If you want to make some new friends, go to Cologne. The easiest way to break the ice is to ask someone speaking German if they are from there. They will kindly and firmly explain that yes they are, and welcome to their beautiful city, and it’s pronounced “Köln”.
You’ll spend a few minutes repeating the umlauted “eeuu” sound to each other until they give up. Then, they’ll probably buy you a beer. The Cologne tourist board claims that its local citizens are “down-to-earth and upbeat… tolerant and rarely arrogant. What more can you ask as a solo traveller?
