20 Years On: Day Trip to Düsseldorf

This was the single trip I made on my own when I was living in Köln, North up the Rhine by train to the next major city, Düsseldorf. I made a couple of trips down the river to Bonn, once with a friend visiting from the UK and once with a set of my British friends from Köln (and I remember it raining that day too). Though it would have been nice to go to Düsseldorf with someone it was surprisingly successful. I do not know why I left it so late in the morning to depart; I never make impromptu decisions to go anywhere so it must have been planned. I went back to Düsseldorf in 2004 and it did not seem to have changed at all.

I remember being intrigued by the amount of signs in Japanese there were throughout the city which seemed to jar with the very European looking canals and buildings in the centre of the city. Düsseldorf has always had the greatest presence of Japanese of cities in West Germany. Of course, in the 1980s the Japanese were seen very much as the Chinese are now, the people you had to do business with if you were to prosper.

I also remember seeing a lot of bad contemporary art in both Düsseldorf and Köln. I suppose it went with the territory of having all these wealthy business people. In Düsseldorf I remember a life-sized reconstruction of part of the Amsterdam red light district you could walk around and a replica of a military equestrian sculpture tipped through 90° so the horse's backside was on the plinth, it had been daubed with colours and surrounded with plastic soldiers and military vehicles.

Interesting range of names of British students who formed The Raj. I never knew Biff's real name, she got it for being rather a boisterous girl in her youth. I remember Lynn ended up as that, rather than 'Lyn' or 'Lynne' as you would expect, as her father was drunk when her birth was registered. Joss's full name was Jocelyn, one of these names that has moved from being male in the 1920s to female by the 1980s like Hilary and Evelyn. I remember Ismail was a 20-year old Moroccan who spoke fluent German, French and Arabic, but also had some Farsi, Afghan (Pushtu?), Japanese, Italian and English.

'The Bunker' was one of the two bars and one tea room at the foreigners' blocks. Note, also that with no internet or emails and only some students having telephones in their rooms and most of us having to use callboxes (phone booths to US readers), the main way of communicating with people back home was still by letter, this makes 1989 seem a century away.

Again, I am not certain about all the locations shown in these pictures, so if I have made a mistake, please let me know and I will amend the captions.

Wednesday 24th May 1989

Today I woke promptly and after breakfast and a bit of reading I went to the station and caught the train - the 11.04 to Düsseldorf, going there by the West bank route, arriving at 12.00. I went to the Jagdhof and looked at the Goethe museum, then walked through the Hofgarten to two art galleries: one with poor modern sculpture and one with a good range of 20th century art. I then walked around the Altstadt and looked in the Ship museum and walked around more of the town before coming back via a few bookshops. I caught the 17.43 train back. Back in hall I chatted with Paul before we went to 'The Bunker' [bar] barbecue. We were joined by Jane, Emma and Jenny, then Matthew, after that Fiona came, followed by Biff, Lynn & Lee and finally Gabrielle and Joss. We sat eating and drinking and also danced. Paul and I stayed on the longest with Julie & Ismail and Julie's sister too. Monika also popped by and we had a conversation in German. Then Paul and I came back. I had had about six bottles of Becks. I began a letter to Barbara. I got to bed by 04.00.

Weather: Sunny and hot.

Ornamental Canal in Düsseldorf, West Germany in May 1989

Avenue in the Jagdhof grounds [?], Düsseldorf, May 1989

Spire close to the Jagdhof in Düsseldorf, May 1989

Statues close to City Art Gallery, Düsseldorf, May 1989

The Ship Museum, Düsseldorf, May 1989

Mobile Jazz Band Stopped for a Break, Düsseldorf, May 1989

This jazz band was driven around the pedestrianised area of central Düsseldorf playing from the back of their car.

