Guten Tag Sweet Friends!

Yesterday was a rainy day here in Koln, but it was a good day to go the museum! I met my friend Sulamith, who is an artist herself, at the Ludwig Museum of contemporary art. Sadly, it’s actually the first museum in Koln that I’ve been to. Like most people, I don’t think of playing tourist where I actually live, something I mean to correct soon!

I met Sulamith at the museum and we decided to have coffee first. I asked the very sweet waitress for cold coffee over ice cubes. You have to ask for it this way because iced coffee means something totally different here. If you order an iced coffee, you get eis kaffe or a coffee milkshake with ice cream and whipped cream. So I have to very carefully explain what I want. She brought me exactly what I wanted, an iced coffee! It was so good, I ordered another one. They think I’m so bizarre when I order this, but it’s what I like in the afternoons.

Sulamith has a broken foot so we have to go very slowly, and as I said she is an artist herself and so we discussed each painting in depth. We discussed what we liked or didn’t like about it, how it made us feel, the techniques used, etc. Now, keep in mind, I’ve done a lot of painting but I’m no artist and I have no training in art, but I know what I like and what I find absurd. And a lot of contemporary art I find absurd. I just don’t get it. I don’t get the big square canvas painted black with nothing on it. I don’t get the clear acrylic square filled with baby doll heads. I don’t get the bathtub filled with the Mozart heads. Go away haters, cos I’m saying it again, I don’t get it. But that’s me. I’m sure it speaks to a lot of people, just not so much to me. Don’t get me wrong, I love many “contemporary” artists, Picasso, Miro, Dali and others, although they are technically not contemporary artists but cubismnists (is that a word?) or expressionists. Sulamith can tell you; I can’t. I do love their work, but after that, it gets a little dicey for me. We bought a painting recently for the apartment that I LOVE (pictured on the right). I love the colors and the textures and the movement in it. It’s vibrant and it makes me happy every time I look at it.

But, it was a nice way to spend a rainy afternoon, and I certainly enjoyed our time there. After I left the museum, I walked through Heumarkt platz where the Christopher Street Day festivities were getting cranked up. It was quite crowded with people, gays, lesbians, drag queens, straight people, a huge mélange of festival goers eating, drinking and making merry. The music was starting so I listened for a bit, but without my gay best friends, it just wasn’t much fun. So I headed home for popcorn and a movie, the perfect way to end a rainy day!

I hope you had a perfect day sweet friends!! Namaste!