The orange fashion statement is an indicator that we are about to set of on a journey. Two things were missing, water and wind. The water levels in the European rivers were as low as the Euro and the wind as absent an employed philosopher. For years I urged my children to consider philosophy. It will make you a great generalist. Most guides and historians we walked the streets with were underemployed philosophy students. We paused in Cologne to visit the Dom Cathederal again, and the reconstruction work that was underway 15 years ago and 8 years ago is still in progress. It is hard to find 12th century parts at Home Depot.

Along the way we saw appropriate and inappropriate “Disney” images.

In Rudesheim we stopped drifting long enough to see the Museum of Mechanical Musical Instruments — Organs, Pianos, Bands, Harmoniums and String Quartets — all playing digital coded tracks with a precission that will make a google car yield way. To clear our heads we took a ride on the cable car to the Germania Monument for a vista of the Rhine Vally. The walk down was a complete leg muscle stretcher. Singing for my soup and grinding tunes was not my thing, but each instrument, each sound resonated to some story of my childhood. Some memory that could germinate the seeds of hope.

Organ Grinding