Tue 22 – Sun 27 September 2026
Cologne + Düsseldorf — DMEXCO 2026
Your own guide for six days in two cities: three working days in Cologne (a pre-event on Tuesday evening, DMEXCO on Wednesday and Thursday, a panel on Wednesday night, your stage pitch on Thursday), then a family weekend in Düsseldorf. Every local and regional leg below runs on the Deutschlandticket; the only paid tickets are the two ICEs, and both are booked.
The four places in Cologne
Everything sits on one line across the Rhine. The hotel and Tuesday's event are in the Mediapark, one S-Bahn stop west of the main station. The fair is one stop east of it, on the other bank. Wednesday's panel venue is in the student quarter south-west of the centre, 1.9 km from the hotel.
Before you go
Ask Moritz under whose name the Motel One room is booked
The room is confirmed twice over (the DMEXCO plan doc lists you in the room assignment; Moritz wrote on 21 Sep that the Motel One is "8min by train from the main station"), but no booking reference in your name exists in any mailbox. One Slack line to Moritz tonight saves a discussion at the desk. His group reaches Köln Hbf at 13:46, you at 14:05.
Decline the six meetings that sit inside the trip
All still accepted on the work calendar: Wed prep blocker 14:30 and Open Doors WPI 15:00 · Thu Weekly Team Lead Standup 13:30, ten minutes after your stage pitch ends · Fri (your approved vacation day) Mia 11:00, 1-1 Sven 13:00, Celebrate 15:00.
Put €100 cash in the wallet
Cologne's best old places do not take cards: Lommerzheim is cash only, Habibi is cash only, Päffgen takes no credit cards. Your standard €100 covers all three with room to spare.
Tell Martin and Rita when you arrive on Thursday
Ask whether they are cooking on Thursday: if yes you are at the door around 19:30, if you eat in Cologne first around 20:30. Your calendar blocker for Düsseldorf only starts Friday; the plan you gave Tina was "Do – Sa beim Martin". Landline +49 211 6986059, Martin mobile +49 160 98038350.
Nudge Tina for the website material
You asked on 17 Sep for a business plan or notes to prepare Sunday morning's session; she answered "Ich versuche es!" on 18 Sep and nothing has arrived. The MacBook comes along either way.
Open the DMEXCO app once
The ticket is digital and personalised, order dmexco2026.97.7592.8275. It lives in the DMEXCO app, and by your own calendar note also in Apple Wallet. Check tonight that it opens without a network connection. One networking request has been pending on the platform since 14 Sep. The fair Wi-Fi login is a QR code in Wednesday's plan.
Pack for two trips in one bag
Six days means the EXP45 plus the sling, count of two at every transfer. Booth clothes for Wed and Thu (Moritz is sorting out a college jacket in your size), private clothes for the weekend. Mornings are 8 to 10 °C, Thursday brings showers and gusts, Saturday reaches 25 °C: a light jacket, a compact rain shell, short sleeves. MacBook and charger for the pitch and for Tina's website. BahnCard 25, photo ID, Deutschlandticket in the app.
The days
Jump to: Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Wi-Fi QR Transit table Food
Tuesday, 22 September
Leave Methfesselstraße
U1 from Mangfallplatz to Hauptbahnhof, about 30 minutes door to platform. It is Oktoberfest week, so the station hall is fuller than usual even in the morning; the extra five minutes are for that.
ICE 610 München Hbf → Köln Hbf 4 h 37
Platform 14. Coach 4, seat 37, 2nd class, open-plan section. Order 418154161740. Super Sparpreis: this train only, unless it runs 20 minutes or more late, then any train. Arrives 14:05 on platform 4. Show the ticket with BahnCard and photo ID.
One stop to the hotel, about 15 minutes door to door
S-Bahn (the green S signs) from platform 11, section B–C: S6, S11, S12 or S19, every 4 to 6 minutes. You want the westbound train, the one whose display shows Hansaring as the next stop; the trains on the opposite track go to Köln Messe/Deutz. One stop, two minutes. From Hansaring it is 600 m on foot, walking route here. If the S-Bahn is a mess, walking from the main station is 1.2 km, 22 minutes. Deutschlandticket. S6 and S11 run normally inside Cologne all week; the construction you will read about on Thursday only starts north of Köln-Mülheim.
