"Cologne in a nutshell. . ." For those of you who have never been to Cologne, we have assembled some facts to give you a quick start—especially if you are from other countries than Germany.

Tourist attractions (The "Must-Have" Sightseeing stuff)

• The cathedral ("Dom") bearing a shrine containing the relics of the Three Kings (yep - the 3 guys who brought the gifts at Bethlehem in that very same night. . .)
• Typical cologne beer "Kölsch" and traditional breweries/pubs. We will make sure to have enough of that beer for the after show evenings at Warpstock, by the way.
• The Cologne Street Carnival ("Karneval"). Now, hmm. . . how to explain a public madness. . . just imagine Mardigras "with a vengeance:" Lasting three days in a row (or 6 days if you start soon and hold on to it. . .). Unfortunately, this does not take place during our event but rather in February.
• The river "Rhein" (rhine, rijn, rhin) that runs through the town. Hmm. . . Oh, by the way, did you know that if you drown in the Rhein at Cologne, you'll arrive in Arnhem some days later?
• Museums: Lots. Specials: The "German sports and Olympics museum" and the "Chocolate museum." Both are even quite close to one another and not too far from the event site.

The technical stuff.

• The german name for Cologne is "Köln"
  (Where Umlauts are not available, it's "Koeln".)
• Close to the former capital Bonn (approx. 25 km) and quite close to the town of Düsseldorf (approx. 50 km)
• Population: 1 million (20% non-german residents, 68000 students)
  Among the non-german residents, it's mostly people from Turkey. Other nationalities. . . well, to be honest, I believe that among the Cologne citizens you'll find people from almost every country on earth.
• 4th largest town in Germany (by population)
  After Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich.
• Cologne's university is the largest one in Germany (by 48000 students in 2005/2006). The university of applied sciences (Fachhochschule) adds another 20000 students.

Background information

• Language: Many people at Cologne talk a local dialect named "Kölsch," although the number is slightly declining like with all regional idioms in Europe. (Right: The dialect is called just like the beer. This is because "Kölsch" is derived from an adbverb meaning "from Cologne.")
• The towns name is originating from the Romans—or the Latin language to be exact—and refers to the fact that the Roman empress Agrippina set up a "Colony" (Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium) here in the year 50 a.D.
  Hmm. At Cologne, people prefer to think that actually it was a colony established by some roman soldiers who where fed up walking and fighting day-in, day-out. They preferred drinking and being left in peace—so they settled down here and founded a city.
  Which pretty much describes what life is like in Cologne today. :-)
• History:
  Oh no... come on! Over 2000 years of history on this site? ;-) Better check out the Wikipedia page about Cologne...

Technical stuff about Germany in general:

• Currency: Euro (1 € = 1.29 $US approx.)
• Standards: Metric system
  (miles->kilometers, feet->meters, pounds->(kilo)grams, etc.)
• Time format: Military (e.g., 6pm = 18:00)
• Numbers: "Decimal-point is comma" (for those knowing COBOL programming) and "dots" can be used for scaling (not mandatory).
  Example: "Two-Thousand-Twenty-Five and a tenth" looks like this: 2.025,10
• Phone code: +49
  For international calls from Germany using, e.g., public phones dial 00 (double zero) then the country code (except where noted).
• Time zone: CET (called "MEZ" in Germany)
  Germany uses the central european daylight savings time (DST).
• Power voltage: 230V AC, 50Hz

A word from the author: Well just like the saying: "We have all you need. If there's something we don't have, you probably don't need it."

Okay, seriously... take a glance at Koeln.de. This is just one page. All is said. Maybe go for "history" if you want. This will give you a quick impression of what Cologne is like.

Cologne is a vibrant yet cool city. Of course we have the same problems that exist in all large cities. What makes Cologne special is the way people deal with it. We don't take life too serious. Except for some ridiculous details in sports or politics that might vary from time to time. . .
Due to its history, the town of Cologne has been a "melting pot of cultures" for almost the last 2000 years. And is still today. If there is one thing that we people of Cologne are proud of TODAY, it surely is the fact that we have 20% of citizens that come from countries all around the world, making up a genuine mixture of cultures, forming an uncomparable climate of tolerance and breeding a very unique lifestyle.

Welcome to Warpstock Europe - and welcome to my hometown!