Cologne

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We arrived in Cologne early afternoon and after checking into our hostel, had a walk around the town - the best way to see a place. We had never planned to stop in Cologne but unfortunately the cost of the German train service and the non-existence of a national bus service meant that we wanted to check out all our options before paying the €90 train fare to Berlin.

In the end, we managed to find the Mitfahrzentrale. This is a kind of organised hitchiking service where the bureau sets up passengers with registered drivers who are making the journey anyway. We booked in for tomorrow evening and went back to the hostel for our supper of chamions - Pot Noodle!

In the evening we went together with an Italian guy from our dorm, Filippo to watch the Arsenal v Juventus game in one of the bars in town. A goalless draw, 2 lagers and a Guinness later and we returned to the hostel to sleep.

In the morning, we got up leisurely and wondered round the town some more, taking in the Cathedral (ColnDom) and main streets before meeting up with Wilfried Bachen, our driver in his Mercedes at the Mitfahrzentrale. We were joined on our journy by two Ethiopian tourists for the six and a half hour drive to Berlin, where we arrived under the cape of darkness around Midnight.

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