Motel One Köln-Mediapark, bag drop
Am Kümpchenshof 2, 50670 Köln, +49 221 270751-0. Check-in is from 15:00, so expect to leave the bag and come back. Two nights including breakfast, booked by Moritz for the group; if the desk cannot find you, the booking is under his or Baqend's name, and he is a Slack message away. Check-out Thursday by 12:00.
Late lunch — Feinripp & Gold or Päffgen
Keep it small, tonight's event feeds you. Feinripp & Gold, Ehrenstraße 43c, 15 minutes on foot: two former fine-dining chefs making sandwiches, the ossobuco one with truffle mayo is the order, about €17, walk-in. It is the sandwich Cologne's biggest food YouTuber took Bernd Zehner to. Or the first Kölsch of the trip at Päffgen, Friesenstraße 64–66, 10 minutes on foot, open from noon, no credit cards. Coffee afterwards at Kaffeesaurus, Friesenplatz 15, own roastery, open until 19:00.
Back to the hotel, check in, change
KI braucht Köpfe, the DMEXCO pre-event 17:00–22:00 · registered
STARTPLATZ, Im Mediapark 5, a four-minute walk from the hotel (260 m). Run by BVDW Academy and Stapelfux Akademie: a talk on AI and the job market, then structured networking between companies looking for AI people and people with AI skills. Food and drinks included. You signed up yourself in August; BVDW sent its one-week reminder to your work address on 15 Sep. Event page.
Four minutes home
Still hungry or still talking: Päffgen pours until midnight, ten minutes away. Mangal on Weidengasse grills until at least 01:00, twelve minutes on foot.
Wednesday, 23 September
Breakfast at the hotel, included
To the fair, about 30 minutes to the stand
The stand is staffed from 10:00; leaving at 09:00 puts you there around 09:30. Walk 600 m to Hansaring, then any S-Bahn from platform 2 (S6, S11, S12, S19), two stops: Köln Hbf, then Köln Messe/Deutz. Every 4 to 6 minutes, five minutes on the train. Follow the signs to Eingang Süd (south entrance), three minutes from the platform, and scan the ticket there. Inside, the central boulevard runs north to Hall 7, which sits at the far end of the grounds; allow ten minutes for it. "7.1" is simply hall 7; it has one level, so there is no upstairs to search. The DMEXCO ticket includes a ticket for the Cologne transit network (VRS); you do not need it, the Deutschlandticket already covers everything.
DMEXCO, Hall 7.1, stand F040 stand staffed 10–18
Koelnmesse, Messeplatz 1. The fair is open to visitors 09:00 to 18:30 today. Lunch without losing an hour: Deutzer Brauhaus inside Deutz station (Ottoplatz 7, open from 11:00, cards reportedly accepted), ten minutes from Eingang Süd. With 90 minutes and cash: Lommerzheim, see Thursday.
Fair Wi-Fi: scan, or press and hold the code
Network DMEXCO_intelligence
Password Scaling_DMEXCO_Intelligence2026
From Moritz's message of 21 Sep in #dmexco-2026. He wrote "Username" and "Passwort"; at DMEXCO every booked stand connection comes with its own preconfigured access point, so the code treats the first value as the network name. If no network of that name shows up at the stand, the two values are a login for a sign-in page instead: join the fair network that opens such a page and paste them with the copy buttons. Ask Moritz which network he means.
Leave the stand for ONA MOR, one tram, no change
Walk back down the boulevard and out through Eingang Süd to the tram stop Bf Deutz/Messe. It is underground, reached through the pedestrian tunnel at Deutz station: follow the signs for Stadtbahn lines 1 and 9 and go downstairs. Allow 15 minutes from the stand. Take line 1 signed Weiden West or Moltkestr. (at this hour every second tram ends at Moltkestraße, which is your stop anyway), one every 4 to 6 minutes. Five stops: Deutzer Freiheit, Heumarkt, Neumarkt, Rudolfplatz, Moltkestraße, 11 minutes. From the platform on Aachener Straße walk 450 m south, six minutes, to Roonstraße 94, walking route here. Door to door about 35 minutes, so you arrive around 18:15. 18:00 is the latest you can leave the stand and still make 18:40. Deutschlandticket.
