Reed O’Mara joined Prof. Gertsman at the Ornamented Membranes conference in Cologne, the home of the bone-lined Golden Chamber as well as of the amazing Schnutgen and Wallraf-Richartz collections. They subsequently traveled to see some fantastic sites and objects: to Aachen, to explore the Palatine Chapel and the extraordinary Praymobil exhibition on medieval movable sculpture; to Darmstadt, to study a set of glorious illuminated Hebrew manuscripts integral both for Reed’s dissertation and Prof. Gertsman‘s forthcoming book; and to Worms and Mainz to explore synagogues and churches. The threat of the unexpectedly found and subsequently diffused WWII bomb in Aachen notwithstanding, the trip was fabulously productive and extraordinarily fun.