Would highly recommend the Premium VIP Lounge West, it's such an awesome place to hang out before…read moreand after the game and eat some awesome food-- I was told when we got there that the food they have for each of the games are dependent on the team Leverkusen is playing that day...which I thought was pretty cool.

I came here with a buddy of mine to watch Manchester United take on Bayer Leverkusen in UCL play…read more The stadium is pretty nice from the outside as we walked towards it. It was a bit weird though walking through a fully wooded park from the train station to get to the stadium. Once we got there, we got to our seats then visited the concessions. I hate this Bundesliga system of having to buy a debit card to purchase anything. They charge you a ridiculous fee just for the card, but you can turn that card in after the match to get your money back. What they don't tell you is that the line to turn your card back in is ridiculously long. Our seats were pretty comfortable and we got a great view of the match from behind the south end. The away fans were put into the corner to the left of us and they were loud & clear in their chants (of course it helped that they were dominating). The food was alright here, but the beer sucked. They only had bitburger even though their signed said they had kolsch. Also, no one here seemed to really speak English or at least pretended like they didn't which I was really surprised.

When you think of Germany, a couple of things come to mind: one of which, for better or for worse,…read moreis WWI and WWII. This dark period in Germany's history still plays a part in German culture today. While in Cologne, I wanted to make sure I visited NS-Dokumentationszentrum. What a mouthful! We stopped by this war museum for a couple of hours. There were some things I liked, and some things I didn't like. One, it's affordable. I'm always going to appreciate that. Two, they have an audio guide. When time allows, an audio guide is a great way to get the most out of a museum. You'll see a bunch of pictures and information on the rise of the Nazi party, the World Wars, and the eventual collapse post-war. The museum is actually on the site of some Nazi activity. On the flip side, there's no A/C in the museum. Not easy for an American (we love our air conditioning). I also would have appreciated a little more sophistication in the presentation of all of the material in the museum. It wasn't bad by any means, but it could have been better. Nevertheless, it's well worth your time when visiting Cologne. It's an important part of world history, and you're getting it directly from the source.

A necessary stop to appreciate the dark side of history. Allot yourself at least 2 hours to read…read moreall the placards. Audio is available in most languages for a nominal fee, Google Translate was helpful for the written displays. The most heavy moment is walking thru the basement cells and seeing the hopeless scratchings on the walls from former prisoners.