Well, being from a country where they have 3 official languages is really hard, especially when as…read moreme, you happen to speak the one that only 3 people actually use, (Me, Thierry Neuville and probably some other guy LOL) as Flemish and French are widely used, German is as good as forgotten, because there are only some small regions (were Belgium already small is) were it's used, thus making it even harder, and as this regions are in the french part of Belgium they all can speak it french, so german is widely ignored in official documents. I'm a Belgian citizen with flemish roots, lived in the flemish region, and guess what, i can't speak flemish, i learned german since i was 4, but that ain't matter, i'm flemish, Period. Thus i receive everything in that weird language. So i got this letter from the consulate that i had to fill, and of course it was in flemish, i could understand maybe half of it, and the other half i helped myself using Google Translate, i could actually fill it completely :-) yay! Fun fact: in Belgium you're forced to Vote. Yeah, literally forced! I haven't been in Belgium for almost 4 years, i don't know who the candidates are, i don't know the parties or even who is governing right now. But i'm forced to give a vote, maybe void it, but i must vote, otherwise i could lose my privileges of being a citizen, and living in a foreign country, well that's sort of a bad idea. Nice, right? I think not even belgians living in Belgium know it :-P Watch this http://youtu.be/Ceg6NQKHd70 With that being said, i had to come here to register for next years elections. I was informed i could vote personally either in Belgium or here at the consulate, or thru a third person also in Belgium or at the consulate, or even per mail. I came here to tell them, or actually to return the letter i became telling them i'm voting personally in the consulate. I've been here many times, first, when i moved over to Cologne to inform them that i'm now living here. That's also a duty. Then when i moved here in Cologne, to update my address. 2 times for elections and some other times for some random information. The ladies here, are actually really friendly, my problem is always when they see my ID, being issued in the flemish region, the start babbling in flemish until i stop them and ask to speak german. To which they laugh a bit, and ask how come, my name, my last registered address and so on was in flemish region and i can't speak it. They always do their best to help, and answer all the questions i have. Every time i come here has been nice to know that bureaucracy is not always annoying. Why can't there be more people like this? I know it's diplomacy and not just any kind of bureaucrats, but i've seen worse, a lot worse. I'm kind of lucky for having the consulate here in Cologne, and this in the Downtown Area, and not having to travel to another city for something like voting! I can also get my ID or Passport here, so yeah, that helps a lot. Here in Germany only the Consulate in Cologne and the Embassy in Berlin can issue Passports or eID's, because only here they can get your biometric picture and fingerprints. Kudos to the ladies for being so nice, friendly and help-oriented. Their opening hours are also something to applaud, normally embassies and consulates as any other government offices have ridiculous opening hours, well here, my fellow lands people are open M-F from 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm.

This beautiful exterior architecture of the building. It was always a great site for a really fun…read moreHalloween party. I always loved coming to these parties for Halloween while I lived in Germany. The interior is old-school and beautiful, with lots of beautiful chandeliers and thick draperies. I will transform into a lively and colorful and light strobing evening of total fun. My expat friends and I have had so many fun parties in this building.

From the owner: Eine topmoderne Location, erstklassiges Catering, stilvolle Ausstattung und perfekter Service. Die…read morePure-liner Schiffe sind wohl eine der außergewöhnlichsten Locations in und um Köln. Tauchen Sie ein in eine stilvoll ausgestattete Location in der offene Räume und klare Linien sowie unser modernes LED Lichtsystem eine einmalige Atmosphäre erzeugen. Die perfekte Umgebung für Austausch, Kommunikation, Kundengewinnung oder -bindung, Spaß und Party. Die Eventschiffe können verschiedene Binnenhäfen in Deutschland anfahren. Diese wohl einzigartige Flexibilität ermöglicht Ihnen zahlreiche Veranstaltungsvarianten. Road-Shows, Kick-offs, Tagungen, Betriebsfeiern oder Messen die Pure-liner bieten Ihnen Platz und Ideen für Ihre ganz individuellen Events. Die Kombinationsmöglichkeiten bei Nutzung beider Schiffe sind vielfältig. Tagung auf dem einen, Dinner auf dem anderen Schiff, bis zu 1.200 Gäste finden bei Nutzung beider Schiffe Platz an Bord. Bis zu 600 Personen können auf einem Schiff begrüßt werden. Ob Seminare oder Präsentationen, ob Gala-Dinner oder Firmenjubiläum - Ihr Event wird ein voller Erfolg. Das Veranstaltungsteam der Pure-liner steht Ihnen bei allen Fragen rund um Ihr Event mit Rat und Tat zur Seite. Unsere Schiffe sind buchbar an Anlegestellen im Rhein-/Maingebiet, zwischen Duisburg und Mannheim. Zum Beispiel in Düsseldorf, Köln, Bonn, Königswinter, Koblenz, Bingen, Mainz, Wiesbaden, Frankfurt sowie in Amsterdam und Antwerpen.

Eigentlich eine schöne Location. Aber das Personal (im Security Bereich) geht gar nicht. Nach dem…read moreKonzert wurden wir direkt nachdem die Band von der Bühne war mit einem Wellenbrecher Gitter nach draußen gedrückt und angeschrien, dass wir raus gehen sollen. Wir konnten noch nicht mal unsere Sachen (Fahnen, Pullover, leere Getränkeflaschen usw.) vernünftig packen oder das Abschlusslied, welches von Platte gespielt wird und (zumindest gefühlt und inoffiziell) fester Bestandteil des Tourprogramms ist, genießen. Jugendliche/Kinder sind hier gar nicht willkommen. Unter 12 Jahren kommt man nur mit Kapselgehörschutz rein. Vernünftige Kinder-ohropax, die bestimmt besser dicht sind als zu große andere Ohrschützer, werden nicht akzeptiert und man muss trotz Ticket draußen bleiben oder wenn man Glück hat noch irgendwo neue (billige, die dann gar nichts taugen) aus dem Baumarkt kaufen. Ist angeblich gesetzlich so, dann haben sich die anderen 30 Clubs in den letzten zwei Jahren wohl nicht an die Gesetze gehalten?! Waren noch viele andere Probleme mit den Türstehern/Security Personal. Sowas schlechtes und unprofessionelles habe ich noch nie erlebt. Schade, so macht man einen ansonsten schönen Club kaputt.

Cool place, different events, all kinds of music, nice concerts…read more Very alike to Sonic Ballroom just bigger, and mixed. It's not very well located, i mean for what people in Cologne are used to, a bit far, "wrong side" of the Rhine, etc. But it's really cool, looks like an old warehouse made to a club. Really underground from the way it's done, somehow a Berlin-style club. If you are into alternative not mainstream stuff full of college kids, this is the place to go.