I spent a few hours around the Central Rail Station in Cologne. In many cities (e.g. New York, Berlin, Turin, Prague) you are warned about the criminal dangers around the rail station - typically pickpockets, hustlers and drug dealers. But Cologne's station is brightly lit, well policed and busy nearly all the time. The historic station with its enormous curved glass roof sits on top of a good sized mall with numerous shops and cheap eating places offering cuisines from several countries. As the station is right beside the Cathedral, it was a very convenient spot to 
grab a quick meal before more sightseeing. But, best of all, it has a superb newspaper and magazine shop which illustrates the union of Europe better than any political speeches.The shelves displayed publications from Germany, Britain, the USA, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Russia, the Czech Republic and Turkey. Cologne has been a European crossroads for centuries; the collapse of the Communist block and the expansion of the European Union has increased the numbers of people traveling in all directions for work and pleasure. After being brought up for decades on stories of the austerity of the Communist countries, it still seems strange to see glossy fashion magazines with Cyrillic letters surrounding the supermodels on the covers.
The English language selection was as good as you would find in many magazine shops in England and the main British "newspapers" (or Prolefeed as George Orwell accurately called them) were on sale on the same day as they appeared in London. If you wanted to learn the latest non-development in the eternal saga of Madeleine McCann (the little English girl lost/murdered/abducted/??? in Portugal) you could pay three times the London price and read all about it. But then you could check out the 1,720,000 references on Google for free and be just about as wise (or ignorant). As one of my cynical colleagues observed 20 years ago, here was more proof of the tens of billions of pounds we waste on education each year.The size of the English section is just another reminder of the worldwide triumph of the language. A friend who works for a large multinational told me that his German colleagues were ordered to speak English in business meetings - even if only Germans were present.
The English language is typically the only alternative to German provided in most public places. Despite the heroic rearguard efforts of the Academie Francais and other cultural bodies, the French language is never going to endure this sort of linguistic Juggernaut; this seems especially ironic for a city whose English name is actually the French one. You can get guidebooks for the city and the cathedral in 6 or 7 main European languages, and guided tours can be obtained in several languages. But the useful detailed instructions on signs and noticeboards can practically be displayed in only two or three languages and English is the inevitable choice.
Outside the station it is only a short walk to the pedestrianised shopping streets where you can max out your credit cards as quickly as in any other major city on earth. You could buy much of the merchandise in London (or in Reading for that matter), so there was little to excite my interest. The French might be losing the language wars, but they are triumphantly winning the shopping battles. The distinctive French labels like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, etc are as evident in Cologne as they are in the Far East cities I visited. Luxury goods have been a French specialty for decades and with the continuing expansion of many countries' economies they are uniquely well placed to reap the fruits of their carefully nurtured trade marks.
The local jewelery store named "Christ" has its name across the cover of the city's shopping guide displayed at the airport and elsewhere. For a while I thought that this would be the customer's stunned ejaculation on seeing their price tags, but in fact much of their jewelery and watch prices are mid-market by German standards.
The huge department store Kaufhof (rough equivalent of Sears or JC Penney) had a huge window display which will probably linger in the memories of local children for decades. It showed dozens of soft toy animals animated in a range of gestures - so the monkeys swung from a beam, the elephant nodded its head and the tiger crouched and twitched its tail. It provided a well designed and executed entertainment for the Christmas/Carnival crowds and children of all ages.
One shop outside the main shopping area had a range of beautiful Christmas manger sets and other religious statues which you would not see in many cities. The individual museums and galleries stock memorabilia specific to each site.
One big difference between Germany and Britain is the brewery distribution. The local beer Kolsch has to be brewed within the city limits to be called Kolsch; there are various breweries making their own beers so you can get Peter Kolsch, Sion Kolsch and so on. Practically every town and city in Germany has its own beer and brewery, just as Britain had before the national and multinational firms took over or bankrupted the local firms. A surprising number still hang on determinedly in various parts of Britain and their products are relished and publicized by the Real Ale movement. But the local brews' position seems much more assured in Germany.
