Just 2 days after returning from my trip up to SAGT, and a day of sorting family business, it was on the road again.This time I was off to Germany, and to Cologne for Practical Pedagogies, organised by Russel Tarr.
Train to London, and Eurostar - thanks to the train manager for sorting the ticketing issues as I'd booked with DB, with a slight connection drama to get the ICE train from Brussels to Cologne. This involved some running along the platform, and managed to make it to the connection - later spoke to someone who was on the train, who had missed the connection, and ended up with an extra 2 hours in Brussels.
Stopped off at Liege train station, which was designed by Santiago Calatrava. Listened to Keith Jarrett's Köln Concert on the way of course.
I was met by some Geography chums: Matt and Richard, when I arrived in Cologne, and we headed for my hotel first to dump my bags in my room, which was great value for the price, large and comfortable and with a view of the old town. Then it was out for a wander, past the River Rhine and the Dom, and we ended up at Papa Joe's
Papa Joe's Biersalon Klimperkasten to be clear...
This was an interesting bar, which had loads of images on the walls and ceilings, some of them quite fruity, and a load of musical automatons which took it in turns to play music. We also had a jazz pianist later, who was rather good.
We were joined by Russel and his wife, and had a few beers and some food and a good night was had by all. We didn't have too much of a late night as we had the first day of the conference the next day. A good start to the trip.
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