Lady lunches

In the last five days I have visited two ice cream parlours, two cafés and one cake shop with various friends. I feel I have truly arrived as an expat ‘lady who lunches’. I have various excuses for such excess, such as that the weather is nice and you have to make the most of continental al fresco eating while you can; or that I need extra calories to feed my baby; or that the cake shop has a deal on…

At the weekend Simon and I spent some time with our friends Rhod and Anna from England. They have a house 5 minutes walk from our house in Essex. However, in a bizarre twist of fate, Rhod recently accepted a job in Cologne. He now spends his week days in a hotel 10 minutes walk from our flat. Small world. Rhod – should we be scared that you’re stalking us?

One of the cafés we visited with Rhod and Anna is outside the modern art gallery. We spent a very pleasant Saturday afternoon there, to the sounds of a string duet which had been laid on for entertainment. From the café there are good views of the plaza which leads to the river, the main feature of which is this rather *cheeky* statue which is a modern take on Michelangelo’s ‘David’. (See the dark haired lady and the lovely man-shaped 'hat' she is wearing.) You will see April’s pram in the picture, to the bottom left. Obviously we made sure she was facing away from said statue. You can be too liberal with your child’s education you know…

PS – The sculpture is by Hans-Peter Feldmann. It is 6m high and stands in front of the Museum Ludwig and the Cathedral. It seems the 'Pink David' has caused quite a stir on Flikr.