If line 1 is disrupted: line 9 towards Sülz from the same stop, five stops to Zülpicher Platz, 11 minutes, then 750 m north along Roonstraße, ten minutes on foot. Do not take a taxi to save time. It costs €22 to €28, takes 20 to 35 minutes in fair traffic across the bridge, and is not faster than the tram. Uber, Bolt and FREENOW all work in Cologne if the trams stop entirely.
Hungry, and out of the stand by 17:40 sharp? Then take line 9 instead and eat on the way: Habibi, Zülpicher Straße 28, is 200 m from the Zülpicher Platz stop. A shawarma or falafel wrap and the free cinnamon tea, cash only, fifteen minutes. From there it is 680 m, nine minutes on foot, up Roonstraße to the venue. Leaving later than 17:40, skip it and take line 1: the panel evening has finger food, but only after 20:15.
Meet the panel guests at ONA MOR Roonstraße 94, 50674 Köln
ONA MOR is a cocktail bar (+49 221 16874524), hired for the evening by KPS for its side event "Aus Gesprächen wird Zukunft". You are one of the panelists. As a bar it normally opens at 20:00 and the event opens to guests at 19:00, so at 18:40 say you are on the panel and ask for Steve Leichsenring, the KPS organiser, or for the moderator, Stefan Wenzel. 19:00 doors and welcome drinks · 19:15 welcome · 19:45 panel, moderated by Stefan Wenzel · 20:15 networking, drinks, finger food · ends 23:00. Every panelist gets about five minutes. KPS wants to talk agentic commerce; Moritz's advice from last year's round is to build a bridge from each question to Speed Kit. Benedikt Kirch (OBI) has confirmed he is coming, and OBI's contract renewal runs to the end of September, so the conversation after the panel matters more than the five minutes on it. Event page.
Back to the hotel, about 22 minutes
Walk 650 m to Rudolfplatz, the big square on the ring road; the trams stop at street level. Tram 12 (towards Merkenich or Niehl) or 15 (towards Chorweiler), two stops (Friesenplatz, then Christophstr./Mediapark), three minutes, one of them every seven or eight minutes at that hour (22:55, 23:02, 23:10). Then 490 m on foot. Walking all the way is 1.9 km, 29 minutes, and on a dry night that is the nicer option. Zülpicher Straße is the student party mile and a police weapons-ban zone: lively, not dangerous, keep the phone in the front pocket.
Thursday, 24 September
Breakfast, check out, leave by 08:45 with the EXP45
Same route as Wednesday: Hansaring, S-Bahn two stops, Eingang Süd. Check-out is by 12:00 and you will not be back, so the bag travels. First choice: the storage cabin at the stand (Mia's team brings suitcases too, ask her). Second: the cloakroom at the entrance, about €3 per bag; ask what time it closes when you hand the bag over, because today the fair ends at 17:30. Going back to the hotel for it in the evening would cost 40 minutes.
Your pitch: How much revenue is your load time costing you? 13:10–13:20
Ten minutes, slot confirmed by Moritz on 16 Sep; the work calendar calls it "DMEXCO Expo Stage". Which hall that stage is in is not written down anywhere I could read: ask Moritz on Wednesday or look it up in the DMEXCO app, and walk past it once before lunch. Be there by 12:50 with the MacBook, charger and HDMI adapter. The plan is that the SDRs work the audience straight afterwards. The Team Lead Standup at 13:30 collides; decline it today.
Fair closes. One decision: are Martin and Rita cooking?
Ask them when you phone about your arrival. If they are cooking: collect the bag, take the 18:34, be at their door around 19:30. If not: collect the bag first (the cloakroom may shut soon after the fair does), then dinner at Lommerzheim, Siegesstraße 18, twelve minutes on foot from Eingang Süd, then the 19:34, door around 20:30, and tell them that time. The pork chop is as thick as a paperback (€21.90), the Kölsch is Päffgen, the room has not changed since the 1950s. Cash only. Just walk in; the only reservations they take are by answerphone for the 16:30 seating. How long the stand teardown keeps you is the unknown in both versions.
