A mere four weeks after the Pauli weekender, we headed back out to Germany. The fixture list had offered a combination of matches that was too good to pass up. This time, we flew over but train or plane, some things never change:
After negotiating our way to Stansted without too many hitches we settled into our first pint of the trip, the first time in my life I've had a beer at 5am!
After sorting our toothpaste into see through bags and other things you have to do to pass security, we were finally let onto the plane. Neil promptly fell asleep.
I picked a seat by the window and enjoyed some great views along the way. People think all clouds are the same but there are actually many different varieites with names like cirrus and cumulonimbus.
Landing at Weeze airport there were buses everywhere, except Weeze. So we went to Kevelaer instead, before making our way by train past Krefeld to Aachen. In Krefeld, Neil bought a Schoko-Wuppe.
In Aachen, we checked into the hotel and then kitted ourselves up for the game ahead.
First of all though, Carpy took us on the mandatory tour of roadworks...
affordable houses
and Aachen Cathedral...
...before we made our usual pit stop in Konig City. 
After a quick drink we took the bus up to Tivoli for our first match of the weekend.
We picked our spots by the gangway at the back of the Wurselener Wall and admired the acres of beautiful terracing.
Despite pushing for promotion, SpVgg had not bought many fans with them. Instead, they filled out the guest sector with a giant shirt.
The usual round of club anthems included 'Football's Coming Home' which we resisted the urge to sing along to.
Our spot by the gangway proved to be an excellent choice. Every few minutes an beer advert appeared on the scoreboard. Pete took this as cue and got himself beer after beer all game long.
The goals flowed just as readily. Two Szilard Nemeth strikes for Alemannia were cancelled out by five for the visitors. SpVgg were superb and certainly showed why they are so high in the table.
After the game we headed back to KC for more KP. Pete was quite merry by now.
Neil was just being wierd
Boo
I was just plain cold 
It was a bright and early start the next day as we had a long trip ahead of us to Frankfurt. You can travel from Aachen to Frankfurt in under two hours by the fast train. We chose the budget option and got ourselves a Schones-Wochenende.
After some breakfast we took turns to get some sleep.
Our train took the scenic route down towards Siegen, which is one of Barnet's twin towns.
On the way we passed the world's largest railway station. Look at how many platforms there are at Wissen!
At Siegen our quiet journey was interrupted by the Bochum crew, and the rest of the journey to Frankfurt was played under the constant beat of the drum. On arrivial at Frankfurt Hbf, we had a civilsed meal, complete with a knife and fork.
From the Hbf, it was a short trip on the S-Bahn out to the Waldstadion.
Having made our way up to the ticket office, we discovered that they didn't actually have our tickets. Finally negotiating the language barrier, it transpired that they were in a different ticket office at the other end of the forest.
3/4 hour later we were finally kitted up and so made our way to the stadium.
In many regards, the Germans battle against the commercialisation of the game has been very successful, with low ticket prices and traditions such as Saturday afternoon football having been defended, through campaigns like Pro-1530. One area that fans have had less joy is in retaining traditional stadium names, many now bearing the mark of their sponsors. The Frankfurter Waldstadion is a case in point.
That said, the Waldstadion is a decent ground 
Frankfurt are widely regarded as having the best set of fans in the Bundesliga. The Westtribune in particular made a colourful show with some decent choreos.
The club mascot is a Golden Eagle - a real one watches all the games!
The visitor block.
The first half was disappointing, with Bochum playing a stifling game. Frankfurt scored shortly after the break and looked set for victory before the games big talking point. A quickly taken Mimoun Azaough free-kick bought Bochum level - forty-five thousand whistles for the last twenty minutes giving the feeling that the home fans weren't too impressed with the decision. Bochum were happy with the point, though.
Afterwards, we met up with Dan & Sven.
We headed back into Frankfurt and checked into our hotel. Frankfurt gave a decent night out, with a nice pub and Tina the barmaid. 
Frankfurt is the financial centre of Germany and home of the European Central Bank. The skyline bears a striking resemblance to New York.
Sunday 9th March: 1. FC Koln v TUS Koblenz Another early start, another Schones-Wochenende and a trip back to Cologne awaited us.
We passed through Wiesbaden. SV Wehen Wiesbaden are a team in the second division; Pete knows their centre forward having congratulated him on scoring the winner at Osnabruck.
We travelled up the Rhine Valley, one of the most picturesque regions of Germany full of gothic old castles. This was a trip back in time for me, to the previous world cup when these towns came alive to the tune of 'God Save the Queen'.
We changed in Kolbenz, where today's visitors came from. The new train was a bit of a squeeze.
Into Cologne, we got ourselves some lunch... 
and John met Miss Yum.
Cologne's massive Dom.
After faffing about a bit we managed to find the tram to the stadium, which was set in a big park on the edge of the city.
It was another corporate stadium 
with the merchandising stools doing a roaring trade.
The stadium is fairly distinctive, with a Wembley Way style footpath to the stadium, and tall pillars in each corner.
The stands were very steep and our seats were in the second to top row in the South Stand.
An interesting feature was that the seats had protective barriers in front of them, so you wouldn't fall over when celebrating a goal. How sensible.
What was less sensible was the stadium card that you needed to get in order to be able to buy food or beer. Not that this stopped Pete who bought a round for himself. 
Away fans
Home fans
The game was fairly tight, with Koln winning 1-0 to maintain their promotion push. After the game, we headed back into the city, where the bus to Hahn airport was waiting for us.
A tiring two hour journey later, we made it to the airport. Having passed through security I realised I'd lost my camera, leaving it in the restuarant upstairs. I was in shock.
Thankfully, it had been picked up and handed in to the info point. At this point I realised that my car and house keys were in the camera case too. What a relief. 
The flight back was fairly uneventful, and after dropping everyone back I finally got home at 1.30am. 
