Cologne...

...really made me happy. I mean, usually the town just overwhelms me, but that might be because I´ve never been there all by myself. Usually, I´m together with someone. My children. My husband. Friends. People who talk to me, whom I have to take care of, who seek my attention. And Cologne is, just like any big city, a huge puddle of life, and contrasts. So when I went there alone, for the first time in my life I had the chance to really see it, and appreciate it. Like,

this art installation, meant to encourage people to see life in pink, featuring lots of pink glasses. Next to...
 
a silent vigil calling attention to executions in iran. And, maybe 20 metres away from this, 
 
Clowns. Really. And it wasn´t like this was any special occasion. It´s just the ordinary Cologne atmosphere, you know, homeless people next to shops where you can spend 300 Euros on a package of bathing foam, the smell of urin in an elevator next to the smell of the most delicious mango smoothies, drug addicts lying in beautiful parks, only metres away from the playground, the most artistic chalk paintings on the pavement, loud voices everywhere, and it´s always windy under the cathedral. 

And I love this. I love all of it, as soon as I have the possibility to really see it.

Of course I enjoy living in our paradise-like yellow semi detached house, with a huge garden and fields around. But it´s a bubble we created to raise our kids in, and I appreciate to take a step out of that bubble from time to time. Makes me feel more alive. So I enjoyed my time in Cologne, tried to take it all in, donated money to the homeless, signed the petition against death penalty and deeply inhaled in that expensive store for bathing foam. 
(Where I also marvelled over the handmade soap, of course :) )

I bought the new graphic novel from Audrey Niffenegger, sat down in a small cafe and melted away reading it. If you havent´read Time Traveller´s Wife yet, I´d highly encourage you to do so, because it´s one of the best books I know, seriously. 
And then, after wiping away the last book-tears, I went to see Lifehouse :) Now, that was one pretty awesome Saturday I had, and I´m thankfull my husband was so kind to babysit our children. It was strange going to a concert all alone, though. I don´t mind being alone, it was just bewildering being crushed between couples who were all cuddling and snogging through the whole concert. Gave me an insight how the world must always look from the perspective of a single.
But hey, Lifehouse really rocks. They are live a lot better than on my kitchen CD-player, and with every song they played I thought "Yep, this is my favourite". It´s hard to choose an actual favourite, maybe it was this one:
or, thinking about it, it´s probably this one: This might qualify as my favourite song of the year. There´s hardly any other song I´ve played so often in the last six months.  I adore the contrast between the silent, quiet parts, and the parts where you just have to bounce and jump around. And I love love love the lyrics.