RE5 Köln Messe/Deutz → Düsseldorf Hbf 26–27 min · Deutschlandticket
Board at Köln Messe/Deutz, the railway station three minutes from Eingang Süd, not at the main station. RE means Regional-Express: red regional trains, no reservation, Deutschlandticket valid. Two fast ones an hour: RE5 towards Wesel at :34 from platform 1 (arrives :01), and RE1 towards Hamm at :53 from platform 4 (arrives :19). Both run every hour, 17:34 and 17:53 included, and both arrive on platform 17 in Düsseldorf. Platform numbers are from the planner; the station display has the last word. The full list is under Getting around. The construction between the two cities (until 4 Dec) closes the S-Bahn tracks north of Köln-Mülheim: the S6 does not reach Düsseldorf, and the regional operator's overview lists the S11 as cut between Köln-Worringen and Neuss. Do not plan on an S-Bahn between the cities; the RE trains run normally in your direction.
Düsseldorf Hbf → Grafenberger Allee 74, tram 708, 6 minutes
Leave the station through the main exit, signed Konrad-Adenauer-Platz (the city side); the trams stop on that square in front of the building, not in the underground U-Bahn level. Tram 708 towards Heinrichstraße from Steig 5, at :01, :21 and :41 according to the journey planner for that evening (the stop display decides). Tram 709 leaves from the same platform and turns off after Birkenstraße, so board only the 708. Three stops: Worringer Platz, Birkenstraße, Uhlandstraße. The house is 85 m from the stop, pin here. Deutschlandticket.
The 708 only runs every 20 minutes. From the RE5 (arrives :01) the next tram is :21. From the RE1 (arrives :19) the :21 is too tight with a bag: take any S-Bahn from platform 14 whose next stop reads Wehrhahn (S1, S6 or S11, which all run normally on the Düsseldorf side), one stop, and walk 480 m (9 minutes), or walk the whole way, 1.3 km in 26 minutes. With Thursday's showers and a 45-litre bag, waiting for the tram is the better deal.
Friday, 25 September
Nothing booked, on purpose
Three ideas that fit the three of you, none of them more than a short tram ride away. The Wildpark in the Grafenberger Wald: free, open 09:00 to 19:00, flat paths, deer and wild boar, walkable from the flat. The Kunstpalast opens its Immendorff show today, next to Niki de Saint Phalle, Tue–Sun 11:00–18:00, €17; on some Fridays the collection only opens at 13:00, so look at the visit page in the morning. K20 has Franz Marc. Or the Carlsplatz market (Fri until 18:00) and an Altbier at Uerige, open from 10:00.
Saturday, 26 September
The warm day: Wildpark in the morning, market until 16:00
Carlsplatz closes at 16:00 on Saturdays and is shut on Sunday. The Backstreet Boys play the arena tonight and REHACARE ends today; both load the U78 and U79 north of the centre, not Flingern.
To Tina, Humboldtstraße 70 8 min on foot
560 m from Grafenberger Allee 74. With the bag and no wish to walk: from Uhlandstraße, tram 708 towards Heinrichstraße or U71 towards Rath, one stop to Schillerplatz, about 100 m from her door. Tina's mobile: +49 178 4405471.
Sunday, 27 September
Build Tina's website
Your promise from 17 Sep. Whatever she has sent by then is the brief; if nothing has come, the first half hour is an interview.
Tram 708 to the station, 7 minutes
Stop Schillerplatz, about 100 m from Tina's door. 708 towards Polizeipräsidium, Sundays only every 30 minutes, at :09 and :39 according to the journey planner, four stops. Look at the departure board in the Rheinbahn or DB app before you leave the flat. The 16:09 puts you at the station at 16:16; the 16:39 (arrives 16:46) still works. If you miss both: S-Bahn from the station Düsseldorf Zoo, 350 m away, any train towards Düsseldorf Hbf, every six or seven minutes, two stops (Wehrhahn, then Hbf). On foot it is 1.75 km, 30 minutes.
