Germany (A) EQ16 - Tuesday, 14th October 2014

[DeLorean]

Gelsenkirchen has been confirmed for our fixture. (K/O 19:45 Irish Time)


The Scots are playing them in Dortmund.

[Stuttgart88]

Dusseldorf, Dortmund and Cologne nearest airports.

[brendy_éire]

http://www.ryanair.com/en/news/ryana...r-ireland-fans

Ryanair putting on extra flights.

[Stuttgart88]

Any idea when the FAI will be taking applications via the away fans portal?

[Stuttgart88]

Ticket applications now open via www.fai.ie. Georgia, Germany and Scotland.

[aidz1]

any recommendations for which town to stay in for this match??
flying in monday, out wednesday.

monday night would be quiet, so any area with a bit of nightlife would be an advantage

[paul_oshea]

Anyone got a contact in the fai.missed the deadline and sent an email at the weekend but no reply.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Deadline was 31/7, so might be alright. You have my no, SMS day of the game if not been in touch before.

And to answer the post before, Dortmund/Dusseldorf best options?

[Stuttgart88]

Paul texted me yesterday with this idea. Train from St. Pancras to Dusseldorf, with a change at both Brussels and Koln looks a good option. Around 110 quid return. Just under 6 hours, so all in all a bit longer than flying if you include getting to airports, checking in and hanging around but I prefer trains.

I think I'll get the 7am train on match day and a mid morning train the day after.

[brendy_éire]

Anyone got a contact in the fai.missed the deadline and sent an email at the weekend but no reply.

Ring the office. They're usually very good about getting people sorted.

[brendy_éire]

any recommendations for which town to stay in for this match??
flying in monday, out wednesday.

monday night would be quiet, so any area with a bit of nightlife would be an advantage

Clean missed this earlier.
We're staying in Düsseldorf. Will be my fifth time in the town, stayed there for the Köln match too.
IMO, it's a great some. Good beer, good brewery bars with decent food, and a few nightclubs thrown in as well. Seems relatively busy every night of the week, and the locals will advise you of where to go if you ask.
It's a nice place during the day too. Decent enough architecture, few museums, there's an classic car garage/museum that's open to the public, and of course the Rheinturm, which is a big tower you can go up. Also plenty of boat tours of the Rhein to do.
I absolutely love the place, so couldn't recommend it enough.

[paul_oshea]

Staying there too brendy, wheres good on a monday night there?

[brendy_éire]

Staying there too brendy, wheres good on a monday night there?

Altstadt is where you'll probably want to go, basically the old town around in the centre. It's where most of the brewery bars and non-brewery bars are. It's a compact enough area.
We go to Brauerei im Fünchschen on Ratingerstraße for food, which is one of the main drinking streets. Old style decor inside, great beer, great food (think large chunks of meat with spuds and gravy). Always seems busy, and there's a decent chance the staff will be drinking at a faster rate than yourself (really).
You could do a pub crawl of the brewpubs, though some aren't massively busy later on weeknights. Would definitely recommend Zum Uerige on Bergerstraße. It's one of the brewery bars as well, with waiting staff that are famously grumpy. Go there during the day if you can, gets quiet at night.
Other than the brewpubs, pub crawl yourself around the Altstadt, that's what the local seem to do. Et Kabüffke is one of my favourites, on Fingerstraße. It's a wee pub with a big shot selection. Speaking of which, you'll have to try Killepitsch, which is the local herbal liqueur.
Out of the Altstadt, Medienhafen is alright. More 'upmarket and cool', I suppose. People will be more dressed up and drinking cocktails. It's down by the river though, so nice views. It's also got more nightclubs than Altstadt.
And go up the Rheinturm too, I suppose. Nice views at night and you can get a drink up there.

Really looking forward to this trip now actually.

[Stuttgart88]

I was in a bar in Dusseldorf in 2006 on the way to Koln for a World Cup match. I was with my American boss at the time and as I had always been advocating black pudding to him at work, when he spotted black pudding in the translated menu he ordered it for both of us. Out came a slab of the darkest brown bread ever, a raw onion and raw black pudding! Not quite the fried Irish version I had been harping on about! However, the waiter also brought out two glasses of a beer that accompanied it perfectly, a beer so dark it was almost stout but also very clearly an ale of some sort. Pretty high alcohol content too. The whole package was a gastronomic magnificence.

[paul_oshea]

Or was it you drank the stout-looking-drink first and then through gleamy eyes you ravaged the plate in front of you?

[Stuttgart88]

No, it was a perfect case of the beer being right for the food. Classic German precision.

[brendy_éire]

Out came a slab of the darkest brown bread ever, a raw onion and raw black pudding! Not quite the fried Irish version I had been harping on about! However, the waiter also brought out two glasses of a beer that accompanied it perfectly, a beer so dark it was almost stout but also very clearly an ale of some sort. Pretty high alcohol content too.

Rye bread, Blutwurst and Altbier is what you had. Had the same meal myself, I think in Uerige. Great feed. The raw onion really worked.
Altbier is what you'll get everywhere in Düsseldorf, fantastic stuff. It's usually around 4.5-5% ABV, so you probably had one of their special stronger ones.

[DeLorean]

Altstadt is where you'll probably want to go, basically the old town around in the centre. It's where most of the brewery bars and non-brewery bars are. It's a compact enough area.
We go to Brauerei im Fünchschen on Ratingerstraße for food, which is one of the main drinking streets. Old style decor inside, great beer, great food (think large chunks of meat with spuds and gravy). Always seems busy, and there's a decent chance the staff will be drinking at a faster rate than yourself (really).
You could do a pub crawl of the brewpubs, though some aren't massively busy later on weeknights. Would definitely recommend Zum Uerige on Bergerstraße. It's one of the brewery bars as well, with waiting staff that are famously grumpy. Go there during the day if you can, gets quiet at night.
Other than the brewpubs, pub crawl yourself around the Altstadt, that's what the local seem to do. Et Kabüffke is one of my favourites, on Fingerstraße. It's a wee pub with a big shot selection. Speaking of which, you'll have to try Killepitsch, which is the local herbal liqueur.
Out of the Altstadt, Medienhafen is alright. More 'upmarket and cool', I suppose. People will be more dressed up and drinking cocktails. It's down by the river though, so nice views. It's also got more nightclubs than Altstadt.
And go up the Rheinturm too, I suppose. Nice views at night and you can get a drink up there.

Really looking forward to this trip now actually.

Just after buying a house so I was thinking I'd hold tough til the Scotland game, but my God you paint a lovely picture.

[Junior]

Staying there too brendy, wheres good on a monday night there?

Hey POSH!!!

a) Aren't you always giving out to people who don't stay in the town where the match is being held? Pfffft......
b) I already told you the name of the bar in Dussledorf that was made for you.......

http://www.xn--weisserbr-22a.de/

[AidoP]

Any idea when we'll find out if we're successful in getting tickets for the Germany away match? Thanks.