The 'Studio Am Burgplatz' Puppet Shop, Düsseldorf, May 1989

Cat in Bookshop Window, Düsseldorf, May 1989

Seeing a copy of „Chronik des 20. Jahrhunderts“, i.e. 'Chronicle of the 20th Century' seems ironic given what was going to happen in the next couple of years after this photo was taken. Even the most ardent German nationalist would not have predicted a reunified Germany in less than three years. To think the events of the 20th century were almost done and dusted was a major mistake many of us made.

Statues and a British Telephone Box in the Forecourt of the 'Ssst' Gallery in Düsseldorf, May 1989

20 Years On: Part 5 of Account of Hitch-hiking through southern West Germany

When I had been inter-railing in August/September 1988 I had been conscious of getting too far from the UK so that I could not get back if there was any problem. However, I found that with a base in West Germany I was happier at being in the South of the country than I had been the previous year and wondered if I should always rent a property as a kind of 'bolt hole' when away. Of course I never had the money for such a strange approach, but it is interesting how I had a mental limit to how far I would travel alone without beginning to feel uneasy. At this stage, with the local authorities still holding my passport I was unable to leave West Germany; Becky had had to apply to them specifically to get hers back in order to enter Austria. We followed suit, making up all kinds of excuses for why we needed our passports back. The local authorities were incompetent, because unless I had been able to find a bureau de change which would change money for me without showing my passport as most asked for, I would have run out of money too. In fact they certainly showed the lie of the assumptions about German efficiency. I remember the Post Office being reluctant to give me post with my name on it because my driving licence (like all UK driving licences of the time) did not have my photograph on it and they could not believe that. They found out I was correct and had to accept it. I suppose this was a result of being in a suburb, even a well-off one, rather than in the city more used to foreign visitors.

I remember the health authorities were bad in a different way. You used to get a form called an E111 which allowed you free health care across the European Community. In the UK by this stage you got one for life but in West Germany they had a limited duration. I had to stand and make a scene in the health office for them to return it to me. They said it had expired and I said, if that was the case, then why did they need to keep it. They said they had to, but as a consolation offered me a photocopy of my supposedly 'expired' E111. This showed that they had over-stamped it with so many local stamps that many of the details were now illegible so it would have been useless anywhere else. At that stage I gave up and applied for another E111 when I got back to the UK. I wonder if my E111 is still lodged in that local office and whether I can go and view it in 2020 when the thirty-year secrecy limit has expired.

The man who drove me back to Köln took advantage of the unlimited speeds on the German autobahns (in those days most of which were still only two lanes) and was regularly doing in excess of 190 Kph. We passed a BMW which had hit the central reservation at such a speed that its engine had been gouged out and was left separate from the rest of the car which was turned to face the wrong way into the traffic some metres further on. The driver (I was in the passenger seat, another hitch-hiker, a woman was in the rear) thought I was tired as I kept my eyes closed most of the way, but that was from fear. He covered two-thirds of the length of West Germany in five hours. I have never got farther North in Germany than Essen in the Ruhr. This was the last hitch-hiking I ever did.

Rather embarrassingly despite having visited Munich three times and having written two novels set there, I cannot identify many of the locations featured in the photos I include here. If anyone can let me know where they are I would be very grateful.

Monday 15th May 1989

Today I woke promptly but dozed after breakfast and then walked to the station from where I caught the 09.59 to München. Becky is leaving Augsburg to travel to Innsbruck to see Ashley. On arriving in München around 10.40 I went to the Mitfahr centre just to the South-East of the city centre. I had just missed one lift to Köln but there was another at 15.00 so I went by U-Bahn back to the center of the town and walked through the back streets to the Englisches Garten where I had a lunch of sausages and chips, and, of course the compulsory litre of beer. I then walked through the city taking photos and then caught the car, with a woman as well, to Köln. The weather was much better [by now]. We arrived at 20.30, the driver having gone very fast. The total cost was DM45,- each. Dad said I should travel on a bit but I only have DM170,- left in cash and I have done most of the South of West Germany. I think I will use the Mitfahr to go to the North. I had a MacDonalds then came back. I chatted with Carol then unpacked and talked with Paul, Joss, Fiona and Gabrielle. Then I began reading "The Champion of Garathorn", then letters from "Wirral" Paul and Nick & Julie.

