We’re in Essen, ended up on my own, not the greatest of places to be walking back too……..that train station at ground was crazy, really suprised how poorly organised it seemed
Think the late kick off didn’t help. Usually most German games finish earlier and the culture is people stay behind after the games with the bars serving well after the game. This tends to reduce the numbers at any one time.
If they win the group we play there again, we’re stopping near Cologne too so Christ knows what time we’ll get back of last night is anything to go by……..lad who’s with me didn’t get back till 2.45
The train I caught was direct to Cologne after Düsseldorf but I was lucky to be sat in section A with the exit fairly close to metro station so got a train just after midnight.
Got a tram at about 1am this morning from the ground. Horrendous queue and organisation. A local seemed to say it's not unusual for similar queues after Schalke games however. Managed to get a train at roughly 2am back to dusseldorf and they were running until 3.30am. Our tram broke down on the way to the ground and the 40 mins stuck in an airless hot tram qas as bad an experience as I've ever had. The next one is in Frankfurt and in the middle of a forested area so I'll be walking!
The tram station at the ground is always a nightmare, especially the late kick off (9 pm). Earlier kick off at least you can hang back and enjoy a few more beers at the ground to let it clear.
My lad and I are just back. 4 nights staying in Cologne, trips to Dusseldorf for Slovakia v Ukraine (met some Barnsley fans outside who were really good guys), Dortmund for Turkey v Portugal, and Leverkusen for a stadium tour of Bayer Leverkusen. Did fan zones in all the host cities we visited including seeing Germany in Cologne on Sunday night. More friendly Reds fans on the tram in Cologne yesterday. Absolutely awesome trip, seen a lot of complaints about train travel but apart from a few minor delays we didn't really have any issues. Gutted to be back.
I really don't get this fascination to travel all over the world, see and experience new cultures and end up... ...in a pseudo Irish bar.
Hey Dearney, I did notice the Barnsley/England flags during the pens lol. And as hard as it was for me/us watching the pens, I couldn't help but notice the Barnsley & Mexbrough flags in the background.