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| Welcome to ... |
What can go wrong will go wrong, or, as an Austrian lady said to me later as we were locked outside of our hostel: ‘Every InterRail holiday must have one of these days’. It started badly and got worse. My 9:01 train from Frankfurt didn't exist and a scan of the timetables showed I wouldn't make it to Kiel till less than 30 minutes to kick, off a problem when the stadium is some distance from the station.
Anyways, I was at least on board a train, though there were no seats to be had. I found a cosy niche in the vestibule, somehow not in the way of through traffic and by Hanover (a not inconsiderate distance) I had me a proper sit down. Bliss.
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| Coming up to the stadium. |
I decided at Kiel to
dump my stuff in a locker and march quick step to the stadium. I glanced at the bus stops but I suspected
the last stadium bus had departed. I’d
resigned myself to missing maybe 20 minutes action and got a stalk on. My estimate was more or less exact. Well it would have been had I been able to
buy a ticket, but it was sold out. Holstein
had, after all, just been promoted to the higher echelons of Bundesliga 2. While this may have been entirely predictable,
they were only playing li’l ole Sandhausen.
I could expect I could get in the away end, but no, all closed (full?)
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| The away end: plenty of police cars but no entry. |
So, having walked 3
miles for no reward, I faced a similar journey back, broken up by a most
welcome Franziskaner in an open air bar.
Even better, it was only €2.20. I’ll
have two. Fast forward and I was due to
check-in between 5-7pm – it was after 6, and I had a choice: collect my bags
and head for the hostel, or check in first and collect the bags later. I went with the former and lugged my
belongings a few hundred yards. There
was no one in. I e-mailed (they were
expecting me at 7). I rang the doorbell
and I phoned. ‘Please call back between
5-7 pm.’ ‘It IS between 5 and 7 pm’ I
wrote in a slightly snotty second email them.
Two Austrian girls turned up and faced the same problem. While they eventually found alternative
bedding in Kiel, I'd had enough. The
battery on my phone was dying and I had to make a decision: back to Hamburg and
grab a hostel or completely change my plans and get an overnight train
elsewhere. I plumped for a). I was exhausted and part of me collecting my
stuff from the locker was so I could shower and nap. I made my first good decision all day.
ps, it was the Peanuts Hostel, Kiel. Never again.
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| The Main Event(s) |
The Damage:
€2.20 beer (x2)
= €4.40
The Tunes:
Late Night Tales (Jon Hopkins)
Late Night Tales (Nils Frahm)
The Digging Remedy (Plaid)
Key Markets (Sleaford Mods)
Garlands (Cocteau Twins)
Led Zepellin IV (Led Zepellin)
Let England Shake (PJ Harvey)
Let Them Eat Chaos (Kate Tempest)
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| The roadside verge/carpark. |
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| The rear of the Main Stand. |
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| Ticket offices (closed). |
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| The queue for beer. |
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| Stadium plan. |
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| Stadium plan II. |
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| Back of the home end. |
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| More closed ticket booths. |
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| Back of Nord-Tribune. |
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| WWI commemoration. |
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