Last days in Köln - as seen by Caro

After moving out of my office in school and organising the last things there I am really off work now. Then the last week at home is quite busy. There is a lot to do and many people to see once again too. I have the girls around for the last dinner in my flat and we go out for a cocktail afterwards. Sunday afternoon my friend Markus is arriving. I am very pleased that he actually manages to come to visit me before I leave. We take the bikes and start a real Köln tour around town. We visit the large building sites on the riverside, ride into the Old town, have some Kölsch here and there and just enjoy „our“ town ;-)

On Monday I start packing boxes and in the evening then my old friend Alfred pops in. He is on his way back from Essen, where he just bought a new car. I take him to my atelier to pick up my last painting there. We go out and have a glass of wine together and have a good chat about his plans to get self-employed. I really like talking to him and I can sense that he is glad about my positive feedback. In the morning he sets off home, with a big painting of mine that he wants to buy. That’s cool as I won’t have space for this one anyway. I know that he really appreciates what I paint and therefore I am sure it’s in good hands.

After he’d left I continue my packing... still so many things in my flat.

Tuesday morning is as well the time when Richard and Josip are setting off with the van towards Germany. We get in touch from time to time to check how the trip is going. They share driving and manage to do the 1500km in one go – and arrive at around 5 o’clock on Wednesday morning.

The next days keep us busy with packing and organising the last things. I can even pick up my brandnew yellow bike!
The boys are a great help, even Josip is working all the time. He is so easy to get along with and such a nice person, I really like him. Wednesday afternoon Richard and he are driving down to the Nürnburgring to go on the track there with Josip’s bike.
We manage to do some „sightseeing“ as well. And I can again say good-bye to my city from high above as we climb up the 506 steps of the Dom!


Eventually it's Friday afternoon and we pack the van – quite a tricky project! We have less space then I expected and Richard is doing a very good job in packing it as effective as possible. But nevertheless a few things have to stay – the tv, storage racks and some plants... bye-bye.
After packing we clean the flat spick and span and eventually we are ready for the Mexican. I invited some friends to come around for a last Kölsch and very many pop up! It’s good to see them all on this evening. The good-byes are affectionate, a lot of big hugs and some tears too.

Is it really true that I am about to leave my place in only a few hours?