photokina photo opportunity?

[smokysun]

try staying up all night in the train station. that's what i did in my salad days 1960's when i had a eurail pass and lived on the trains. one night in cologne i came in late and had to stay up most of the night. first the police entered the waiting room in the wee hours and emptied it of the multitudes sleeping without a ticket. i went into the all night coffee shop and there they all were, nursing a tiny cup like characters out of brecht's 3 penny opera. i doubt very much has changed in the intervening years. so if you want some local color...
and here is the official photokina site: http://www.photokina-cologne.com/
also i've just finished perusing '20th centruy photography' museum ludwig cologne. great collection. lots of german photographers who've worked and lived in cologne plus many others new to me.
and a couple of issues ago b&w magazine had an article on its founder by ira latour, a teacher from my home town.

[marknorton]

My travel is booked, and I'll be the one banging on the door to be let in on 26/9 before it opens...

[adan]

Mark - you ARE gonna run a Photokina 'blog for us, aren't you?

Last time I was in Koln was March '68 - all I remember was the drive through the platz in front of the cathedral (surrounded by what was then brand-new construction replacing the areas flattened by Allied bombs), and then eating weinerschnitzel at a restaurant along the river somewhere upstream.

[marknorton]

I'm only there for a day but I'll take a Sony P&S and a laptop so maybe I can post some pictures here on the day if I can find a wi-fi hot spot.

But - get this - the return air fare to Koeln from London is £4.69 + tax (call it €6.50 or $8) and the entrance to Photokina is only €19. That might just about buy you a lens cap...