Weather: Sunny and warm, some dull periods.

Opera House [?] in Munich, West Germany in May 1989

Square in Munich, May 1989

Entrance to Weinstraße in Munich, May 1989

Pedestrianised Street in Munich, May 1989

Pagoda in Englisches Garten, Munich, May 1989

Archway Dedicated to the Bavarian Army, Munich, May 1989

Political Posters on Official Noticeboard, Munich, May 1989

I have cropped these two pictures as the background, with numerous men standing around selling cars to each other seemed less interesting than the political posters.

The parties advertised, clockwise, starting at the top left are: CSU [Christian Social Union - the Bavarian branch of the CDU Christian Democratic Union, a conservative party]; SPD [Socialist Party]; No idea, possibly the Grüne Partei [Green Party]; FDP [Free Democratic Party - centrist liberals]; Christliche Mitte [literally Christian Middle presumably a Catholic Party as opposed to the cross-denominational CSU; despite the name it is listed as being right-wing]; Christliche Liga [literally Christian League]; ODP [the Ecological Democratic Party, a green party]; Bayernpartei [The Bavaria Party].

The back of the noticeboard had the more extreme parties advertised, left to right are: DVU [German People's Union - Nationalist]; Die Republikaner [The Republicans - an extreme right-wing party who were gaining strength at the time], FAP [Free Workers' Party - I can find no details about this party, but I assume given the name it was another far right party], MLPD [Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany - a Communist Party; many of the other extreme left parties are missing probably certain of gaining few votes in conservative Bavaria].

20 Years On: Part 1 of Account of Hitch-hiking through southern West Germany

I have said before that I often envy those people in a position to put up accounts and photos of their trips to various parts of the World and last August/September I posted entries from my diary and photos from my trip by train through West Germany and Austria twenty years to the day in 1988. I then thought of another trip that I made it what was then West Germany in May 1989, the only time I ever went on a hitch-hiking trip anywhere. I had been living in Köln since the start of April and was to remain there until late July. This was part of an exchange organised by my university and funded by the European Community's (predecessor of the EU) ERASMUS scheme which apparently still runs today. This meant I took out a term (we had three terms in those days in a university year rather than the semesters of now) and went to study at a German university. My department was very poorly set up for the trip because they expected me still to submit all my course essays from West Germany even though I would be attending lectures there on different subjects rather than my subject lectures back in Britain. They also did not take into consideration that I would miss the examination period, so I had to do the examinations with the people doing resits in September.

I was the only person who applied to go on the trip to West Germany, everyone else knew that it would damage their grades for their degree. I was keen to get away from the house I was sharing where the landlord's step-daughter, a Music student-teacher at our university, who lived there, was making my life a misery. My parents were always nagging me to go abroad, they were constantly trying to get me to emigrate. These reasons are why I broke my promise of the previous September never to set foot in West Germany again. My department had to send me otherwise it would have had to go back to the university to say, no it could not use the grant ERASMUS was giving and it should go to another department. So off I went with very poor German skills. West German universities are in sharp contrast to British ones, there were no personal tutors for pastoral care and students were very much left to themselves. My university was seen as a large one in the UK, with 6,500 students, Köln University had 53,000 students, the English department alone had half as many students as my entire home university.

