Cologne- July 1st

[Womanfromaroom]

Thanks, Mary, for your reassuring words!
Oh, the chuckle - and Sharon's laugh - were probably just due to the fact that they found it hard to imagine an even more "eloquent", i.e. talkative, version of me! But as such, the chuckle was indeed greeeat... I love it when he does that!

[MaryB]

Aaand, you were the blessed recipient of it!!!!!!! Up close and personal.

[basecamp]

Yes, you are right - Sharon was the photographer! And I think she has done a great job...
Right, so here is what happened:
The morning after the concert, my mum and me had breakfast in our hotel in Deutz (which is just opposite the city centre of Cologne, on the other side of the Rhine), and afterwards, we decided to walk over the great bridge to Cologne to see an arts exhibition. We came by a five-star hotel, and I must admit that I had had a certain feeling that Leonard and the band might be staying there. But of course, as it was rather late in the morning (ten o'clock) and there was going to be the Berlin concert that evening, we assumed that they had already left. However, it was a really hot day yesterday, and the hotel has a beautiful, shady terrace overlooking the Rhine and the Cologne skyline with the cathedral, and as it was open to the public and no one was around, anyway, my mother suggested that we should sit down for a few minutes and she would smoke a cigarette. So she did; after she had finished, she looked over to one of the other tables where two people, a man and a woman, had been sitting down in the meantime and said: “Surely, this couldn’t be Leonard?!”. I was not certain at first, for of course, he was not wearing his Fedora hat just to sit out there, and I am a little short-sighted; but then my mum was positive that the woman he was with was Sharon Robinson. So I just took a deep breath, grabbed my camera and the setlist that was still in my pocket from the evening before, went over and said something like, well, you know, the usual things – might have been “Excuse me, Mr Cohen”. And he smiled, got up, shook my hand and introduced Sharon (I could just stop myself before saying: “Yes, I know that that is Sharon!); I thanked him for the concert, and he thanked me for having been there. Then he waved to my mum, who had been waiting in the distance, to come over, too, and she got a warm handshake from Leonard and Sharon as well. I really don’t know what I said then, but I am bit ashamed – it seems to me now that I was talking way too much, and I really, really cannot remember what I said! Must have been something about this being an honour and this being unbelievable, and I am afraid it was not at all coherent. Don’t know, but somehow, as I have said, it was a lot of talking... And then, embarrassingly, I said: “Sorry, Mr Cohen, normally, I am more eloquent” – at which Sharon laughed and Leonard chuckled, in a deep “he-he” manner. My mum said later she was tempted to comment on that, but luckily, she did not… Well, and then he signed my setlist and we had the photograph taken… My mum did not want to be in it at first (she just hates having pictures taken of her!), but he insisted. And you can see that she looks happy enough… Afterwards, my mum wished him all the best for Berlin that night, and I said that I would try to come to Tel Aviv as well. He said: “Oh, we’ll all try to be there – it is all quite difficult”, and we briefly talked about apparently, no one wants him and the band to go there and how much opposition and even hatred there is from both sides. I told him that I am quite active posting about this topic on the forum, trying to keep some sort of middle stance – and when we had said our goodbyes and had already turned round, he said to me: “And thank you so much for your support on the forum – I appreciate that very much”. Which left me speechless and for hours with the most stupid smile on my face you can imagine … And then, I could not eat anything all day long because I felt like being outside reality in a way! “It’s coming from the feel That it ain’t exactly real Or its real, but it ain’t exactly there…”
Wow, all I can say is that Leonard is a really, really kind man, whose kindness somehow comes from very deep inside – he is virtually aglow with it, and I have never, never experienced that with anyone before. I don’t know how to describe it better, but being in his presence just makes you feel warm and very comfortable. He made us feel completely natural, not like intruding at all… Sharon was extremely open and friendly, too; I don’t know whether she got all the proper attention from us, but she seems to be used to Leonard being the centre of attention at these occasions…
Well, what can I say? That the enormous luck we had was incredible; I still cannot believe somehow that this has really happened… And that I will never, ever complain again when my mother wants to have a smoke!

Such an awesome story! Thank you for sharing!

[Womanfromaroom]

Very welcome, basecamp - I love telling it!
Mary- yes, you are right! I guess I am privileged, am I not?

[mirka]

Hi Anne, what a great story !
I guess chances for such a meeting were close to zero, I think you were rewarded for something by the Higher Power

[hydriot]

We came by a five-star hotel, and I must admit that I had had a certain feeling that Leonard and the band might be staying there.

I am intrigued. Was this a premonition, Anne? Was there any rational reason why that particular hotel might be the one (large lorries in the car-park, etc?) or did you just have a feeling, feminine intuition or whatever, and wisely acted on that feeling?

[Womanfromaroom]

Thanks, mirka! If it hadn't been for this Forum and all your very, very kind responses - Leonard fans are just a great bunch of people! - and the therapeutic quality of (I admit, somewhat obsessive) posting right now, I might well have lost my sanity by now with not being able to share my story and with, as someone of you has rightly put it, the "shock" of the sudden fulfillment of a long-time dream... I normally really don't like to be the centre of attention so much, but I justify myself by thinking that I am just a random fan really who has been blessed here, that it could have been any of you and that, therefore, all this is more about Leonard and his incomparably gracious, deeply humane attitude than about me (and my mother, of course)...
Aaanyhow! Hydriot, call it "intuition", if you like, or call it luck, which has everything to do with it. I was in Deutz just over a month ago (I was with a group of Young Social Democrats), and we came by the hotel then and I immediately wondered if that was where Leonard was going to stay - you know, the beautiful view of the cathedral, its being so close to the venue of the concert and all. But when, during the concert, Leonard said how the band had taken a stroll over the bridge to actually see the cathedral, I was almost certain that I had been right... Still, as I have said, we were not really planning or even expecting the meeting - on the contrary, if we had not been so sure that the band had left, we would probably not have been able to sit there on the terrace for so long in complete unconcern... So we were not really prepared for what was going to happen! All the more incredible it did! Still hard to believe!

[Actually]

Wow, what a cool story and what a nice picture! Hats off, literally