June 2 - 3: After another stunning train ride which strangely took us back out of Bavaria and past Frankfurt. We were met at the train station by Rabbi Schtroks who asked if we wanted to go and see the mikveh first before we had lunch and went to our hotel. We didn't really know what he was talking about but after a five minute walk dragging our luggage along cobbled streets we found ourselves in front of a 'live' archaeological dig. 
One of the few positive outcomes that came from the Allied bombing of Germany was that many of the sub-surface structures became revealed. Some time ago, archaeologists had unearth the ancient Cologne Mikveh - considerably more than one thousands years old. 
But before we went to see the mikveh, we had the tremendous good-fortune to meet the chief archeologist on the Cologne site, Sven (below), who took us on a tour of the excavations they are currently doing of the remains of the city's ancient synagogue and other community infrastructure, dating from Roman times, and its subsequent generational layers. Sven also kindly took us on a tour of the mikveh (pictured above and below). 
While the tour was fascinating and we felt very privelleged to have Sven give us this exclusive tour, I had a few 'documentary' moments, as we call them, where I started to feel as though we too were a part of the exhibition - especially when a German tourist group came in to look at the site and seemed just as interested in watching us as they were in learning about the remains.
We went back to the Schtroks for lunch (where we had some amazing French cheese...yum) and then to our hotel. It was while checking our emails in our hotel room that we learned that the Friday night before Eli (Solomon), David's nephew, and another boy, had been beaten in Perth in an antisemitic attack (thankfully the boys are OK). The coincidence of the timing was extraordinary.
The talk that night was, strangely, in Rabbi Schtroks home. The room was a perfect square, which was super, and we had a reason crowd of just short of 30 who really seemed to enjoy the talk. David gave a great rendition despite the summer heat.
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