ICE 1013 Düsseldorf Hbf → München Hbf 4 h 34
Platform 15. Coach 32, seat 37, quiet zone. Order 579147780379. Same fare rule as the way out: this train only, unless it is 20 minutes or more late. Arrives 21:40 on platform 12. It is the end of the second Oktoberfest weekend, the one the Italians come for, so the station will be loud; U1 towards Mangfallplatz, home around 22:15.
Getting around
One rule covers the week: the Deutschlandticket is valid on every S-Bahn, tram, bus and RE train below, in both cities and between them. It is not valid on the two ICEs, which have their own tickets. Inspectors want the ticket in the app plus a photo ID.
| Leg | How | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Köln Hbf ↔ hotel | S6, S11, S12 or S19, one stop to Hansaring (from Hbf: platform 11 B–C, the train showing Hansaring next), then 600 m on foot | ~15 min | Every 4–6 min. Walking all the way: 1.2 km, 22 min. |
| Hotel ↔ STARTPLATZ | Walk | 4 min | 260 m inside the Mediapark. |
| Hotel ↔ fair | Hansaring platform 2, any S-Bahn, two stops to Köln Messe/Deutz, Eingang Süd, boulevard north to Hall 7 | ~30 min | Alternative if the S-Bahn fails: tram 15 from Christophstr./Mediapark one stop to Friesenplatz, then 3 or 4 seven stops to "Koelnmesse" at Eingang Ost. Hall 7 lies at the north end by the site plan; the hall plan in the app settles it. |
| Fair → ONA MOR | Tram 1 → Weiden West or Moltkestr. from Bf Deutz/Messe (underground, via the tunnel at Deutz station), five stops to Moltkestraße, 450 m on foot | ~35 min | From the stand, including the walk out. Leave 17:40, latest 18:00. Every 4–6 min. Fallback: line 9 → Sülz to Zülpicher Platz, 750 m on foot. |
| ONA MOR → hotel | 650 m to Rudolfplatz, tram 12 or 15 two stops to Christophstr./Mediapark, 490 m on foot | ~22 min | Every 7–8 min around 23:00. Walking: 1.9 km, 29 min. |
| Cologne → Düsseldorf (Thu) | From Köln Messe/Deutz: RE5 → Wesel at 17:34, 18:34, 19:34, 20:34 (pl. 1) · RE1 → Hamm at 17:53, 18:53, 19:53, 20:53 (pl. 4) | 27 min | Arrive Düsseldorf Hbf :01 and :19, platform 17. Clock minutes are in the operator's 2026 line timetables. Slow fallback: RE6 → Minden at :59, 48 min via Neuss. No S6 between the cities until 4 Dec, and the S11 is listed as cut as well. |
| Düsseldorf Hbf → Martin & Rita | Tram 708 → Heinrichstraße, Steig 5 in front of the station, three stops to Uhlandstraße, 85 m on foot | 6 min | Evenings at :01, :21, :41. Fallback: S-Bahn from platform 14 one stop to Wehrhahn, 480 m on foot. Walk: 1.3 km, 26 min. The Herderstraße closure that cut the 708 short ends on Thu 24 Sep at 04:00, hours before you arrive. |
| Martin & Rita → Tina (Sat) | Walk, or 708 / U71 one stop Uhlandstraße → Schillerplatz | 8 min | 560 m. |
| Tina → Düsseldorf Hbf (Sun) | Tram 708 → Polizeipräsidium from Schillerplatz, four stops | 7 min | Sundays :09 and :39 only. Take the 16:09. Backup: S-Bahn from Düsseldorf Zoo, 350 m away, two stops. |
| Disruptions | zuginfo.nrw for the RE trains · KVB · Rheinbahn | — | No strike announced for the week (NRW transit, GDL and EVG pay deals are all settled). KVB lists nothing on your lines. Regional times come from the VRR planner for the actual dates, queried 21 Sep; look at the app on the day. |
Eat and drink
Cologne eats in its Brauhäuser: Kölsch in 0.2-litre glasses, pork, blood sausage, rye rolls, waiters who are rude on principle. The modern layer is small and mostly sandwiches, noodles and Turkish grills, and that layer is what the food YouTubers film. Every place below was checked on 21 Sep against its own site and Google Maps for your three days. What could not be checked from outside: whether Google's "reviews removed" banner shows, and payment. Lommerzheim's "cash only" is from its own site; every other payment note comes from a single listing, which is why the cash in your wallet is the safe answer. Prices are from recent videos and listings, so read them as "about".