I was lucky to be allocated a room in the 'foreigners' block' outside the city limits, because the accommodation office, behind a thick, black steel door was only open one hour per day. Being in a suburban area, West of the city, we encountered great prejudice and dealing with the local government bureaucracy took almost the whole of my first month in Köln. The local council took my passport and only returned it when me and other British students got the British consulate in Düsseldorf involved. Government offices in West Germany were only open three hours per day, longer on Thursdays and the staff were openly racist and xenophobic; even the university administration was hostile to foreign students and one woman staffing the desk in the university registry told me, English, 'get back on the ferry!', I said 'Das ist nicht möglich!' (that is not possible) which I think was a twist of a quote. Ironically I had almost ended up in the West German Army (the Bundeswehr) because I was at Köln station the day young men were being sent off to their military camps and I was there aged 21 with a suitcase and they assumed I was only pretending to be British to escape national service. I fled on the first local train I could get on having been pursued by the Feldjäger (Military Police).

While in Köln I attended a conference about the ERASMUS exchange system which asked why only 1 British student came to West Germany for every 8 West German students who went to British universities. I was able to give them a long list of reasons not only from personal experience. Since then I have read loads of articles about how difficult and depressing it is to go abroad during your degree, because university is handled so differently in various countries. For the British it is the toughest as our universities have the best pastoral care and we are the least travelled people of any country sending students abroad. The liaison women for me and other British students, Monika, described going to a West German university as like 'being parachuted into jungle warfare' and I could not describe it better myself.

I was so depressed by my reception that I tried to hang myself on the second day that I was at the university. The only reason why I stepped down from where I was standing on the foot of my bed with the noose around my neck, tied to a hook in the ceiling was that I had been given £670 by ERASMUS and received a grant of £280 per term all of which went on my rent of the room. I thought I might as well spend the ERASMUS money before killing myself. Being in the foreigners' block (well, in fact blocks, they were two 13-storey blocks of rooms) meant that there were a lot of British and Irish and foreigner-friendly Germans around and I made a good group of friends, I nicknamed 'The Raj'. Even though they were all doing German or French & German degrees they rarely spoke German and never attended many classes so we spent our time drinking beer, partying and picnicking. I embarrassed myself attending classes as I could not properly understand even what our liaison woman, Monika, was saying and in the Politics classes I taught, which were taught in English, the tutors could not understand my English accent.

Anyway with £670 of ERASMUS money, £280 of British local education authority money and £250 brought and sent from home, after the first month, I was able to have an enjoyable, drunken time and survived to return to the UK. My university had worried I would 'go native' and stay in West Germany and get a job (apparently one predecessor of mine had been found working on a pig farm). However, the opposite was the case. Without the bribe I would have come home after the first week. My treatment in West Germany built up such a resentment, that though I made friends I have kept in contact up until the 2000s, I swore not to return. I did not go abroad again for six years and I did not go back to Germany until 2004, by which time it was no longer West Germany and the scars of the trip had been able to heal a little. The trip did purge me of any desire to live abroad again and I ignored all the pressure from my parents to emigrate. When I foolishly took a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) qualification, I realised I could only get a job teaching in Britain as the thought of being alone in some European city utterly terrified me, to the extent that completing the course I had nightmares about being back in Köln during that first month.

Anyway, this is a huge background to what is going to be an account of a very short trip. In May 1989, Becky one of the other British students there, wanted to go and visit her boyfriend who was on a similar trip in Innsbruck in Austria. She also wanted to visit friends from her home university who were at universities across southern West Germany. She did not have the money for a train ticket (and being in West Germany we could not get an Inter-Rail ticket which would cover West Germany, there was always that home country rule) but she was an incredibly experienced hitch-hiker having been all over Europe and experiencing lots of exploits which I may recount on another occasion, but she wanted someone (male or female) to travel with her for safety. I had intended to go to Hamburg (though in fact given there was only 5 months until the Berlin Wall came down I should have gone to West Berlin) but agreed to accompany her, so for the second time in 8 months I set off for Freiburg-am-Breisgau but this time hitch-hiking. I fell in love with the town again and foolishly, not yearning for Melissa this time, dreamt of meeting a nice German woman and having a family there. Given the hostility I experienced in West Germany even attempting something like that would have led to more abuse than even the level I have experienced in my town here in the UK.

