Germany, Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than 10 million inhabitants. It is one of the oldest cities in Germany, having been founded by the Romans in the year 38 BC.

Demographics

Cologne is the fourth largest city in Germany in terms of inhabitants after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich. Officially, the city still has a bit less than a million inhabitants (as of December 31, 2006: 989,766). However, this might change rapidly as the city's registration rules will change in the course of 2007.

Culture

Cologne is well-known for its beer, called Kölsch. Kölsch is also the name of the local dialect. This has led to the common joke that Kölsch is the only language you can drink.

Cologne carnival is one of the biggest street festivals in Europe. It is held annually from 11th Nov to Ash Wednesday. The main event is the street carnival that takes place in the period between the Thursday before Ash Wednesday and Ash Wednesday.

History

During World War II, Köln was a Military Area Command Headquarters (Militärische Bereich Befehl Hauptsitze) for Military District (Wehrkreis) VI in Münster. Cologne was under the command of Generalleutnant Freiherr Roeder von Diersburg, who was responsible for military operations at Bonn, Siegburg, Aachen, Jülich, Düren, and Monschau.

In the 1980s and 1990s Cologne's economy prospered from two factors: First, the steady growth in the number of media companies, pertaining to both the private and the public sector.

Due to the economic success of the Cologne Trade Fair, the city arranged a large extension to the fair site in 2005.

Transport

Road building had been a major issue in the 1920s under the leadership of mayor Konrad Adenauer. The first German limited access road was constructed after 1929 between Cologne and Bonn. Today, this is A 555.
Public transport
Cologne has Deutsche Bahn Service with Intercity and ICE-trains stopping at Köln Hauptbahnhof (Cologne Central Station), Köln-Deutz station and at Cologne Bonn Airport (Konrad-Adenauer-Flughafen).
Air transport
Cologne's international airport is Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN). It is also called Konrad-Adenauer-Airport after Germany's post-war Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, who was born in Cologne and was mayor of the city from 1917 until 1933.

Sports

The city is host to the football team 1. FC Köln who compete in the 2nd Bundesliga and American football team Cologne Centurions who played in the now defunct NFL Europa.

In 2010 Cologne will host the "VIII Gay Games Cologne", which will have about 30,000 participants competing in over 30 disciplines of sports; the Gay Games is a quadriennial athletic and cultural event.