait for the flotilla to arrive in Bonn. But Bonn has organized a huge fair with concerts and amusements in the Rheinaue. I arrive at about 8pm and the party is just getting started.

I'm not sure what to expect so have left the fairgrounds and bands and noise of the Rheinaue to walk over to Oberkassel. It’s far more civilized here, he said taking another sip of Merlot. Drinking red wine from a glass while sitting by the Rhine, waiting for the fireworks to begin.
These Germans have it all worked out!

Rhine in Flames is traditionally celebrated on the first Saturday in May. The only drawback tonight is that it’s cold and may rain. Doubly annoying as tonight is also the night of the super moon: currently hidden by total cloud cover.
I've now moved up to the Konrad Adenaur Bridge and I'm looking south down river. I'm guessing the flotilla approaches as I can see the clouds light up in the distance. From a distance, the fireworks cannot be seen, simply that the clouds well off in the distance are flashing with red and white colours. It might be me but suddenly it is easy to imagine 70 years ago when Rhine in Flames had a whole other meaning.
But now the fireworks are moving downstream now and the colors and flashes light the sky in a beautiful but benign way; the actual fireworks are now visible.
While the fireworks still light the sky over Bad Godesberg the flotilla floats serenely round the bend at Oberkassel and in sight of Bonn. Brightly lit they seem to be floating on air as the river is now so dark it is virtually invisible.
There are more boats than can be counted. Large and small. Old and new. But all are crammed with people, with music pumping loudly into the air.
And crammed so tight on the river; how do they not hit each other?

They spend about 15 minutes milling about, finding space in the river. Then, with a single enormous boom of one skyrocket, the Bonn fireworks display begins.

Wow! How amazing. 20 minutes of the most beautiful and colourful fireworks light the night sky. I look around and notice that the bridge is now completely packed with people, all of us oohing and aahing at the spectacle taking place in the sky over the Rheinaue.

Twenty minutes seems to flash by as the setting by the Rhine with the huge flotilla of boats and the crush of the crowd on the bridge and both sides of the river who are all happy and smiling as the fireworks light up the sky and the surrounding country side.

Like I said, these Germans have it all worked out!

Sorry but no photos worked on my little camera in the dark but this image from http://www.journeymart.com/holidays-ideas/festivals/rhine-in-flames-germany.aspx begins to hint at how beautfiful the evening was. Definitely something to see and take part in.

May Day in Bonn

May Day is a traditional holiday in Europe and its traditions go back to pre-Christian times. One of the traditions in the Rhineland region is to leave a maypole (a tree covered in streamers) at the house of a girl the night before.
This maypole was placed overnight just across the road from my Bonn apartment. I'm not sure if you can read the name on the heart but it actually says 'Nicolas'. That's because, although usually its the boy leaving the maypole for the girl, in leap years (like 2012) the roles can be reversed and girls can leave a maypole for their favourite boy. The lovely part is that this all done in secret; the maypole magically appears overnight. The sender can even choose to remain completely anonymous or leave a little clue to their identity.
The one thing to avoid is a tree covered in white streamers. The multi-coloured paper shows love and admiration but plain white streamers imply intense dislike. I did see one sad little tree covered in white streamers around the corner; Omer, I don't know what you've done but someone went to a lot of trouble to let you know they don't approve. Time for a long hard look at yourself buddy :)

Down in Munsterplatz, poor Beethoven (well his statue at least) is totally closed in by craft market in the picture above. But let me tell you that this is a genuine craft market.
How so? Well, when I saw the lady using a spinning wheel to produce the yarn for her homespun clothing line, I was impressed. Until I saw the lady with her loom, who was making the cloth for her scarves she was selling. Until I saw the wood turner who was using his own lathe to produce his carvings. Until I saw the basket weaver who was hand weaving baskets at her stall. Until I saw the bread maker who had brought two wood fired ovens to make his own bread that he was selling to a happy clientele (and can I tell you how nice fresh bread direct from the oven tastes on a sunny afternoon).

But the prize has to go to the blacksmith. Check out the photo on the left. The smithy has brought his own anvil, fire with coals and hand driven bellows to make his own wares for sale.
This has to be the most hands on, hand made craft market I have seen. The milliners had their own sewing machines set up to make their hats. The leather workers were making belts and wallets and bags in between making sales.
There was an education to be had in just walking around and looking at these artisans in action.

And to cap it all off; at one end there was a lute maker who, when not playing his wares, had CDs playing the most beautiful lute music. And at the other end of the market was a young girl selling ocarinas; and she had no hesitation playing a tune or two and the ocarina sounded so clear and pure; music in Munsterplatz and then, further off in Marketplatz, a stage was set up and musicians were playing concerts for appreciative audiences.

There was rain this morning but the afternoon has fined up beautifully; tee shirt warm with sunglasses needed to keep the glare of the sun at bay.

Just a great day in the sunshine