US President George W. Bush is currently in Germany on his good-bye tour of Europe. And I think most Germans would like to bid him good riddance! Not only the German people, but also politicians across all parties have been quite critical of Bush. Most say the era under Bush made the world more unstable. And, if you read between the lines, most are happy that his days in the White House are numbered.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3400054,00.html

German chancellor Angela Merkel considers her relationship to Bush "friendly". She seems to have forgiven him for his slip in diplomatic etiquette back at the G8 summit in 2006, when he gave her a shoulder massage (the above sequence was one of the most popular videos on you tube at the time).

The government's coordinator for German-American cooperation Karsten Voigt told German media that he felt both presidential candidates Obama and McCain will make more of an effort to take multilateral institutions, such as the United Nations, more seriously. Voigt said either as president would approach European partners to resolve international problems -- behavior President Bush did not adhere to.

The recent opening of a COS store on Cologne's Ehrenstrasse is just one more nail in this infamous shopping mile's coffin.


COS or Collection of Style is part of the H&M group. And of course, H&M also has a huge store on Ehrenstrasse -- just like Esprit, Zara, Body Shop, fcuk, Tommy Hilfiger, American Apparel, Adidas and don't forget the omnipresent Starbuck's -- just to name a few.


Ehrenstrasse used to be where you shopped in Cologne if you wanted something different and not the mainstream fashion you find in the city center.


It was the place to go for individualists with out-of-the-ordinary taste.


But you could also go to a real old-fashioned leather shop and buy a wallet, or have your suitcase's zipper repaired. Or there was a housewares shop "Haushaltswaren Rosie", where you could get a pepper mill with a 25-year guarantee. Studio 59 was the place to go for Brit fashion -- it closed its doors in March of this year. Crocs is taking over the space.


Ehrenstrasse has become interchangeable with any other major shopping area in any European city. The big problem is that major fashion groups have the necessary funds to pay exorbitant rents. And the landlords know this. Rents have skyrocketed. Local media report that the rents have reached 80 to 100 Euros per square meter. It is now the third most expensive retail street in Cologne.


So those small boutiques with the unusual wares have been forced out. The result: shopping boredom.


Now, the place to go if you want more unusual funky fashion is the Belgian Quarter. But more on that another time...

Europe's press is having a field day with German chancellor Angela Merkel's attire at the opening of the Oslo opera in Norway last Saturday.

The big question is: can you be chancellor of Europe's most powerful country and at the same time, show some cleavage?

Of course, Angie is not know for her glamourous sense of style. Dark pantsuits are more her trademark (although her hairdo has improved dramatically since her early days in politics) -- although she has gotten compliments from fashion icons.

Gwen Stefani said last year that pantsuits suited the chancellor well and that she made the best of herself. And Paris Hilton told the German edition of Vanity Fair when she was in Berlin in December: "I find that Angela Merkel is an especially attractive woman. But in my opinion her hair could use a few blond highlights."

Even German designer Wolfgang Joop designed a collection inspired by Merkel. He calls her style "strong and fearless."

On Saturday evening in Oslo, the 53-year-old chose a black evening gown with a plunging neckline complemented by a deep blue stole and string of pearls. Papers from all over Europe reported on her attire.

The chancellor herself is taking the shocked reactions in stride. Her spokesman told the press on Monday that Merkel will continue to choose her own attire freely.

Art Cologne, the international fair for modern and contemporary art, is on from Wednesday through Sunday. http://www.artcologne.com/

Once considered Germany's prestige art fair, Art Cologne has been marked by decreasing interest over the past few years. Its attempts to top Switzerland's Art Basel or Britain's Frieze Art Fair as a forum for contemporary art have remained fairly unsuccessful.

Koelnmesse, which runs the fair, pretty much fired Art Cologne's director Gerard Goodrow in January.

But now, the management vacuum has been filled: Los Angeles-based gallery owner Daniel Hug takes over on May 1st. He says he hopes to win back a lot of galleries that have cancelled their participation in the fair.

This year is also the first year Art Cologne is being held in the spring instead of in November -- just a month before Art Basel Miami takes place. Plus, Art Cologne also had to compete with many other European art fairs in the fall: Frieze in London, Fiac in Paris and Art Forum in Berlin.

I find what's often more interesting, though, than Art Cologne itself is Open Space, which was launched in 2005 and is embedded in the fair. http://www.openspace-cologne.com/

Open Space showcases a variety of exhibits from selected galleries in an open space at Art Cologne --  so an alternative to the traditional booth presentation.

Over 570,000 parents in Germany are taking advantage of the country's new childcare benefit program. So how does it work? Any mother or father whose child was born after January 1, 2007 can apply. It doesn't matter whether they're regular employees, self-employed or even unemployed, students, trainees and even adoptive parents. If one parent (usually the mother) decides to stay at home for 12 months, she will get 67 percent of her previous net salary for this period. If both parents want to take advantage of these benefits, they can be extended to 14 months -- so if the mother stays home for 12 months and the father for two months.


It is also possible to work part-time during this time, up to 30 hours a week. The maximum amount you can receive, though, is 1,800 euros per month (approx. $2,700); the minimum is 300 euros. So for a top manager, it wouldn't be much compared to their regular monthly salary. But for middle-class moms and dads, it isn't bad. And it's tax-free! Interestingly enough, the share of fathers choosing to stay home has jumped from 3.5 percent to 12.4 percent in the first year. And the government, which is footing the bill for this program, expects the number of at-home daddies to increase even more.

The German government's attempts to boost the country's waning birthrate are yielding fruit. Last year, it introduced so-called Elterngeld or parent money. This childcare benefit program offers mothers and fathers up to 1,800 euros per month (approx. $2,700 - tax-free!) for up to 14 months if one or both of them stay home to take care of their baby.

With a birthrate of just 1.3 children per woman, Europe's biggest economy was facing a real population problem. But according to preliminary figures for last year, birthrates are up for the first time in a decade and could reach 1.4 children per woman for 2007.

The program is particularly interesting for professional women. Many feel they face the choice: children OR career; or they would have been financially strapped if their salaries were lacking in the family household budget. Elterngeld appears to have played a positive role in couples deciding to have a child or further children.

By the way: Germany's family minister Ursula von der Leyen (here to the left) has seven children of her own.