A good night's sleep is just what I needed and I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed; ready to face the day ahead.
The group gathered for breakfast in the hotel dining room then we set off on foot to the nearest train station - Barbarossaplatz; all looking very touristy with our WYD backpacks, ID passes round the neck and our blue WYD Scottish polo shirts.
As the train neared the station at the centre of Cologne we had no idea what was around the corner! Up until now we had only seen small gatherings of groups with international flags and matching t-shirts.
As the train pulled up at the station we heard an almighty roar coming from a large group of Italians who were singing and cheering on the platform! I have never seen anything like it before; the hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end and it honestly felt like they were a personal welcoming party just for us!
Moving through crowds of French, Germans and Americans, we reached the ground level of the station and were amazed at the thousands of people who were lining the steps of Cologne's giant cathedral.
We saw flags from every different nation throughout the world; Brazilian, Spanish, Dutch, Canadian and many others. The atmosphere was amazing! People were crowded onto the cathedral steps clapping, cheering, singing and dancing.
There were a few journalists around who interviewed us and our whole group were filmed by German TV. (We found out later on that night that we had been shown on TV singing Scottish songs on the Cathedral steps!)
Our group split up for an hour or so and we walked around talking, singing and dancing with the thousands of WYD pilgrims that were spread throughout the city centre.
Just before we left, we joined a wonderful group of Italians as they danced in a circle, doing all manner of conga-like dance moves.
Leaving the Cathedral we travelled to the Media Park where we hoped to get some food but we were in the wrong place and had to go back a couple of stops on the train. We reached a busy square around mid day and joined the queue for food, which consisted of a warm pasta lunch and a cold dinner of fruit and bread and stuff.
Once the hungry hordes were fed, we listened to the Christian rock band that were playing to an energetic audience in the square and most of us swapped hats with a friendly group of French pilgrims who were eating lunch next to us. The trading of items is a tradition that was repeated everyday whilst we were in Cologne. People were always coming up to us asking if we wanted to trade t-shirts, hats, key rings, badges; everything and anything that had some connection to our country.
Leaving the busy square, we made our way to the Rhein Energie Stadium for a massive opening festival mass which was attended by 60,000 people and there were an estimated 150,000 people watching on screens outside!
As afternoon turned in to evening, we watched from high up in the stadium seats as the crowd on the pitch begin to grow bigger.
Mass was said in front of the vast crowd and everyone treated the stadium respectfully as a church; which was quite remarkable to watch! No aspect of the mass was missed out; everyone offered their neighbour the sign of peace (shaking of hands and sometimes a hug) and collection bags were even put round at the offertory time. The most remarkable feat of all though was that hundreds of priests made their way out in to the crowds and gave everyone in the stadium the communion host; something I just could not believe!
After mass, the pitch was opened up to everyone and we all went down to watch the bands that were playing and sang and danced with the many thousands of people who had gathered for the opening ceremony.
A couple of hours later our group split up and ten or so people stayed to enjoy the amazing atmosphere while the majority of us made the long trip back to our hotel. We had to walk most of the way because the trams were so busy.
