Mikhail’s All-Star World Tour 2006

Masha and Thor have been wonderful hosts: they’ve been feeding me, entertaining me, and they even took days off to show me around Koln. I experienced the famous cathedral by climbing to the top with Thor (500+ steps of stairs), saw the historical and shopping centers, strolled through the university, and visited the Museum of Chocolate (recently bought by Lindt). Chocolate is not made by elves - who knew? Rather, it’s made by robots, which are almost as cool, and slightly creepier. Rows of chocolate bunnies with frozen smiles, huge metal arms whirring behind them.

The city center is nice: what I like about it are the pedestrian cobblestone streets - not too narrow, not too wide, full of people with room left to walk. Prague and Amsterdam both have streets like this too. Residential neighborhoods in Koln remind me of Moscow suburbs: a mixture of 5-story apartment buildings and small private houses, lots of kids on the streets. So I like Koln, and I bet it only gets better in a month when it’s spring for real.

A moment for food talk. The Kolsch beer I had last night holds its own against Pilsner and Budvar. I had Dunkin’ Donuts for the second time in Germany, it seems to be a huge hit over here because there’s no local pastry tradition. I tried to stay local by ordering the “Bavarian Creme” donut. KFC is apparently huge worldwide, too: I’ve seen them here and in every other country I visited. Not too many people inside though.

I’m making another stop in Germany: yesterday and today I’m in Koln. It’s warmer than Berlin, both literally (sun!) and figuratively, because I have a personal connection to the city: I’m staying with Masha, Thor, and their daughter Noa (1.5).

Masha and I go way back to Moscow, where our parents were close friends since before we were born. She’s a few years older, so she saw me arrive from the hospital, bossed me around and babysat me, taught me the essentials of rock music and card games, and was the closest I had to a big sister. Her family moved to Israel, then we moved to the US. Now our parents still stay in touch and visit each other, but I haven’t seen Masha in fifteen years.

It’s been totally awesome to spend time with an old friend. We have lots to talk about - some catching up, but also shared interests like books and food, comparing countries, future plans and other absurd ideas. It’s an oddly calming feeling, in the middle of a conversation across a kitchen table, to remember peeking into another kitchen decades ago where our parents were talking about grownup things in the same way. Masha and I have different personalities, with different life experience, yet our tastes and values are still suprisingly similar, probably because of the way we were raised. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

It’s been cool to meet Thor as well. I haven’t talked to him as much, but he’s rock-solid: confidently quiet with a sense of humor. He’s a chemist by day, working with phospholipids - I’ll think of him whenever I see “soy lecitin” among the ingredients. He’s also been into photography for a long time; his Canon 20D follows him everywhere. He’s got a sharp eye for detail, and anytime his camera clicks I follow his lens and sigh: another great shot I wish I had discovered. He’s grown up in this area, so I’ve also bugged him with lots of questions about locals like “Do people here really like KFC?” and “How do you say (soon-to-be-forgotten-German-word)?” He’s been very patient and good-humored about it all.

Noa ties it all together: she’s an adorable kid with a thoughtful look in her eyes, early signs of good taste (she likes cake), well-developed baby skills (walking, eating, saying “Mama” and “baka”), and a persuasive way to insist on what she wants (Waaa!). Fortunately, the latter is used sparingly. Noa is a little bit scared of me - she hides or runs for a parent when she catches my eye. However, this doesn’t make her a coward: I’ve had the same effect on adults now and then.

Took the train to Berlin yesterday and tried to spend the afternoon seeing the sights on our own. Potsdamer Platz was disappointing, supposedly Berlin’s answer to Times Square but really another modern plaza with Sony and American fast food, like the Metreon in SF. Food was good though: Imbiss currywurst for lunch around the hostel, then bloodwurst and liverwurst for dinner in Oranienburger Strasse. Our hostel is in East Berlin, close to a U-bahn station, so it’s easy to get around. Today we went on an organized tour of the major attractions in the city center. It was a good walk, and then I had a double dinner of steak alt Berlin (with chicken livers) and donner kebab.

The weather’s been freezing: from 5 C during the day down to -5 C at night. Last year, people were wearing Tshirts at this time of year. The cold makes aimless exploring less attractive, and in our limited outings I’ve found Berlin disappointingly conservative: it doesn’t feel as fun as I’ve heard it can be. The architecture is impressive and often imposing, but rarely beautiful. Well, OK, there are beautiful places like Unter der Linden and Museum Island, and the parks will be beautiful when they turn green, but it’s a subdued, generic big-city kind of beauty, no grand weirdnesses, romantic absurdities, or flights of fancy. The city takes itself seriously. Maybe I haven’t found the part of town where young people live, so maybe I’ll have to come back in a warmer season. Fortunately, the beer is consistently good and the food is hearty, so that’s good for now.

Off to Prague tomorrow…