It’s The People: Our First Night of BlogTour Cologne

Yes, I’m back from BlogTour!  And in just such bliss, filled with amazing memories, tons of post ideas, and wonderful new friendships.  My husband reports that I’ve been giggling in my sleep every night since returning – it’s BlogTour Bliss!  Yesterday I did my introductory post-BlogTour Cologne-post (Back from BlogTourTerritory!) where I expressed the founding principle (I love a good mission statement) of Veronika Miller‘s BlogTour and how the trips exemplify Ms. Miller’s and Modenus‘s passion for translating digital media buzz into real world connections and collaborations within the design community.  And international collaborations at that. Talk about an incredible big picture. It is such a thrill to be a part of this.

So BlogTour is all about connections, and connections happen between people.  No one could say this better than Modenus UK’s very own, Tim Bogan:

There is no forest without trees – I really want to emphasize this and say thank you to each of my fellow #blogtourCGN-ers (as I’ve been referring to us on twitter) for making a fantastic forest (ha!) and encourage you to check out their blogs and see all of the BlogTour Cologne posts as a whole here. In alphabetical order:

- 01 – Alexandra Williams / Fun and Fit  - 02 – Brandon Smith / D’Scoop - 03 – Carmen Christensen / Time2Design - 04 – Courtney Price / Courtney Price - 05 – Kathy Sandler / Live the Fine Life - 06 – Katie Treggiden / Confessions of a Design Geek - 07 – Lisa Smith / Decor Girl - 08 – Michele Alfano / ModDesignGuru - 09 – Paul Anater / Kitchen and Residential Design - 10 – Stacey Sheppard / The Design Sheppard - 11 – Tina Ramchandani / Life in Sketch - 12 – Todd Vendituoli / HomeCentrl -

I would also like to say thank you those travelling with us: Veronika and Tim of Modenus (of course),  Lori Dolnick for Blanco,  Leanne Wood Newman and Sherry Qualls for NKBA and all of our #BlogTourCGN sponsors, Blanco, Mr Steam, Du Verre Handware, Axor, Miele, NKBA!

Now… on to our first night in Cologne!  The tour commenced on Sunday January 13th with a 5PM introduction by Veronika Miller and Tim Bogan at our lovely hotel. We then set off to a stunning opening night dinner at the fascinating German Museum of Sports & Olympics sponsored by BlogTour Sponsor Blanco, and joined in the festivities with the Blanco  North American Design Council and Blanco team members from all around the world.

We were greeted with beautiful cocktails at the lavishly decorated and catered affair,

and then given personalized tours of the entire museum in small groups.

There was a tremendous amount of history to viewed

within the Museum’s wonderfully curated permanent collection.

A narrative of the evolution of women in sports was a highlight of the collection for me.

I enjoyed seeing the sports corset, among many other pieces worn by female athletes over the years.

As we soaked in the tour I had fun snapping pics of my newly introduced BlogTourCGN-ers and getting to know them a little bit.

Within the Museum, every sport was given a spotlight, including the American favorite: basketball.

Nice signage – not sure what it says!

It was great to get a chance to interact in this casual way with the 12 bloggers we’d be spending the next several days with.

With so much to see around us, there was plenty to chat about!

It was also fun to take part in the more interactive elements of the exhibits, such as hopping inside this… sports artifact.

After the cocktails and tours we were seated for a formal three course dinner, which was excellent.  German wines are hard to find in New York so I made sure to have a taste of both the red and the white!

Every decorative detail was thoughtfully considered:

and the menu, as all aspects of the evening with Blanco, was wonderful.

I had a great time taking shots of my new “mates” (as Tim would say!, in his English accent) as we all enjoyed ourselves over food and drink.

Our first course! I managed to get a pic of it, but for the next two I was completely engrossed in socializing and enjoying the moment. I think this image gives a great sense of what care and precision was taken with each dish.

So many new faces! I tried to capture as many as I could.

There you have it – our first few hours of BlogTour Cologne: fabulous!