Hitch-hiking was very common for students in those days, my university's students' union ran sponsored hitch-hikes across Europe for charity, but it was something that terrified me and Becky's stories did not help. Anyway, even though this trip was trouble-free I never did it again, probably sensible given my luck.

I remember Becky was annoyed because the first man, in his early thirties, who gave us a lift invited us to a wedding for when we got back to Köln, but I refused to go as I found such a random invitation embarrassing and had no desire to attend a wedding of strangers speaking a language, which, by now I knew for certain I would never grasp. The second man was surprised to find Becky spoke German and was British, he assumed we were Dutch. He said to us in flawless English that he had heard that in Britain 'only fools and spies speak foreign languages'.



Thursday 11th May 1989

Today I woke up at 07.00 but fell back to sleep and re-woke at 08.15. After breakfast I met up with Becky and we went to the main road to hitch to Freiburg. We were lucky as after only thirty minutes we got a lift to the motorway and then from the service station from a middle-aged ITT employee to just outside Karlsruhe and he was very friendly and bought us some tea and gave us an atlas. Then we had a lorry driver to just outside Freiburg and from there to the centre of town in a battered Mercedes and then by tram to Becky's friend's Sara's hall. Then after chatting we went to the youth hostel which was almost completely full up. Then we went to a studenty pub and had some pasta. We then walked around town looking in the shops and returned to the pub where we were joined by Sara and her boyfriend Peter, then went to another pub. Then I came back to the youth hostel by taxi; Becky is staying in Sara's room.

Weather: Rainy at first, dry later, mild.

River Valley outside Freiburg-am-Breisgau, West Germany in May 1989

This was the 'noisy' river which ran passed the youth hostel. You can see how shallow it is despite its breadth and make out some of the stones on the bottom that made it so noisy.

20 Years On - Part 16 of Account of Travelling by Train Around West Germany and Austria

Fortunately I was able to get away from the holiday very quickly, but that meant I did not fully learn the lessons of what I had done wrong or that my holidays were always going to be blighted by things that were going to be unpleasant and cost more money. Reflecting now, I think I was fortunate that I had no money to go on holidays in the 1990s because I am sure that if I had done, I would have many more bitter accounts of this kind and I would have turned into an utter xenophobe as a result of such trips. Anyway, this was the last time I ever tried to go inter-railing.

Tuesday 6th September 1988
Today I woke early and walked to the station and was able to buy some more chocolate and the stamps for the last five postcards which I had written this morning to the Sussex family, Neil, Robin, Mark and Andrew M. there. I was able to catch the 09.08 train and it cost only DM32,-. I reached Oostende by 14.00 and caught the jetfoil for only £6.40. I was at Victoria by 16.04 British time and was home by 18.00. I then unpacked and sat around talking about my trip with Mum and Dad. Following that I watched television.


Weather: Sunny and warm.

20 Years On - Part 15 of Account of Travelling by Train Around West Germany and Austria

This was the day I swore I would never return to West Germany. I was so furious at the lost of my Inter-Rail ticket and the German bureaucracy that all the problems with the frosty reception I had often received came out at once. Ironically of course I would return in January of the following year, but I think this marked the day when any fantasy of ever living or working abroad or having a relationship with a European woman (and as a result of this trip, I began to start using the British distinction between Britain and Europe) were all ruled out. Of course I was going to experience far worse than this when I went to Köln for four months in 1989, which I did more to escape what I was having to put up with in the UK than because I was any kind of enthusiast for West Germany. I also realised that my attempts at speaking German, which had been a key motive for the holiday, were a farce as was to be proved in the examinations the following Summer. I stopped even bothering to try to speak German which made dealings with the police on this day very complicated. Trying to read the counter-foil which I had been promised would get me a replacement Inter-Rail ticket, the police, who seemed to have no other work to do, totally misunderstood the layout of British addresses and filled in their form saying that I had bought the ticket in the town of 'Travel'. One officer plaintively asked if I spoke even a little German and I said I did not and (accurately) that very few British people did. Given the size of the town they oversaw (135,000 people), popular with British coach tours through West Germany, they seemed incredibly ill-prepared for even this minor incident. I broke down into tears in the railway station when I was told I had to wait 3 days for a replacement ticket and was so angry with the elderly women who patronised me so severely about how there was no need to cry. I am still angered by the memory of their behaviour to this day. The people at the train office seemed startled that I did not want to stay in Würzburg and wanted to get out of the town as quickly as possibly. I could not have stayed anyway as there was a limit of three nights you could stay in a hostel and I had already used up one of them.



