Its been a 5 years since last visit to Germany. Kali ni aku pilih nak turun via Cologne sebab nak cover North Rhine-Westphalia punya territory. Just visiting selective cities macam Cologne, Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen & Leverkusen.
Germany I miss you.
Sejurus tiba di Cologne airport, imigresen agak strict, mungkin sebab Olympics 2024 baru nak start minggu sama. Lagipun kali ni aku masuk Germany tak ikut kebiasaan pakai T-Shirt Wacken. Not so much issue as long documentation in-out tip-top.
Rest on the first day jet-lag dan meetup with the remaining tour gang masa di Cologne. Kitaorang stay di Weltempfänger hostel just outskirt 15 minutes from Cologne city center.
Layout hostel 4p ensuite.
Tepi hostel ada Central Mosque Cologne.
The following day terus pergi ke Leverkusen, a short 1 hour trip from Cologne to check out Bayer Leverkusen stadium, recently juara Bundesliga first time in 120 tahun. Just 15 minutes walking distance from the Leverkusen train station.
Leverkusen town itself pun tak besar dan tak berapa menarik nak jalan, takda tourist picturesque.
Not far from train station in Leverkusen.
By tengahari balik baru round city center Cologne. Actually the area aku cover is more for tourist area. Cologne itself memang besar. Kalau naik metro dia heading to Stadium Cologne, then baru kita lalu downtown, city suburbs dia for the local.
Tourist area in Cologne
Cologne Cathedral
Cologne cathedral ni besar dan menjadi landmark bandar ni. Senang nak buat duit, lukis bendera negara tourist dengan kapur, nanti tourist campak duit. hujung hari padam semua dgn air. enforcement enforcer ada sekeliling, not sure this is legal or not.
Selesai pusing kawasan tourist district, headed to Cologne Stadium, but halfway singgah African Weekend Market berdekatan one of the metro station.
Cologne Stadium is quite a distance from city center, stadium ni besar, but the interesting part is riding the metro toward the stadium. From the metro ride baru boleh witness the suburbs of Cologne, how huge is Cologne actually was.
Late evening aku kembali ke riverside. Chilling sunset river Sungai Rhine di Cologne. Cologne Cathedral on the other side. Ramai orang lepak layan summer sunset which is beautiful long orange sky. Aku cross jambatan keretapi sebab ada provide walking path, sepanjang stretch ada padlock.
Sistem keretapi Cologne ni agak retro. Waiting area pun nampak vibe 70an. Metro dia pun nampak oldschool. Same station sometime can hold multiple line due to circular path. Station metro pun nampak unguarded due to trust system. verify your ticket before ride. Yang unik metro Cologne ni, mesin tiket jual atas keretapi. Dekat station dia letak sikit sahaja ticketing machine to reduce vandalism. Yang banyak hanya mesin validator.
The following day is a long day, kami gerak pergi Dortmund which is around 1.30jam dari Cologne. Bag simpan di Cologne sebab train direct ke Hamburg dari Dortmung kena cancel last minute. So lepas Rammstein later that day, we resorted to return back to Cologne and ambil train direct ke Hamburg.
Kami obtain daily ticket (one of the most expensive daily metro) untuk pergi ke Signal Iduna park di outskirt Dortmund city center. Stadium pasukan Borussia Dortmund.
Habis round Stadium, kami pergi round bandar Dortmund, also not so touristic venue seperti Leverkusen. A short stroll and light lunch. What is best is the metro train station dia luas underground.
Later sebelah petang kami headed to Gelsenkirchen, turun semula dari Dortmund, around 20 minutes trip . Another not so touristic venue, but for the sake getting metro dalam 15 minutes ke venue concert Rammstein di at Veltins Arena Stadium from Gelsenkirchen train station.
Habis Rammstein dalam pukul 11 malam then we getting the 1.30am train to Cologne (around 1.30 hours due to slow local train). Lepas sampai Cologne, berjaga sampai pagi until the next train to Hamburg. Memang barai sampai lepas naik train baru tidur on the way to Hamburg train 8 pagi. Plan asal balik Dortmung in 20 minutes from Gelsenkirchen and get the 1.40am train to Hamburg kena kensel by train provider.
