Cologne and a morbid silence:

Whilst Volker has been doing his refresher-update pilot thing, I have been on walkabout around Cologne. Near the western corner of Germany, Cologne is an enticing city centred around an immense Gothic Cathedral known as “The Dom”. As with Stuttgart, most of the picturesque squares have been transformed in to large public viewing areas and make-shift beer halls called “Fan Mile”. These Fan Miles are wonderful places to soak up the World Cup fever but are uninspiring for photography.
Not to be deterred, I set of in search of something else sporting my tank top, shorts and sandals, digital camera and film (B&W) camera. Cologne sits on the Rheine, an important commercial and transport means around Germany. Spanning the river Rheine are numerous rail and road bridges of varied design. Added to the skyline, was also a variety of churches of Romanesque design. The abruptly squarer appearance of these spires contrasted beautifully against the dramatic conical gothic design of the Dom.
Unfortunately whilst with Volker in Cologne, I have been forced to suffer Airline company accommodation. The first night at the Crown Plaza, a four star “dump” was only made worse after having to move the next night to the Radisson, clearly a move in the wrong direction!! After a sumptuous Mexican dinner with a few of the other pilots,it was off to the biggest of the “Fan Miles” in Cologne, located on the river bank, to watch the semi-final between Italy and Germany.






Sporting my gift of a t-shirt, with German colours and “German By Honor” printed on the back, I watched with my hands on my head as the game swung back and forth. Both teams played superbly as they each tried to penetrate the others defences (who are really the unsung heroes of any good team). The nil all score line at full time pushed the game into overtime and as this wore on, a penalty shootout as well. However when Italy scored a fantastic goal late in the 2nd half of overtime, things looked grim. Any hope of a German equaliser and hence penalty shoot out were dashed when Italy scored again in the dying moments. And so it was, the crowd of 100,000+ were silent, save a few cheers from the small contingent of Italians located somewhere near the front. It was over. The dream finish to what had been a spectacular display by the young German team was not to be. There was no spirited chanting and waving of flags, nor tears of joy and the blaring of horns (which actually sounded like constipated ducks). It was over. After the initial stunned silence, the chorus started again as fans tried to rekindle something from the loss, trying hard to sing in support of the efforts of their team but the energy certainly wasn't there.

Differences between the Fan Mile in Stuttgart and Cologne:
1. Cologne was a bigger site easily accommodating the 100,000 plus spectators;
2. Cologne took a total of 5 minutes to get into as opposed to Stuttgart which took closer to an hour;
3. beer was cheaper in Cologne;
4. the screens were better in Stuttgart;
5. the plastic cups in which the beer is sold (with a deposit which you got back when you bought the cup back…a great idea I thought) were better in Stuttgart. They were more sturdy and had prettier pictures;
6. between the halves, Cologne turned into a massive, spontaneous outdoor rave party.



7. Germany won when we were in Stuttgart!

The brighter side of the German loss is that I am no longer in a quandary regarding the final should France make it. Allez Les Bleus!!!!!!!