After an unnecessarily long debate over who's better, Australians or New Zealanders, I bid farewell to my new friends and headed home, but even with all the excitement, the highlight of my evening goes to a stranger we met back at the park before the storm hit. He was a man of average height with weathered skin and scraggly, unkept gray hair down to his shoulders. It appeared Yannick knew the man as the park’s local “crazy guy," but he was surprisingly intelligent. I honestly couldn't tell if he was borderline insane or wielded deductive reasoning skills that could rival Sherlock Holmes, but as we talked the man somehow knew the age and degree of one of Yannick's friend, the field of work of an other friend, and knew I studied finance and economic in school. His accuracy startled me and even creeped out one of Yannick’s friends who refused to let him see her hand out of fear of what else he would say about her.
When the storm hit, we all raced home, but as I bid the man farewell he paused for a seemingly long handshake. Curious about what was running through his head, I inquired. He stared at me for a moment and responded that there was an aura of happiness that surrounded me, that I was relaxed and at peace, and that I had wise eyes like Yoda. Chuckling, I smiled and said goodbye to my strange friend as he turned and sprinted through the rain, but I was rather flattered. I've always admired Yoda even though he is a fictional character, but what surprised me was that I know the design of Yoda's eyes were based off Albert Einstein's, a childhood hero mine. I'll never know if the man was completely full of crap or not, but he did get one thing right that evening.
I really am happy.
Farewell Cologne, I’m so glad I visited. Special thanks to Stephan, Yannick and Katrina for making this part of my trip so enjoyable. I can’t thank you all enough!
I’m off to go hitchhiking! Wish me luck!