Guten Rutsch - NYE Koeln!
Germany, Spain, Germany, Spain. Seems I keep bouncing back and forth. And why not. Visiting friends is guaranteed good times. Germany this time was for Silvester (NYE) - back to Koeln to party with Jan, a good mate who I met whilst in Argentina. Joel, who I know from primary school, decided to come as well - flying into London in the morning from Amsterdam, and flying out to Koeln at night. It was a whirlwind run, but nothing that a cheap Marks & Spencer's Banana smoothie couldn't fuel (worst stuff in the world). We get there at a good hour, but our flight is delayed. It's no prob - hanging out eating quality 75p sandwiches purchased from a pharmacy (they tasted like air) and singing out loud to Belinda Carlisle tracks (from Joel's iPod, not mine:)) helped pass the time. Land in Koeln and Jan has some sweet wheels awaiting us. Cruise towards Jan's joint - seeing the Dom in the distance. This will be the only glimpse of anything 'touristy' on this trip. Too much mayhem. Not a big deal for me, I've been to Koeln before so I've seen the sights. But Joel..... well that's another story. Hah.
Jan's awesome cos his flat is really small but he's totally cool with us crashing there even though it meant stepping over us and our crap all same time. First night, we head out locally - Jan lives near Barbarossaplatz which is a super central/funky/student area. We decided to grab some chow, Turkish, and down a few beers where Joel gets his introduction to Jagermeister. I guess he fell in love with the stuff cos it definitely wasn't his last encounter with the black-gold. After a coupla Jagers we head out for a bit and grab a few more beers and walk home drinking them in the street. As Jan says about Germany - it's a Free Country. Kiosks rule the city, where every block you can buy some fantastic tasting Reissdorf Koelsch and walk around legally drinking beer. That would be sooooo good in Australia, given the weather, but I guess you'd just get drunks wondering the streets. Despite Joel's intense tiredness (he slept through the flight including the landing - apparently Amsterdam does that to you:)) we decided to hit a club - Ivory Lounge. I'd been there before, but didn't remember it all that well. I freaked out when we walked in and everything was reversed. I was like - uhhh I'm sure that the bar was against the other wall last time. I was much happier when we moved downstairs and found that the layout was as I remembered it. PHEW. The place is kinda upmarket, sorta like a 'pretty-person' place. So we fit right in - of course. Hah. Actually Jan got us on the guestlist cos he told them that we were friends visiting from LA. I asked Jan why didn't he say we're Australian - and he said LA people are cooler/more respected in Germany. JA! I put on my best valley-girl accent, which was mediocre at best. Little did we know that we could have totally pulled off the LA thing thanks to Joel... Once the pieces fell into place.
The music started off hip-hoppy - with some random guy from the crowd (we think) doing a bit of freestylin' whilst standing on a table. We looked good in our suit-jackets. Joel borrowed a shirt and a suit jacket, of course he looked super hot cos they were my clothes. Whilst I was at the bar Joel told me that some girl was telling Jan that he looked like Tom Cruise. Both Joel and I thought that was amusing and teased Jan. It wasn't until later that we found out that the chick actually meant that Joel looked like Tom Cruise. This was super hilarious cos one time when talking about Joel's Cambridge exploits with some crazy chick in Cam (I warned him about girls that worked at that bar...), Rok says with such passionate authority "C'mon man, he can have any girl he wants - he looks like Tom Cruise". Now at Ivory he got his 2nd Tom Cruise comment. Super smooth. Theme of the trip. We had a good time at the Ivory, jumping around, teaching various German girls the exquisite art of perreo- (heh, some actually wanted lessons). Get home at a usual European 5am. Good times.
Next day we get up, slam some Schoko-flakes for breakfast to give us the energy we need for an action packed day. After a bunch of indecisiveness (on the part of the Australians) we decide to go snowboarding. Thing is, there isn't usually much snow in that part of Germany, especially since this is the warmest European winter in 500 years. But no problem, they have this 'indoor' manufactured skislope about 45 mins away from Koeln. Jan kindly offers to take us - he didn't want to board; he said he was going to work, but instead spent his time taking embarassing photos of us. So we get there, and I almost break my neck before even entering, by attempting to stand on some ice posing for a photo in front of the place. Great start. After purchasing our slope tickets from the friendly cashier named "A. Bonk", we get our gear. Firstly the guy says something about shoes, so I give the guy my shoe. He's like I don't want that, stand over there (on this hi-tech shoesizin' machine). Boots take me about 2hrs to put on. Change my pants right there in front of everyone (couldn't be bothered going to the changerooms) and it was time to shred. Man. Snowboarding is hard. I thought it might be a bit like a skateboard, but no. Basically you just slide over the ice in all directions, so basically I spent the day bruising my arse. Most people I've spoken too say that it takes about three days to get the basic skills. I only had 3hrs. So I basically spent the time hurting myself. By the end, stuff started to make _slightly_ more sense, i.e. basically how to turn and get slight control. But basically I had nothing. Joel was shredding by the end. He has about 5 or 6 days under his belt, and by the end of our stint he was going great guns. At the end I saw him coming down the slope, but wasn't sure if it was him cos it was so controlled. I was so lame. You see these little weiner kids like 5 years old flying past you. And cos there's only one slope, every 5 secs you have to stop/get out of the way of someone, which for me meant throwing myself on the ground to avoid smashing them. Also, we weren't expecting the snow so we both only had these cloth knitted gloves. MASSIVE mistake. They just get wet and snow sticks to it - so we had massive iceblocks both inside/outside of the glove - my hands were blue by the time we'd finished. The 10secs I managed to shred I got a feel how boarding could be fun, but next time I think I need lessons, and maybe somewhere less crowded. Was a great experience though - first time with snowsports. Majorily sore the next day...
That night, Joel & I hit the town ourselves. We needed moolah, and were told about a billion different incorrect directions for a Deutsche Bank- if only it were on the Goethestrasse I could have asked in German... We went to this place which was meant to be OK, with "DJ Funky Mike" playing some funk, hiphop, rnb stuff. Joel goes to the bouncer "do you speak English", to which he replies a little forcefully "Yes, I speak English. I speak it very well". OK. We ask about entry costs and stuff and he's like don't bother cos NYE is tomorrow so everyone is being lame. Thirsty and tired we go for a beer (Koelsch - beer from Cologne). We walk into this bar near buy with a few ppl. But then we slowly piece together it's a gay bar - or at least a gay hangout. Not that this is a problem, but there was only one space at the bar where you could go up and order a beer. And this stereotypical gay guy with hat, moustache, straggly hair, lots of denim (think 'trucker') was sitting there with his legs spread, meaning if you want to get to the bar you'd basically have to straddle him. As this isn't the particular Koelsch we were searching for, so we decide to head out towards Paeff, which is a cool Koelsch bar that Jan took me to before. A funkster working in a Nordic Kiosk (totally out of place) gives us the directions, and we go there and smash through a few fine ales until closing time. People watching there was great fun, old weird dudes tryna hit on these young German chicks. Super smooth. As we walk away we see a sign for a perreo contest at the latin club next door - but unfortunately it was for the following week :(
Next day was NYE. Day of mayhem. We tried to start the day right looking for a solid breakfast. Like something to line the stomach - like yogurt + cereal. We hit up many a kiosk, only to find these stores on every corner ONLY sold alcoholic related products. We made do for a few hours until hitting this awesome Rodizio - which is a term for a Brasilian style restaurant where they constantly come to your table with skewers of meat and slap it on your plate. Amazing, but tough tough work on NYE before dancing. We go there quite early - we were REALLY lucky to get reservations. Jan rang up and they said "no way!". But then he sent an email saying he was from the local TV station and he wanted to bring some guests. Boom we were in. We're not sure whether they thought we were VIP. We came in suits, all looking kinda different - like as if we'd play different roles in a TV show or something. One guy working there accidentally dropped some pineapple onto the table and was like "damn, why did this have to happen on this table". Yes, respect the VIPs. All good. Actually over dinner we were reliving stories about Joel's Cruise-like past, where it was decided that he would be known as "Gary Cruise" - Tom's taller, younger and less-famous brother. This theme lasted the whole rest of the trick, with Joel taking his Cruise-like nature to the extremes throughout the weekend. At the rodizio, the food was amazing. We ate about 6 times our bodyweight in 1.5 hours. We start walking back to Jan's apartment (Joel was really keen on smashing LOTS of drinks before we hit the party). Jan walks around, looking a million dollars in his out, then starts throwing out explosives (well fire crackers) around the joint. Like everywhere. At cars. In the metro. Down the stairs entering the underground. Even at the bank when withdrawing cash. Actually that was bad cos he laid a cracker then left the sealed bank withdrawal room whilst I was taking out cash. Boom - really loud. Then the place reeks of gunpowder. More ppl come in to take out cash and look weirdly at me. Seriously though it was amazing, bombing everyone on the way home. Wind caught one of them and powdered a nice S-Class Merc. That'll learn 'em. We start smashing redbull-vodkas. Joel & I take turns DJ'g as Jan throws explosives out of his first floor apartment window at the street. A kid is down there (son of the Kiosk owner across the St) launching them back. People screaming abuse etc. Amazing to stuff.
Finally we were (overly) smashed and head towards our destination - The Candy Shop. Explosives fly around on the way, and we eventually get there. We are about to go in, where Joel is insists on more drinks at a kiosk. BAD idea. Anyway, we do, get some beer which we decide to drink outside. Me and my immense strength crack the top off the bottle when attempting to open it. Joel was disgusted at this and insisted that we drink from the broken bottle. No way. He was forcefully insisting and eventually this turns into play fighting where I rehashing my non-existent kickboxing skills which I haven't used in like 8 years. This theme continues for the night. Great look for a classy party eh. Anyway, it's time to get in. Then Joel has a brainwave, and places two glass shot-sized bottles of Jager into the front of his pants, along with a can of redbull. Jan & I advise against this but he does it regardless. We walk in, Joel who was lagging behind a bit, but we could hear him - "clang, clang, clang". Hahahah. We get in - the place is pretty full, some VIP areas. Everyone dressed nice. It's a pretty upmarket party. It's not regularly a club, but like a once-a-month thing. The place is dressed up well, and people are all looking good. They had their own fireworks display which everyone enjoyed - except for Joel, who we deduce was either in the toilets adjusting his drink arrangement or dancing by himself to the song CandyShop by Fifty-Cent which we would have loved to hear played (given that was the name of the party, we kept referring to the place just as Mr Five-0-C would). We find Joel later, he comes out of the toilet with two yellow drinks in hand. Apparently ppl in the stalls were giving him weird looks. I think that was round two, or he didnt add the jager, cos they should have been black. I give my to Jan - he's like thanks mate. Then I tell him where it came from and he's disgusted. Rest of the night was pretty much a blur. Later Joel comes up and says "when's the countdown", Jan's like "that was like 2 hours ago man". Hahah. Damn we were in such bad form. Gary Cruise and I were basically stumbling around dancing + harrassing everyone in sight. I have spots of memories of Gary bounding around the place makin' moves on ladies. Just like he'd do in LA. I was either aggressively fighting or hugging Cruise. Perreo was in my mind and we decided that we should actively promote the dance by teaching it to unsuspecting German lasses... Oye! We were in such bad form. Poor Jan had to play babysitter looking out for us. At the end of the night this girl said bye to Cruise. She actually wrote her on paper with mascara, with the name HeiBe, but then I gave them my phone and she put her name in as Maike. Same number for both. We thought they were false names, but later when Joel met up with her she reckons she never would have written HeiBe - hmmmmmmm maybe we werent the only drunk ones.
We somehow get home, and wonder the streets for a bit. Cruise is on fire decides to wonder around a bit and check out the social scene at 6.30am. Eventually we all die.
In fine form @ The Candy Shop
Mad hangover New Year's Day. We go to this brunch (all-you-can-eat) and eat mountains of food. So much so that we feel stupidly sick afterwards. That night we all go our separate ways; Joel with his Candyshop girl, and I meet up with another friend I know in Koeln. Very chilled out nights due to behaviour of the night before. But it was interesting later to hear from Joel what that girl said about our antics, as our memories were shot. Apparently I was aggressive (beating up Joel) and Joel would keep coming up to her with the fantastic pickup line "your English is better than mine" or else speaking in Spanish. But we weren't the only bad ones. We have photographic proof. You can see in the back of some of the photos people in suits like sleeping, sitting down etc. Some guy talking to Jan bought a 500eu bottle of Vodka and the guy's friend lost it. Absolute carnage. The final night - Jan & I go for a schnitzel and beers (whilst Joel goes for a different sort of schnitzel elsewhere) and talk about good times. Later, I flippantly decide to go check out Dusseldorf. Why? I had msg'd some Couchsurfing ppl whether they'd tour us around, and one cool chick Jacky said she would. So due to the fact the train station has two different types of ticketing machines with no explanations, I purchase the wrong ticket which means I have to take a certain type of train. I get to Dusseldorf really late like 11.30pm. But it's cool - we have a whirlwind tour around town, I get to try some Alt (Dusseldorf beer - fierce rivalry with Koelsch, Koelsch being lighter) and hang out in this bar which had karaoke that night. My German exgf said Germans hate Karaoke. Obviously not - it was awesome to see tons of youngens singing there favourite songs - both German or English. J then gets her car and zooms me around the city pointing out the highlights. Couldn't snap many pics, nighttime and all, but all-and-all and awesome tour, and I get back in time for the 2.51am train back to Koeln. Actually it was weird, at 2.50am you can still buy waffles etc at the station. Nice. Yet another early night:) I get home and Jan has this massive street sign resting at his door. I wondered if that was big Jan's way of saying DO NOT DISTURB (with a tough Arnie-like voice) but that was pretty random. Sleep a coupla hours. Then shopping time for sauerkraut, bunter pfeffer, senf, mini dickmanns (my size?) and of course orange(cereal) balistos.
On the way home Gary and I were overtired. We decide to smash a Koelsch on the GermanWings flight (beer is cheaper than water on that flight!). In the GermanWings inflight book, if you send a photo of you on your trip in, and it's published you win free double-flights somewhere. One of our entries is below. All good. Land in Stansted. Walk to the airtrain (inter-terminal monorail) to take us to the security entrance/baggage claim. Train was taking a while so I take out my security belt, get my passport in hand, and then decide to change the simcard on my phone back to the English one. Very smart. Train comes. Every pushes on roughly (most ppl were German on the flight, and I've noticed that Germans push aggressively through any line) when I hear something drop. I look down and see this black speck thing fall through between the train and the platform. The monorail/airtrain thing is really new/modern so its only like a gap of a few cms. I look at my hand - I have my passport, phone, sim cards, battery. So it takes me a few secs to realise that my security belt fell down. Ohhh shit. My credit cards, keys, money, etc are gone. The train takes off and I start freaking out - get to security and they say ask at information. I was SO lucky I took my passport out, or how would I pass immigration?! I go to infromation where some guy tries to explain the physics behind electricity and currents. OK so you have to stop the train before going down to get my belt. I get it. They said they'll look overnight. I ring up lost property - no sign. I sit on a switchboard so I can talk to infromation to make sure that they actually look for it before I cancel everything. After bouncing around I finally find one awesome chick Chris H who rings the engineers who say they found it and gave it to lost property. I contact lost property, they tell me to ring elsewhere. Nobody can find it. Eventually back to switchboard lady who chases it up for me. Thank god. Back to Stansted the next day and get all my cards etc. Stupid stupid stupid me for losing it. I swear to god, I remember thinking when taking out my passport whilst waiting for the train "wow it'd be really bad if you lost it here, like on the train/on the tracks etc". Must be psychic or something. buwhsefdijsafak
Anyway - had yet another amazing time in Koeln. OK so NYE was a bit out of control, but I think Jan found us more funny than annoying (I hope). Joel and I were interacting like the Odd-Couple or something bizarre. Germany seems always to bring good times; but SERIOUSLY i need to go somewhere different next time!
Some amusing pics - check em out here
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| Jan picks us up in a nice Audi. He's a professional driver, so I felt half comfortable when he was driving at 225km/h whilst eating Subway | |
Jan's awesome cos his flat is really small but he's totally cool with us crashing there even though it meant stepping over us and our crap all same time. First night, we head out locally - Jan lives near Barbarossaplatz which is a super central/funky/student area. We decided to grab some chow, Turkish, and down a few beers where Joel gets his introduction to Jagermeister. I guess he fell in love with the stuff cos it definitely wasn't his last encounter with the black-gold. After a coupla Jagers we head out for a bit and grab a few more beers and walk home drinking them in the street. As Jan says about Germany - it's a Free Country. Kiosks rule the city, where every block you can buy some fantastic tasting Reissdorf Koelsch and walk around legally drinking beer. That would be sooooo good in Australia, given the weather, but I guess you'd just get drunks wondering the streets. Despite Joel's intense tiredness (he slept through the flight including the landing - apparently Amsterdam does that to you:)) we decided to hit a club - Ivory Lounge. I'd been there before, but didn't remember it all that well. I freaked out when we walked in and everything was reversed. I was like - uhhh I'm sure that the bar was against the other wall last time. I was much happier when we moved downstairs and found that the layout was as I remembered it. PHEW. The place is kinda upmarket, sorta like a 'pretty-person' place. So we fit right in - of course. Hah. Actually Jan got us on the guestlist cos he told them that we were friends visiting from LA. I asked Jan why didn't he say we're Australian - and he said LA people are cooler/more respected in Germany. JA! I put on my best valley-girl accent, which was mediocre at best. Little did we know that we could have totally pulled off the LA thing thanks to Joel... Once the pieces fell into place.
The music started off hip-hoppy - with some random guy from the crowd (we think) doing a bit of freestylin' whilst standing on a table. We looked good in our suit-jackets. Joel borrowed a shirt and a suit jacket, of course he looked super hot cos they were my clothes. Whilst I was at the bar Joel told me that some girl was telling Jan that he looked like Tom Cruise. Both Joel and I thought that was amusing and teased Jan. It wasn't until later that we found out that the chick actually meant that Joel looked like Tom Cruise. This was super hilarious cos one time when talking about Joel's Cambridge exploits with some crazy chick in Cam (I warned him about girls that worked at that bar...), Rok says with such passionate authority "C'mon man, he can have any girl he wants - he looks like Tom Cruise". Now at Ivory he got his 2nd Tom Cruise comment. Super smooth. Theme of the trip. We had a good time at the Ivory, jumping around, teaching various German girls the exquisite art of perreo- (heh, some actually wanted lessons). Get home at a usual European 5am. Good times.
Next day we get up, slam some Schoko-flakes for breakfast to give us the energy we need for an action packed day. After a bunch of indecisiveness (on the part of the Australians) we decide to go snowboarding. Thing is, there isn't usually much snow in that part of Germany, especially since this is the warmest European winter in 500 years. But no problem, they have this 'indoor' manufactured skislope about 45 mins away from Koeln. Jan kindly offers to take us - he didn't want to board; he said he was going to work, but instead spent his time taking embarassing photos of us. So we get there, and I almost break my neck before even entering, by attempting to stand on some ice posing for a photo in front of the place. Great start. After purchasing our slope tickets from the friendly cashier named "A. Bonk", we get our gear. Firstly the guy says something about shoes, so I give the guy my shoe. He's like I don't want that, stand over there (on this hi-tech shoesizin' machine). Boots take me about 2hrs to put on. Change my pants right there in front of everyone (couldn't be bothered going to the changerooms) and it was time to shred. Man. Snowboarding is hard. I thought it might be a bit like a skateboard, but no. Basically you just slide over the ice in all directions, so basically I spent the day bruising my arse. Most people I've spoken too say that it takes about three days to get the basic skills. I only had 3hrs. So I basically spent the time hurting myself. By the end, stuff started to make _slightly_ more sense, i.e. basically how to turn and get slight control. But basically I had nothing. Joel was shredding by the end. He has about 5 or 6 days under his belt, and by the end of our stint he was going great guns. At the end I saw him coming down the slope, but wasn't sure if it was him cos it was so controlled. I was so lame. You see these little weiner kids like 5 years old flying past you. And cos there's only one slope, every 5 secs you have to stop/get out of the way of someone, which for me meant throwing myself on the ground to avoid smashing them. Also, we weren't expecting the snow so we both only had these cloth knitted gloves. MASSIVE mistake. They just get wet and snow sticks to it - so we had massive iceblocks both inside/outside of the glove - my hands were blue by the time we'd finished. The 10secs I managed to shred I got a feel how boarding could be fun, but next time I think I need lessons, and maybe somewhere less crowded. Was a great experience though - first time with snowsports. Majorily sore the next day...
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| We looked the part | For about five seconds... |
That night, Joel & I hit the town ourselves. We needed moolah, and were told about a billion different incorrect directions for a Deutsche Bank- if only it were on the Goethestrasse I could have asked in German... We went to this place which was meant to be OK, with "DJ Funky Mike" playing some funk, hiphop, rnb stuff. Joel goes to the bouncer "do you speak English", to which he replies a little forcefully "Yes, I speak English. I speak it very well". OK. We ask about entry costs and stuff and he's like don't bother cos NYE is tomorrow so everyone is being lame. Thirsty and tired we go for a beer (Koelsch - beer from Cologne). We walk into this bar near buy with a few ppl. But then we slowly piece together it's a gay bar - or at least a gay hangout. Not that this is a problem, but there was only one space at the bar where you could go up and order a beer. And this stereotypical gay guy with hat, moustache, straggly hair, lots of denim (think 'trucker') was sitting there with his legs spread, meaning if you want to get to the bar you'd basically have to straddle him. As this isn't the particular Koelsch we were searching for, so we decide to head out towards Paeff, which is a cool Koelsch bar that Jan took me to before. A funkster working in a Nordic Kiosk (totally out of place) gives us the directions, and we go there and smash through a few fine ales until closing time. People watching there was great fun, old weird dudes tryna hit on these young German chicks. Super smooth. As we walk away we see a sign for a perreo contest at the latin club next door - but unfortunately it was for the following week :(
Next day was NYE. Day of mayhem. We tried to start the day right looking for a solid breakfast. Like something to line the stomach - like yogurt + cereal. We hit up many a kiosk, only to find these stores on every corner ONLY sold alcoholic related products. We made do for a few hours until hitting this awesome Rodizio - which is a term for a Brasilian style restaurant where they constantly come to your table with skewers of meat and slap it on your plate. Amazing, but tough tough work on NYE before dancing. We go there quite early - we were REALLY lucky to get reservations. Jan rang up and they said "no way!". But then he sent an email saying he was from the local TV station and he wanted to bring some guests. Boom we were in. We're not sure whether they thought we were VIP. We came in suits, all looking kinda different - like as if we'd play different roles in a TV show or something. One guy working there accidentally dropped some pineapple onto the table and was like "damn, why did this have to happen on this table". Yes, respect the VIPs. All good. Actually over dinner we were reliving stories about Joel's Cruise-like past, where it was decided that he would be known as "Gary Cruise" - Tom's taller, younger and less-famous brother. This theme lasted the whole rest of the trick, with Joel taking his Cruise-like nature to the extremes throughout the weekend. At the rodizio, the food was amazing. We ate about 6 times our bodyweight in 1.5 hours. We start walking back to Jan's apartment (Joel was really keen on smashing LOTS of drinks before we hit the party). Jan walks around, looking a million dollars in his out, then starts throwing out explosives (well fire crackers) around the joint. Like everywhere. At cars. In the metro. Down the stairs entering the underground. Even at the bank when withdrawing cash. Actually that was bad cos he laid a cracker then left the sealed bank withdrawal room whilst I was taking out cash. Boom - really loud. Then the place reeks of gunpowder. More ppl come in to take out cash and look weirdly at me. Seriously though it was amazing, bombing everyone on the way home. Wind caught one of them and powdered a nice S-Class Merc. That'll learn 'em. We start smashing redbull-vodkas. Joel & I take turns DJ'g as Jan throws explosives out of his first floor apartment window at the street. A kid is down there (son of the Kiosk owner across the St) launching them back. People screaming abuse etc. Amazing to stuff.
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| Jan's paramilitary training camp. Choose your target. Light. Throw. Count the dead.. To see Jan in action wishing his neighbours a happy new year, check out this (listen to the screams) and also this | ||
We somehow get home, and wonder the streets for a bit. Cruise is on fire decides to wonder around a bit and check out the social scene at 6.30am. Eventually we all die.
