We got really lucky....

...on Thursday. Before we took the train to Paris, we had to wait for it. And because we were really eager to go on our trip, we went four hours early. Not to sit at the trainstation, of course, but to have a nice look at Cologne before. So we could compare the two cities.
And when we just stepped out of the central train station, we found...

this.
This is the entrance of the Cologne Philharmonics. Just on the exact day we happened to have four free hours on hand, they happened to have their kids day.
The whole Philharmonics, open for free. Talk about bliss :)

In the basement, we were allowed to peek into the artist´s rooms, where friendly musicians answered every question and let the children try their instruments...

If you read this blog for any length of time, you know how much I love posting pictures of my children playing instruments :)
And you might also know about my love for this instrument:

 

I would have loved to try it myself, one time, even for five minutes, but the queues were long, and it was kids day, and since I´m not a kid anymore, I didn´t dare to ask.

Another cool instrument is this one: 

Oh, the ideas!

They had a drum station made of buckets and pots and old car parts, and a guitar made from an old container and some nylon strings, and cowbells, and all sorts of fun percussion things, just like that.

And we also loved the giant xylophone: 

Besides this, we were allowed to dress up with the costumes of the opera players, of which I didn´t take a picture because I was too busy reading the concert scedule, and we listened to a free concert.

I had planned to visit the Philharmonics with my girls for quite a while, but somehow we never made it. So this was quite a lucky opportunity, and now, since we know the date, we can come back there every year. Awesome, right?

I guess I will write at least one other Paris post, because I´m kind of bursting, but now there´s dinner to cook. It´s cheese-soup, tonight. Just in case you asked. And my kids are coming in, all wet from the sprinkler. So it´s time to say good-bye for now and leave you with another piece of my new favourite composer: