Cologne, April, 1996

Cologne is well set up for tourists -- the cathedral, which is the major thing you want to see, is right next to the railway station and only a couple of blocks from the Rhine River (also worth seeing). There are cheap hotels between the river and the cathedral, and there is a park with the river on one side and lots of cafés and restaurants on the other.

One evening I walked across the river and took a sequence of pictures with both the Cathedral and the railway bridge at sunset. Here's the[postcard of Cologne Cathedral and Railway bridge at sunset] postcard (size 72093) they sell of roughly that scene, and this used to be an animated gif (size 1773790), removed for space reasons.

While I was taking the sequence, I had my plastic soprano recorder with me, so I would take a picture, play a tune, take another picture, etc. One of the reasons single people go to tourist places is to meet members of the opposite sex, so a man came up and tried to strike up an acquaintance. His English wasn't any better than my German, which in my opinion isn't good enough for even a casual relationship. But he did manage to tell me that my playing reminded him of the Pied Piper of Hamlin, and that he was a rat.

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