Bonn/Niederbachem

A little revisionism here given I have not had access to a computer in about a week. But quite a week it has been. Last Saturday I once again used Johannes bike and rode to Bonn to check out some museums and later to meet Johannes, Julia, Mary and Paul downtown for Shnitzel and ice cream (gelato). I ended up at the Kunst Und Asstellungshallee Der Bundersrepublik Duetschland. It's a museum that hosts traveling exhibits both contemporary and ancient. By the way it is very close to the parliament building under the old West Germany and the Post Tower which houses the offices of the German postal system. At the museum I saw four exhibits, some crappy modern white light extravaganza with noise and blood, large canvases with junk, the permanent exhibit of 20th century modern German artisits (which was great) and an amazing exhibit of Xi'an-Imperial Power in the Afterlife. Which is an exhibit of the Chinese terra cotta soldiers and the tomb that was recently excavated in cooperation with the German government. Again, this display was humbling. The tomb itself was around 2 square miles and included not just the terra cotta army but a boat load (I think that is the technical term?) of other booty honoring the after life of one of the uniters of the Chinese Emporer. I have seen the National Geographic specials and such but seeing the soldiers, the officers, the horses, replica carriages, paintings, etc... was surreal. The people working on the site have also reconstructed the paint schemes that were originally used and as you enter the exhibit two replicas, fully painted great the visitor. Quite impressive!

After the high culture of contemporary Germany and ancient China, the low culture of the uni-culture was indulged. In other words, we had a few beers, went swimming near the trailer park on the Rhine-this time entering the strong current and floating nearly a mile down stream, and watching the loser game-LG as we named it-between Germany (3rd place) and Portugal (4th place) of WC fusbol.

Sunday morning, off to Greece at 5AM. Another teary goodbye in Niederbachem as Johannes and Julia were incredible hosts who we have now vacationed with 4 or 5 times over the last 10 years. Maybe a bike trip in France next year with the family?