and i don’t mean that in a Buster Poindexter kind of way, i mean it was crazy hot today. according to one of the shop keepers it was the hottest day of the year. of course i happen to be here the hottest day of the year, i love heat so much.

it would have been a perfect day to visit Claudius Therme, the wellness spa and pools, but alas it was a little expensive for the remaining budget. i could have gone for a two hour pool visit only, but once there i would have wanted to stay longer, have a massage, a facial, a special German scrub of some kind……i know how it goes. it goes with me going to the poor house. so i opted to go to an attraction near the spa, the zoo.

i like visiting zoos when i travel, there is always at least one animal i haven’t seen before, and some that feel like old friends.

i must admit this was the first zoo i’ve been to that had raccoon and badger habitats. who knew they were “attractions” in other areas. maybe i should look into starting a raccoon export business!

after the zoo adventure i went back to the cathedral area to do a little souvenir shopping. i stopped in at the 4711 store, i had to, this is the place it originated. 4711 is a eau de cologne that has been around in some form since 1792. legend has it that it was created by a monk as a wedding gift for a local merchant. the merchant then started to produce the water as a “remedy”. the name 4711 came from the address where the shop was located.

when i was little Daisy lived across the street from us; she was a wonderful woman and i remember spending a lot of time playing at her house. she had a bottle of 4711 in her bathroom and i loved looking at it; it was so pretty and seemed so grown-up. maybe her husband had traveled to Germany and brought it back as a gift, maybe she was in Germany and fell in love with the scent and brought it home as a reminder of the trip, or maybe she saw the pretty bottle at a local store and had to have it. i don’t know the story of how she came to have 4711, but what i do know is that i still think of her every time i see, or smell the cologne.

so that ends my visit to Cologne (Köln); tomorrow i head back to San Francisco via Munich. it was a good trip, although short. weidersehen!