The obvious reason to visit Cologne is for the gothic cathedral which is both huge and spectacular and dominates the skyline day and night. As expected, the site was also filled with various "street artists" - Charlie Chaplin, Xylophone player, magician, mime, man painted gold for no reason, 3D pavement artist (although he was actually pretty good - see below), a couple of buskers, and about eight living-statues.
The town centre is pretty average, although lots of shops (I counted 5 different H&Ms), it has its own Lego store which was pretty cool - why aren't there any like that in England?
In the evening I took a couple of beers and sat by the Elbe River watching the moon rise and the boats come sailing past. It was a lovely evening but I think it needed somebody to share it with. A local guy had told me the water level was very low (about 2.2m) which meant the boats and barges could only be loaded to half capacity and were all making double trips. In the morning I set off for Hamburg after failing to meet up with my former university housemate Alex. It is a long straight 4 hour drive on the Autobahn.
Believe it or not, there are no campsites within 15km of the centre of Hamburg. I therefore pitched up at the closest, a big campsite on the edge of one of the tributaries of the Elbe River which was about €12 per night. It was Friday night but already dark so it was unfortunately a quick beer in the campsite bar then off to bed.
The next day, Saturday, I drove the van into Hamburg and parked for the day in the city centre. The centre is obviously an upmarket area with canals, listed buildings, old towers, and streets lined with only top designer stores. Many of the other areas of the city seem run-down with litter and grafiti but having only spent one full day there I might be doing the place a dis-service.
I have since met a nice guy in Copenhagen who has promised to show me a good night out in Hamburg if I return.
Luckily, the area I most wanted to visit was near the port of St Pauli in the south-west, where one of my favourite football teams play. FC St Pauli are unlike any other team, they play in brown, have the skull and crossbones as their unofficial logo, come on the the pitch to ACDC's Hells Bells, their fans dress as pirates, trade tickets in a big shipping container outside the tiny stadium, and they have been pivotal in halting racism in the game and bringing it to a wider audience normally segregated and unwelcome at other stadiums. Their fans are a real representation of the local community, full of punks, rockers, bikers, bums, and outcasts.
Today they were playing Bayern Munich and tickets were like gold-dust (as I expected). The fans have an unwritten policy that they never sell tickets on for a profit, but having sold-out months ago, I was never going to be one of the lucky few on this occasion. The guy behind the bar at the campsite was also a fan and (unknown to me) he had tried to arrange a ticket for me in the morning but unfortunately I had already left for the city. St Pauli were on the receiving end of an 8-1 thrashing, entertaining and gutting in equal measure I'm sure. They will be relegated from the Budesliga at the end of the year.
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