A play in 8 acts with three actors — ahem, a play
in 3 acts with seven actresses and one actor

Place: Cologne, Germany

Date: 25 August, 2007

Participants (in alphabetical order): B'Elana, matodemi (with daughter), Sho (with daughters), Toy Box, Trillian's Child

The infinite Universe is made of an unidentified number of planets and life forms. One of these planets is the Earth. And on this planet there is a phenomenon which still has to be examined. Partly life takes place in what is called reality, partly it is virtual. And sometimes these two worlds do get mixed up in some way. Strange, very strange indeed.

The virtual world is divided in lots of single worlds and places. One of them is called h2g2 – a nice place with nice people who talk to each other about Life, The Universe and Everything.

People who meet here come from all over the real world. One of these places is Germany. And when a new member from this place entered the community another one had the idea it was about time to arrange a meeting, in the real world, and preferable at a place that could be reached by a couple of people. So the idea for a summer meeting in Germany was born.

The interested members of the community started to discuss which time and place would be the best – and it finally was decided to meet on the 25th of August 2007 in Cologne. So the story starts… and a day began.

Here is (with the help of the others, who gave a short, or not so short view on everything, so nothing would be forgotten) how the new member of the community, who visited a real meeting of hootooers for the first time, experienced the day.

When four adults and three children want to meet – and most have to use the German railway to get to the appointed place, it can be quite tricky. Especially when you meet in a big city with a big station.

But things can be made easy. Trillian's Child had given her time of arrival (and place of departure). So I could simply make sure that my train would arrive earlier and my daughter and I would have a chance to find out where to wait for her (exit of the platform – and no, she didn't arrive on platform 9 ¾). And she had given advice that she would wear an h2g2 T-Shirt, so I was sure I would recognise her. That was the easy part and it was no problem to find her and go up to her (slightly nervous as I was – but TC really is so nice, that I calmed down at once). We decided to sit down at Starbucks, which is just outside the side entrance of the station, facing the Dome.

Thanks to modern technology it was no problem to lead the others there – contact was made via the mobile phones and with giving the directions and then searching in person finally everyone turned up.

We rested a while, having a coffee and letting the girls get acquainted, run around and play a little. And of course we adults had to get to know each other, since neither Toy Box nor I were known to the others in real life. Then we started to make the plan for the day since we didn't want to
get stuck at this café all day.

Decision was made that some of us would climb up the stairs to the top of Cologne Cathedral, then we would go to the Chocolate Museum, then have some lunch. Then search for Glockengasse 4711 and finally go to the English Shop.

Cologne Cathedral

Unfortunately we weren't the only ones who had the idea to climb the cathedral – and the queue seemed to be endless. Or at least it would have taken hours before it was our turn, and with the sun burning (for once the weather broadcast had been right and it was a bright, sunny and warm day) we couldn't be bothered and skipped this part of the plan. It was interesting to walk around the cathedral though; there were a couple of 'living statues' there. Unbelievable how anybody can stand motionless in this kind of weather, being dressed up and painted and really resembling some kind of statue, getting stared at and photographed all the time.
A few other buskers had just started doing a big chalk-painting on the floor and we wondered if they would have finished by the time we would pass there again on our way back to station.

Walking down the riverside

We decided to go to the Chocolate Museum right away, and we were looking forward to a nice walk along the river Rhine. Unfortunately, part of the pavement was fenced off due to some construction work, so the remaining space was used by pedestrians, cyclists and the occasional car – we were busy making sure we didn't get hurt. Because of this, it wasn't easy to actually see the river. So in the end we were happy to finally reach our goal. Here it has to be mentioned that the three girls were really well behaved and not moaning about the walk – as I would have expected them to do. And before it is forgotten: they behaved quite well all day.

The Chocolate Museum

It is located at a site, where in the Middle Ages the shippers anchored and reloaded their goods. It stands on the peninsula meadows port and you can enter it by passing a small swing bridge. Since the entrance fee is quite expensive when wanting to visit with five adults and three children, we had an idea: Why not play family? So Toy Box ended up being a father of three and Sho his beloved wife (I don't know if they pretended to be in love, but it worked). Next time, Sho and I are going to say we are a two-mum-family, because we want to know how people will react (the term 'family' can be defined in more than one way, can't it?).

You can read all about the history of cocoa and chocolate in the exhibition, but that would take ages and it would be easier if there were short explanations as well. What I remember though is, that cocoa beans were used as money – and you could buy a male slave with 100 cocoa beans. Beside the explanations about history and growing of cocoa and its arrival in Europe you can also see how chocolate bars are manufactured today –
and there is a greenhouse where you can see the plants. This place is like a sauna, because a high degree of humidity as well as a certain temperature is needed to grow cocoa.

The attraction though, at least for those having a sweet-tooth, is the 'chocolate fountain' from which you can actually get some of this sweet dream on a small wafer. I warned the girls though, that now having seen all about chocolate they would have to write a summary about it – but somehow they didn't believe me and I still wonder why.

After having seen all there was to see we went to the museum shop, where Sho and TC bought some unusual chocolates.