In fine form @ The Candy Shop
Mad hangover New Year's Day. We go to this brunch (all-you-can-eat) and eat mountains of food. So much so that we feel stupidly sick afterwards. That night we all go our separate ways; Joel with his Candyshop girl, and I meet up with another friend I know in Koeln. Very chilled out nights due to behaviour of the night before. But it was interesting later to hear from Joel what that girl said about our antics, as our memories were shot. Apparently I was aggressive (beating up Joel) and Joel would keep coming up to her with the fantastic pickup line "your English is better than mine" or else speaking in Spanish. But we weren't the only bad ones. We have photographic proof. You can see in the back of some of the photos people in suits like sleeping, sitting down etc. Some guy talking to Jan bought a 500eu bottle of Vodka and the guy's friend lost it. Absolute carnage. The final night - Jan & I go for a schnitzel and beers (whilst Joel goes for a different sort of schnitzel elsewhere) and talk about good times. Later, I flippantly decide to go check out Dusseldorf. Why? I had msg'd some Couchsurfing ppl whether they'd tour us around, and one cool chick Jacky said she would. So due to the fact the train station has two different types of ticketing machines with no explanations, I purchase the wrong ticket which means I have to take a certain type of train. I get to Dusseldorf really late like 11.30pm. But it's cool - we have a whirlwind tour around town, I get to try some Alt (Dusseldorf beer - fierce rivalry with Koelsch, Koelsch being lighter) and hang out in this bar which had karaoke that night. My German exgf said Germans hate Karaoke. Obviously not - it was awesome to see tons of youngens singing there favourite songs - both German or English. J then gets her car and zooms me around the city pointing out the highlights. Couldn't snap many pics, nighttime and all, but all-and-all and awesome tour, and I get back in time for the 2.51am train back to Koeln. Actually it was weird, at 2.50am you can still buy waffles etc at the station. Nice. Yet another early night:) I get home and Jan has this massive street sign resting at his door. I wondered if that was big Jan's way of saying DO NOT DISTURB (with a tough Arnie-like voice) but that was pretty random. Sleep a coupla hours. Then shopping time for sauerkraut, bunter pfeffer, senf, mini dickmanns (my size?) and of course orange(cereal) balistos.
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| Jacky & I | I wanted a drink from a machine @ 2.20am | Instead, the machine labeled drinks was dispensing Ink Cartridges |
On the way home Gary and I were overtired. We decide to smash a Koelsch on the GermanWings flight (beer is cheaper than water on that flight!). In the GermanWings inflight book, if you send a photo of you on your trip in, and it's published you win free double-flights somewhere. One of our entries is below. All good. Land in Stansted. Walk to the airtrain (inter-terminal monorail) to take us to the security entrance/baggage claim. Train was taking a while so I take out my security belt, get my passport in hand, and then decide to change the simcard on my phone back to the English one. Very smart. Train comes. Every pushes on roughly (most ppl were German on the flight, and I've noticed that Germans push aggressively through any line) when I hear something drop. I look down and see this black speck thing fall through between the train and the platform. The monorail/airtrain thing is really new/modern so its only like a gap of a few cms. I look at my hand - I have my passport, phone, sim cards, battery. So it takes me a few secs to realise that my security belt fell down. Ohhh shit. My credit cards, keys, money, etc are gone. The train takes off and I start freaking out - get to security and they say ask at information. I was SO lucky I took my passport out, or how would I pass immigration?! I go to infromation where some guy tries to explain the physics behind electricity and currents. OK so you have to stop the train before going down to get my belt. I get it. They said they'll look overnight. I ring up lost property - no sign. I sit on a switchboard so I can talk to infromation to make sure that they actually look for it before I cancel everything. After bouncing around I finally find one awesome chick Chris H who rings the engineers who say they found it and gave it to lost property. I contact lost property, they tell me to ring elsewhere. Nobody can find it. Eventually back to switchboard lady who chases it up for me. Thank god. Back to Stansted the next day and get all my cards etc. Stupid stupid stupid me for losing it. I swear to god, I remember thinking when taking out my passport whilst waiting for the train "wow it'd be really bad if you lost it here, like on the train/on the tracks etc". Must be psychic or something. buwhsefdijsafak
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| Jan's doorway - Do Not Disturb | This GermanWings snap is bound to win the free trip! |
Anyway - had yet another amazing time in Koeln. OK so NYE was a bit out of control, but I think Jan found us more funny than annoying (I hope). Joel and I were interacting like the Odd-Couple or something bizarre. Germany seems always to bring good times; but SERIOUSLY i need to go somewhere different next time!
Some amusing pics - check em out here
1 Comments:
holy freaking shit dude.. I was laughing my ass off..;) Great vids by the way
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