Who films Cologne
- MAX (@maxxpane), 1.6 million subscribers, calls Cologne "meine Heimatstadt" and posts weekly. His best new openings video from July names Bar Brio (Brüsseler Str. 68), Umami (Hohenstaufenring 25–27) and Marie & Johann (Aachener Str. 78, closed Mon and Tue), all in the Belgian quarter between your hotel and ONA MOR. I did not check their hours for your days. His older top 5 has The Coffee Gang and Kebapland.
- Bernd Zehner (678k, visiting): Köln Foodtour part 1 with Bang Bang on Weidengasse, Kebapland, Daikan ramen; part 2 from May 2026; and the one where MAX shows him "the best sandwich in Germany", which is Feinripp & Gold.
- Randy Gamble (124k): four places in one day, among them Caruso Focaccia Bar and Meister Lampe.
Near the hotel: Mediapark, Friesenviertel, Belgian quarter
| Place | What | Your days | Book · pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feinripp & GoldEhrenstraße 43c · 15 min on foot | Two ex-fine-dining chefs, sandwiches built like plated dishes. Ossobuco with truffle mayo, about €17. Videos still show the old Venloer Straße address; it moved. | Mon–Sat 11:00–22:00 kitchen to 21:00 |
walk-in · card unknown · +49 221 20193903 |
| Brauerei PäffgenFriesenstraße 64–66 · 10 min on foot | The brewery whose Kölsch the other old houses pour. Kölsch €2.40, Kölsche Kaviar €7.50, Haxe, Himmel un Ääd. | daily 12:00–00:00 | solo: walk in · no credit cards, cash or girocard · +49 221 135461 |
| KaffeesaurusFriesenplatz 15 · 12 min on foot | Own roastery, sourdough, the good coffee of the week. | Tue–Thu 08:00–19:00 | walk-in · card unknown |
| Mangal DönerWeidengasse 58–62 · 12 min on foot | Charcoal grill on Cologne's Turkish street. The late-night answer on Tuesday. | open to 01:00 at least sources say 01:00, 02:00 or 04:00 |
no reservations · card unknown |
| Schelds em OelligNeusser Straße 87 · 20 min on foot | Your sweet spot, Rhenish cooking by a chef with technique: Himmel un Ääd, Königsberger Klopse. It fits none of this week's evenings; note it for next time. | Wed–Sun from 17:00 closed Mon and Tue |
site · +49 221 13970707 |
At the fair: Deutz
| Place | What | Your days | Book · pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| LommerzheimSiegesstraße 18 · 12 min from Eingang Süd | The most loved pub in the city. Kotelett €21.90, Halve Hahn, Päffgen Kölsch. | Wed, Thu 11:00–14:30, 16:30–00:00 closed Tue |
cash only · evening tables only for 16:30, by answerphone · +49 221 814392 |
| Deutzer BrauhausOttoplatz 7, in Deutz station · 10 min | The practical one: fast, big, on the way to the platform. | Tue–Thu from 11:00 closing 22:00 or 00:00, sources differ |
online · cards reportedly accepted · +49 221 89998420 |
Around ONA MOR: Zülpicher Straße
| Place | What | Your days | Book · pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| HabibiZülpicher Straße 28 · 200 m from Zülpicher Platz (line 9) · 9 min on foot from the venue | Shawarma and falafel, free cinnamon tea, a student institution. The realistic bite before 18:40. | Sun–Thu 11:00–01:00 | walk-in · cash only |
| Bei Oma KleinmannZülpicher Straße 9 · about 10 min on foot from the venue | The schnitzel everyone sends you to. Only works if you leave the fair by 16:45, which you will not. | Mon–Thu 17:00–23:00 kitchen to 21:45 |
via the website or by email · cards reportedly fine |
Left out on purpose: 485Grad on Kyffhäuserstraße, the pizza every Cologne list names, showed "temporarily closed" on Google on 21 Sep and has vanished from the chain's own site. Kebapland in Ehrenfeld (Venloer Str. 385, the YouTubers' favourite, order the Adana) is a 25-minute detour your evenings do not have.