This day shook me clear of many of the delusions that I had been travelling under, but unfortunately not enough to avoid making many of the same errors and many new ones, the following year. It was also incredibly frustrating, because though Würzburg is a comparatively small place, I kept getting terribly lost and trying to get back to the youth hostel I found myself back at the square close to the railway station from where I had started out. I broke down in tears on the telephone to my mother, feeling I was trapped in something out of 'The Prisoner' television series.





Monday 5th September 1988

Today I woke up promptly and walked to the station where I found that I had lost my inter-rail card so I walked back to the youth hostel but could not find it, so I took my counterfoil to the station and they sent me to the police station where I had a form filled in which I took back to the station where they told me I would have to wait three days. By now I was annoyed and upset. I decided to catch the train to Köln and telephoned home. The fare was less than two days stay in Würzburg, DM85,- [compared] to DM120,-. I left at 12.00 and was in Köln by 16.00 where I bought presents - a coffee table book on the Rhine for Mum and for Dad a beer glass and a beer mug and an illustrated "The Communist Manifesto". I also bought some chocolate. Then I went back, unloaded all that and walked to the cinema where I watched "The Blues Brothers" which was excellent and cheered me up. I then walked back to the youth hostel.



Weather: Dull and rainy.

20 Years On - Part 4 of Account of Travelling by Train Around West Germany and Austria

On reaching Koblenz for the first time (of three occasions) I stayed in a youth hostel which was part of a castle. The room I was allocated was underground literally cut into the cliff of the Rhine valley and looking out across the River Rhine to the monument to German unity (which I had visited on a school trip in 1983 but had entirely forgotten). I always thought the creatures on it looked more akin to South American iconography than anything German. Like many youth hostels it was a long walk from the town which lies down a steep climb and across the river. Self-conscious of my poor language skills and the pretty frosty reception I was receiving from Germans I avoided buses for fear of making a mistake, so walked everywhere. I was wearing basketball boots and by this stage realised I had bought the Matchstick brand ones that an American friend of mine had particularly warned against because they were so poor quality. My pair barely lasted my holiday. My feet are incredibly soft and it was only when I started cycling on holiday rather than walking places that my holidays were not a constant round of having to put on blister plasters, though even then I made the same mistake on a visit to Prague and Dresden in 2003 (and got bad flu too).

Note the Romanesque style church, a common style for churches in the Rhineland region, seen in the next posting in Mainz, but also present throughout Köln and other towns and cities of the region.

Thursday 25th August 1988

Today I woke up early and went to the station, there were loads of people at breakfast. I caught the 09.00 train and had a scenic trip down the Rhine Valley. I reached Koblenz by 10.50. I decided to walk across the town. I looked in the Middle Rhine museum and at the Eck-Monument to German unity. Then I walked along the bank, over to the other bank and up the steep hill to the Ehrenbreitstein Castle, which, surprisingly, contained the youth hostel. I sat around talking and then looked around the Land museum - an industrial museum for Rheinland-Pfalz Land. I had dinner in the youth hostel then sat around talking.

Weather: Some sun, some rain.

