A bit of background- parkrun countries can hold an additional parkrunday (as well as NYD) if they so wish. Each country has a set one (all the Nordic countries have Ascension Day, UK has Christmas Day), and for Germany they have Unity Day, which is always on 3rd October. This year that happened to fall on a Friday, so it was perfect for a weekend to Germany to visit two different parkruns.
Branka and Holly had booked their transport and hotel a while back- I had an invite but was not sure where I would be with regards to working, so didn’t book it until quite late on. They had chosen Cologne as it was easy to get to via train and had two central parkruns, and I was happy to head there, having previously been there for a Christmas market weekend. When I looked at booking (hooray for the Eurostar sale) the hotels for the Friday night were very expensive, and this turned out to be because the Cologne marathon was happening that weekend. This resulted in my only staying in Cologne on the Thursday night, and getting the train elsewhere for a different parkrun on Saturday- more on that next time!
So, Thursday was travel day- a train into London, a Eurostar to Brussels and then a train to Cologne. It was all very relaxed as I had lots of time between trains, getting into Cologne around 8pm. Holly and Branka had arrived much earlier and came to meet me at the station as my hotel was very close to theirs, and we sorted our plans for the morning.
We met around 8:15 am (read Branka’s blog for their early awakening) and started to head to the bridge to get to parkrun. As they were going to both in Cologne, they let me choose which one I’d do on the Friday, and I opted for Rheinpark as it was the closest (I had an 11am checkout to make) and just looked pretty by the water with stunning views of the huge cathedral. Anyway, it turns out although it was 1km away, we must remember that is as the crow flies, and so our actual walk there was 1.4 miles- a little further! We joined the huge queue of tourists getting their photos by the pop up, which had a lovely bespoke metal sign for you to hold, as well as some little German flags.
I enjoyed spotting all the German signs and labels on the volunteer vests (“Helfer” is a particular favourite) and just seeing big groups of happy tourists together.
We had a wonderfully welcoming briefing (the RD jokingly asked if there were any locals), and the team shuffled everyone over to one side for a photo- it’s on their facebook page but everyone is tiny as there were around 300 people in the photo (participants plus volunteers).
The course is one lap- a round loop of the park that you start in, and then what looks like an out and back but is really just a thin loop going to the end of a park that juts out into the river. Coming back we had stunning views across the river to the city- it certainly was memorable. It is totally flat so would be potentially a very fast course too. I ran with Holly and we as usual had a lovely chat. It was great to spot all the tourist tops and buffs and hear everyone saying “danke” to the marshals.
The finish area was decorated with strings of German flags and also bunting made up from old volunteer tabards (Wonky Bear style). Once finished I saw that they had moved the pop up and someone had donated a massive German flag- I decided to risk it and join the queue- just as we got to the front, Branka appeared so it was perfect timing for us to have a photo with the city as a backdrop. I then dashed back to the hotel on my own.
I was very excited to get the results email through- I love getting the emails in different languages- and with that I had been to my 140th parkrun location and my 420th parkrun in total, my second one in Germany.
Clockwise from the top left- Exploring Cologne- posing by the sign, cinnamood buns (white chocolate macadamia nut and spiced apple), gorgeous stained glass window in the Dom, delicious tofu salad from the vegan restaurant.
After a speedy shower and tea in the room, I checked out and left my case at the hotel, and then the three of us met in the lobby of my hotel to have a fab day in Cologne. Branka had arranged for the two of us to give Holly a German notch as it was her first parkrun in Germany. Holly then gave us each a Unity Day notch (with the map of Germany on it), and Branka also handed over my little Lego figure- they had gone to the Lego store on Thursday (as it was closed on the Friday) and made little custom mini figures to commemorate our trip.
At first our meal plans were slightly scuppered by us missing the brunch window at a lovely looking restaurant, and then we walked to a different one only to find it closed, but on the third try we found a wonderful vegan restaurant where we had lunch, before more exploring. We went into the cathedral (and I made it part way up the spire- somehow I managed the spiral staircase but when I saw the metal stairs that you can see through I knew I had reached my limit), bought some amazing buns from Cinnamood and spent ages chatting about parkrun plans (and of course life in general).
I’ve been thinking about why I loved the atmosphere so much, and I have come to the conclusion that I agree with the sentiment of their special day if that makes sense. Not being religious I did not really know about Ascension Day, and it seemed to be more like a UK Bank Holiday- something from the past which now just means most people have a day off work. Unity Day felt different. It was 35 years ago this year, so I have vague memories of seeing the Berlin Wall fall (probably on Newsround), but as a fan of Europe and of countries working together, it meant I could get behind the reason the day is celebrated far more than I could with a more historical day. Something about the atmosphere really spoke to me and I am so glad that I was there to join in with the celebrating. Yes, the weekend was a fun way to visit two new parkruns, but it’s always more than that, and this weekend showed me that again.
Lego figure (I am holding a cup of tea!) and new notch for my keyring
Back to the Friday- I hadn’t booked my next train as I could buy a ticket on the day for a commuter train rather than a high speed booked one, so around 6pm I left Holly and Branka in Cologne while I headed on the train to Aachen (just under an hour away on a regular train- I think the super speedy ICE trains were more like 30 mins).
And the parkrun adventure will continue in another post…