Lunchtime

It was well past midday and almost everyone was starving by now, so we went to look for a nice and decent (and not too expensive) place for lunch. It was soon found – a Bavarian-style restaurant, situated on the way from the museum back to the town centre. The food seems to have been good (I wasn't hungry so I didn't eat anything), the portions quite large and the waitress really nice. The girls played just outside the place before and after having eaten and climbed some sort of stone thing.

When we wanted to pay we couldn't see the waitress, so Sho went to the bar to find her – and apparently one of the men who were drinking and watching soccer there was attracted by her and sort of chatted her up (which not all of us noticed).

Being fed and slowly getting tired from the good food and the heat we decided to go on with our program. We only had to decide if we would go to Glockengasse 4711 or visit the English Shop first. After looking at the map it seemed to be the easier way to go shopping first.

But before we could find either of the two, we came along a house, claiming to be the oldest perfumery – and Bel nearly got lost because she was taking pictures of it – across the street from where we others were standing. But of course we wouldn't have left the place without her

The English Shop

Oh – feeling at home . Okay, okay – England is not really my home, but it always felt like that, whenever I was there. And for sentimental reasons I bought some things in the shop, knowing well they don't taste the same here in Germany (but I love them nevertheless). Everyone else seemed to have enjoyed the shopping there as well – and the man working there apparently looked like some famous person called David Tennant (whom I don't know). However, I thought he was cute . And I was happy anyway. We took some photos just outside the shop and went on with our tour.

Glockengasse 4711

Who hasn't heard of Echt Kölnisch Wasser (Eau de Cologne) – a perfume well known. The house is a nice old building and not only does Glocke mean bell, there actually are bells at this house – and they do start to play every full hour. We arrived there at 4:45 p.m. and decided to wait so we could listen. Toy Box said, they certainly were going to play the Marseillaise, especially since we could see figures of soldiers above of the bells. And right he was. It is not sure now, who of our group sang the Marseillaise – but a few other tourists did for sure. Besides the French anthem the bells played a few more well known tunes, but I just
can't remember which ones.

While waiting for this spectacle to take place we sat down at a fountain, which was very nice and we took some more photos (or rather had the girls take them). Still the girls seemed to enjoy the day and were still playing together, so the mothers weren't too bothered with them.

Interim

Bel and I were running out of cash (who isn't?) so we had to find a Sparkasse (a German bank, since we didn't want to pay an extra fee by taking money from a cash dispenser of another bank). We kept our eyes open while walking back to the centre and luckily spotted one.

Bierbörse (beer exchange)

After the women had decided all day where to go and what to do it was about time to ask ToyBox what he actually wanted. From where we stood at that time we could see there was a beer exchange (Bierbörse) going on at a square nearby. We all thought it was a good idea to see if we could find a place to sit and relax, so we entered it. An incredible amount of different types of beer was on sale there – some food as well (but of course such kind of food people prefer when drinking, so it was no good for someone who wants to nourish on healthy ingredients).

We were lucky to find a vacant table and banks to sit on – so we took our seats there. Not really tempted by the choice we had, it was decided upon to drink the local beer 'Kölsch'. Of course the girls got soft drinks (not that anyone gets the idea we would give alcohol to youngsters). The three were hungry so they had something to eat. We relaxed, talked, talked and relaxed and though there was a lot going on around us it was nice and felt comfortable.

There were young women going round, obviously celebrating the 'Hen's night' – meaning that one of them was getting married and partying on her last night of freedom. This is something unusual in Germany, which is why we noticed it.

Time was running fast – too fast - and we realized we had to go back to the station because TC's train was due to go. ToyBox left us at the Bierbörse because that was nearer to where he had to go – so that was the first goodbye of the evening. The rest of us went back to the station, passing the Dome once again. They almost had finished the chalk painting which we had seen earlier that day, but I still don't know which famous work they had done there. So the day was coming to an end.

We had enjoyed a great day, but it was coming to an end. We noticed that TC's train was already announced with a delay, but my daughter and I had to leave since our train was going, so I didn't know about the problems that occurred later. It was an emotional departure – I had found friends, and obviously my daughter had enjoyed the day as well and was a little sad to say good-bye, especially to Sho's girls. But off we were – returning home an hour later tired but happy.

Sho and her daughters seem to have got back home without problems as well, but TC really wasn't lucky. Her train was announced with more and more delay, so she and Bel went to get the ticket changed and they went together in the train that Bel had to take anyway and both had company all the way to Frankfurt. TC arrived at her final station quite late so she had to take a taxi back home, which was paid by the German railway company because it was their fault that she had missed the last possibility to get home.

Epilogue

I am really glad I have been at this meeting. People were as nice as I thought they would be. We had a great day. Especially the girls were great – I would have expected them to start moaning at some time during the day, being in the age from 9 – 12 and that is usually an age when you are not at all happy to spend a day that meets your parents' taste.

It was funny how we switched languages – starting in English, finishing in German and vice versa.

We thought of those who couldn't be with us on that day and we all hope to meet again soon (and hopefully others will join us).

My daughter insists on another meeting – especially with Sho's girls.

And I have already suggested that we should meet to visit a Christmas
market.

It was a day and I thank everyone who made it a
really special day for me.

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