Group C
England v Slovenia
Cologne Stadium
Cologne, Germany
25 Jun 2024
The official tournament programme covered all of England's Group games and the Knockout Phase up until the Semi Final and was very good quality with 98 pages of gloss and colour
ESTC tickets for this game were in plentiful supply with a final allocation of 10022 with 2240 seats available as Fans First tickets priced at 30 Euros. A total of 12119 members had pre-registered for this game but many had picked up tickets in the UEFA ballot or from touts/3rd party ticket sites
The Cologne Stadium (AKA RheinEnergie Stadium) is home to I.FC Cologne and is a versatile stadium playing host to many sports and concerts. It has a normal capacity of 50,000 but has been reduced to 43,000. The stadium is the regular venue for the German Women's Cup Final
What a great night with these 2 nutters
Day 2 - Sightseeing all over Cologne
The stadium is just a short walk from the AirBnB and across from it is a lovely lake called Adenauerweiher.
At the stadium end of the lake is Club Astoria where we stopped for some brunch and a 'big' Weissen Bier as we both needed a break from Kölsch
The tram from Cologne Stadium takes us right to the Heumarkt on Line 1
Gross St Martin and the Cathedral as pictured from the Deutzer Brücke
Hohenzollernbrücke leads to the Cathedral and the Cologne Hbf and is the busiest rail bridge in Germany
My current FB profile picture
You can never get bored of pictures of Cologne's cathedral, now for our walk through the Gerling and Belgium quarters
The Zeughaus (built 1594-1606) is the cities former arsenal and used to houses the Gothic city seal
On top of the tower is a winged golden car but it has nothing to do with the old building. The car is a Fiesta and it caused controversy when the artist HA Schmidt created it.
Part of the old Roman Wall. It was almost 4 Km long and had 12 gates and 19 round towers
St Gereon's Church
We wind up in the Belgium Quarter in a nice little bar which served Reissdorf Kölsch
Hahnentor at Rudolphplatz in the Belgian Quarter was the most important entrance to Cologne. The gate leads directly from Aachen, where Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire were crowned, to the Cologne Cathedral. The cathedral was the most important religious site in the Empire, housing the relics of the three Magi, still there to this day. Only three of the wall's twelve original gates remain intact.
We finish the day with a fabulous Vietnamese
Day 3 -Climbing the Dom and the German Olympic Museum
IFC Köln’s mascot, Hennes IX is watching every move
Rathaus Cologne
We then take a U-Bahn to Severinstrasse and walk to one of the 4 remaining medieval gates. This is Severinstorburg and it is older than Cologne Cathedral
The 3rd gate is Ulrepforte and it is not far from Severinstorburg, on the ring road known as Sachensring. Dating back to the 13th century it is now a museum
A little further down the Sachensring is another part of the city wall that has been preserved, known simply as Stadtmauer
Our southern tour takes us to Severinsbrucke and the famous Crane Houses of Cologne. These are the 3 x 17-story buildings in the Rheinhaufen of Cologne. The upside down L is reminiscent of of the harbour cranes that used to load cargo onto ships.
Balancing it all up at the Deutsches Sport & Olympia Museum
Sue on steroids 💪
The only way is up☝
Pröst
Day 4 - Matchday
King Frederick Wilhelm IV
Hohenzollernbrucke on matchday
Life is a Beach
Back at the Heumarkt for a selfie with England's most photographed fan, the Steve McClaren lookalike, Andy Milne
In good spirits at the Heumarkt
We pop in for one at another of the main Kolsh breweries, the famous 'Braueri zum Pfäffen' built in 1776 and the only place that you can get Pfäffen on tap
Alter Markt is getting lively
The statue is famous because it is of 'Jan' and dates back to 1884. In the story he is rejected by a girl called 'Griet' because he is a lowly servant. He then goes off to fight in the 30 years' War as a mercenary for the Spanish and returns a successful equestrian General, Jan von Werth. After a great victory on the Rhein he rides triumphantly through the Severinstor and discovers Griet who is now a grey haired single women with no man or children. He acknowledges her but has no feelings for her, it is story of a missed opportunity!
St George at the Chocolate Shop
Jan von Werth is now at the centre of a big game of kick the ball as high as you possibly can
More Beach life 🌴
Pirates are at the Cathedral
The Long Eaton Derby Boys (JB, Steve and T)
Back in the marienbild with a kranz (wreath) of kölsch
Long Eaton Derby boys in the beer garden
A 20 minute hike from the and through the forest leads us directly to the stadium
Passing the first perimeter and heading to the gates
In with 30 mins to spare until KO
N2 - straight on
GSTK👑
Meeting up with the lesser spotted Macdonald
Group photo
After initial high expectations, the crowd are gradually quietened by another off colour performance. Although an improvement on the Denmark game it is still well off from where we need to be
Frustration is mounting as we fail to score. On a bright note we win the Group and avoid the Germans, Spanish and French as we slide into the easy side of the draw
The RheinEnergie Stadion at night
Day 5 - Auf Weidersehen Köln. I will be back (as I left in a rush and left half my clothes behind)🤣
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