How a Brauhaus works
- Kölsch comes in a 0.2-litre Stange. The waiter, the Köbes, replaces an empty glass without asking and marks each one on your beer mat.
- A beer mat on top of the glass means stop. Nothing else does.
- The Köbes is gruff by tradition. Order Kölsch first; asking for water or a Pils first is the joke he is waiting for.
- Halve Hahn is a rye roll with aged Gouda, mustard and onion. No chicken is involved.
- Kölsche Kaviar is blood sausage with onions on rye. Himmel un Ääd is mashed potato and apple with fried blood sausage.
- From Thursday night you are in Düsseldorf, where the beer is Alt, dark and also served in small glasses. Ordering a Kölsch there is the one joke that never lands.
Money
A Speed Kit business trip with a private tail. Baqend pays Cologne to Cologne; the Düsseldorf share is yours.
| Item | Amount | Status |
|---|---|---|
| ICE 610 München → Köln, order 418154161740 | €105.99 | filed In Pleo since 21 Sep, waiting for review. |
| ICE 1013 Düsseldorf → München, order 579147780379 | €125.49 | filed Claimed at the outbound fare, €105.99. The €19.50 difference is the private share. |
| Motel One, 2 nights with breakfast | — | Group booking by Moritz, paid by Baqend. |
| Local and regional transit, both cities | €0 | Deutschlandticket. |
| Food and incidentals, six days | ~€150 | Yours. About €60 of it in cash: Lommerzheim, Habibi, Päffgen. |
After the trip: log the stage pitch and the KPS panel in Advocu, as you decided in the session card. The DB voucher OBBZK4Y (€13.56, valid to July 2029) was not used on either booking and both fares are non-refundable, so it waits for the next private ticket.
Practical
| Emergency | 112. Doctor out of hours: 116 117. Police Cologne 0221 229-0, Düsseldorf 0211 870-0. |
|---|---|
| Hospital, Cologne | St. Marien-Hospital, Kunibertskloster 11–13, 0221 1629-0, 24 h but internal medicine only. Injuries: Uniklinik Köln, Kerpener Straße 62, 0221 478-0. |
| Hospital, Düsseldorf | Marien Hospital, Rochusstraße 2, 0211 4400-2422, 24 h emergency department, about 1.5 km from Grafenberger Allee. |
| Pharmacy | Mediapark-Apotheke, Im Mediapark 3, weekdays from 08:00 to at least 18:00. Night duty by postcode: aponet.de. |
| Weather | Dry and mild except Thursday: Germany's weather service expects showers, possibly thunder, and strong north-westerly gusts over NRW, 16 to 20 °C. The commercial forecast still shows 0 % rain for that day; believe the weather service. Saturday is the warm one at 25 °C. |
| Pickpockets | The forecourt of Köln Hbf and the cathedral square are the documented working area; Ebertplatz and Neumarkt have an open drug scene, which you pass through, not linger in. Düsseldorf Hbf and Worringer Platz have extra patrols. Nothing on record around the Mediapark in the past year. Petition clipboards and "you spilled something" are the two tricks. |
| Fair Wi-Fi | QR code, network name and password are in Wednesday's plan. |
| Fair rules | Wed 09:00–18:30, Thu 09:00–17:30. Bags get a visual check at the entrance. Cloakroom at the entrances, about €3 a bag. Hall plan in the DMEXCO app. |
| Holidays, crowds | No public or school holiday in NRW or Bavaria. No home game of 1. FC Köln, Leverkusen or Fortuna in your window. The Lanxess Arena next to Deutz station has no event on your three Cologne days. The one crowd you will meet is Oktoberfest at München Hbf, on both of your passes. |
| Water | Tap water is fine in both cities. |