Now we come to the final part of our little quest through the city of Amphi.
Nights out
Do you know, that this year Amphi is not the only festival that is taking place in Cologne?
The Art Of Dark days have been scheduled as well. What? Two dark scene festivals on the same dates in the same city? Yes, you got it right. We visited “Art of Dark” shop to ask Kämpfer (the organiser) if he can tell us more about it.
There are various concerts planned for all the three days of the weekend. The list of the bands is varying, from good old 'House of Usher' to electronic newcomers like 'X-O-Planet', including some rock gothic cover bands on Sunday.
And if you do not know yet the German word “Biergarten” it is time to learn it. Kämpfer promised a 'motley black' Biergarten between the Cage (ex. Lalic) club and Art of Dark place. He also thinks that Art of Dark days gives an opportunity to attend concerts other than Amphi, meet the local scene and do some dark shopping. You can freely combine your concerts and party wishes, separately or as an abonnement. By the way the Rathenauplatz (in front of Art of Dark) is a green relaxing zone and it is really nice to take an apero there watching the stars and discussing the world, the universe and the rest.
The other cool clubs to hang out in Cologne include Blue Shell, Luxor, MTC, Underground and Live Music hall. Some signature pubs like Soylent Green and a punk bar Stiefel.
A bit of Steampunk? Yes, please. In the old city centre Papa Joe`s Bar is a very atmospheric pub and you will appreciate the beers and the decoration made of clockwork mechanisms and musical instruments. If you have more spare time Odonien will give you creeps with it’s post apocalyptic mood, weird statues, electric vibes at the car cemetery (see the pictures illustrating the article). If you are also a fan of good old metal Valhalla is one of the places to visit just to see the 'headbanging disco zone'.
If you have kids, they will surely like the nerdy science adventure centre Odysseum, Kölner Zoo or Gerdtrudenhof (farmer’s place:).
That's all folks! But never enough free space to refer all the places we love.
If you feel that I missed something do not hesitate to look up at koeln.de Tageskalender, Stadrevue for events and prinz-koeln.de for their top listings..
For public transportation if you are not alone I really advise you to use a day ticket for 5 people (zone 1B) - even if there are only two of you the deal is more advantageous than a single day ticket. Caution! You can only buy them with metal money from the vending machine (or online, or at a KVB vending points at Neumarkt and Hauptbahnhof), so keep some coins in your pocket before you step on the tram. And no worries - the trams run once per hour the whole night.
That is all for today and I have a feeling that I can predict the future. Amphi or not you will not get bored. ;) Have a lot of fun this weekend of July 2017 and see you at Amphi.
P.S. I would like to thank Kämpfer (Art of Dark), Florian W. (Local friend), Balaji and Florian F. from CS Cologne for their numerous advices and for keeping us up to date.