Ludwig Museum in Koblenz, August 1988

Parts of the Monument to German Unity in Koblenz, August 1988

Koblenz Youth Hostel Seen across River Rhine, August 1988

Romanesque Style Church in Koblenz, August 1988

Entrance to Koblenz Youth Hostel, August 1988

View from Room in Koblenz Youth Hostel Looking North-West, August 1988

View from Room in Koblenz Youth Hostel Looking South-West, August 1988

Note Monument to German Unity in the Foreground

20 Years On - Part 3 of Account of Travelling by Train Around West Germany and Austria

I have been up the spires of Cologne Cathedral three times in my life and each time it has got easier. On this occasion I was fine while I was going up the spiral staircase of the tower, but then you come outside within the pierced spire and there is a metal staircase and I was so terrified that I could only take it step by step with my eyes closed. There is a one-way system up and down the spires so I could not turn back. I had not been so terrified since February 1981 when on a school trip in a very snowy Paris and three friends had decided to walk up the Eifel Tower but had run ahead leaving me to cling to the framework as I hauled myself to the second level (all that was open at that time of year) and then get a lift down. I should have got off at the first level but thought foolishly that I could catch them up. They were far less fearful with one jumping from landing to landing as they walked back down. The Wallfraf-Richartz-Ludwig museum has now been divided between two venues in the city, one is still in the location next to the cathedral where I visited it in 1988.

Wednesday 24th August 1988

Today I woke early and went on a whole day of sightseeing. I did the cathedral which was excellent and went right to the top, even though I was almost literally scared stiff. Then I went to the Romano-German museum which had exquisite Roman glass and jewellery. I looked in the Walraff-Richartz-Ludwig art gallery which had fascinating paintings. I had pasta for lunch in a Berni inn then walked miles to the Flora Park - looked at the tropical and cool houses, then to the Zoo which was disappointing but had a good aquarium, reptilium and insectrium. I walked back and slept with sore feet. I discussed politics with a German and popped out for a pizza before coming back to bed early.

Weather: Sunny at first, dull and rain later.

Köln Cathedral Seen through Riverside Gardens, August 1988

Entrance to Köln Cathedral, August 1988

View from Köln Cathedral, August 1988

Entrance to Köln Flora Park, August 1988

Parrots at Köln Zoo, August 1988

20 Years On - Part 2 of Account of Travelling by Train Around West Germany and Austria

My first full day in West Germany and I managed to lose my hat. Years later I remembered I had untied it from my rucksack (I had gone for a dark blue metal framed one which was old fashioned even in 1988) when I stopped by a picnic table outside the youth hostel to take a photo of the hostel. It had come from the Perigord region of South-West France and was the style farmers wore there, similar to Australian military hats. I wonder what happened to it. I was to miss it in the sunnier days to come. A 'gyros' is a German equivalent of a doner kebab in Britain.

The picture of a tram stop might seem strange but in 1988 there were no serious tram services in the UK at all, only holiday ride ones, so seeing something like a tram station in the middle of the streets was rare for a Briton.

Tuesday 23rd August 1988

I woke up about 07.00, had breakfast then walked with Ian into town. We looked at the Rathaus and the Cathedral and walked around town before going onto the station. I went back to the hostel as I had lost my hat, but in vain. I caught the bus back to the station then the train to Köln-Deutz and quickly found the large hostel. I watched some television. This evening I wandered into town and was very impressed, there are numerous trendy art and bookshops; the cathedral is stunning. I went to an eight screen cinema and saw "Crocodile Dundee II" which was quite good. I had another gyros and a litre of beer. I met Steve and Dave, two English from the youth hostel, we walked around town and had a drink then came home. The reception here was similar, though the German people are very friendly at the [youth hostel] Reception they are cool and intolerant to people's attempts at German. They are warm to other Germans.

Weather: Sunny and warm.

Aachen Market, August 1988

Statues in Aachen, August 1988

Tram Stop in Deutz Area of Köln

Köln Cathedral Seen from East Bank of the Rhine, August 1988