Last night was spent in a beer hall eating rather fatty food. Lots of beer, and lots of cream in sauces. Vegetarians well catered for, which is probably more to do with the PR people looking after us well than the place itself.

There was a fairly even split of who went out afterwards and who went to bed, and you could tell who did which from the faces at this morning’s meetings.

They weren’t bad, as product launches go, and a few hours spent taking notes and learning new things is a small price to pay for a free night’s hotel and entertainment last night.

Spent the afternoon walking the streets again - this time with Luke and a couple of guys from other magazines. The weather is improving and I’m now much happier about the coat choice. CNN forecasts rain for tomorrow, though, so who knows. I think it’s good I’ll be moving north as most of it seems to be centred on northern Italy, Austria and southern Germany. Let’s hope it misses out Cologne.

Checked into this evening’s hotel, out in the suburbs. Nice quiet street five stops on the U-Bahn from the Hauptbahnhof. Rooting through the cupboards to check for lost property or muggers waiting to spring out when I’ve gone to sleep, I found a whole kitchen - in miniature. Sink and hob in one unit, beneath it a fridge and above it a microwave.

Immediately ran across the road to the Penny Markt to buy pasta (mit K

1. Br
   Cologne is very pretty, but unless you want to spend your whole time shopping or looking around the cathedral it has been rather over-egged by...
   
   
2. Br
   Cologne is very pretty, but unless you want to spend your whole time shopping or looking around the cathedral it has been rather over-egged by...
   
   
3. Snow
   Soho Square looks like a Christmas card. There are two pigeons on my windowledge with little piles of snow on their heads - like coconut...