Time Ride - Cologne
WRITTEN BY VI HUGHES 2019
Every city has it's tourist attractions designed to connect you with it's history and culture, churches, museums, buildings, monuments, castles, zoos and way of life. Although these experiences are memorable and enjoyable, Time Ride is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.
It is by far one of the most interesting, awesome and emotional experiences I have ever had from any attraction.
Every city has it's tourist attractions designed to connect you with it's history and culture, churches, museums, buildings, monuments, castles, zoos and way of life. Although these experiences are memorable and enjoyable, Time Ride is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.
It is by far one of the most interesting, awesome and emotional experiences I have ever had from any attraction.
Time Ride in Cologne is a Virtual Reality experience like no other, enabling you to journey back in time to experience life at the beginning of the 20th Century. There are three stages that takes approximately 45 minutes and will leave you amazed and emotional.
The First Stage
After an excellent explaination of the whole experience we were able to view 3D pictures of scenes from early 20th Century through special glasses, then see the same scene as it is today. This was amazing! The quality of the 3D photographs make them so real and life like, then viewing the same location as it is today is such a massive contrast. Christine was our guide and she was fantastic.
After an excellent explaination of the whole experience we were able to view 3D pictures of scenes from early 20th Century through special glasses, then see the same scene as it is today. This was amazing! The quality of the 3D photographs make them so real and life like, then viewing the same location as it is today is such a massive contrast. Christine was our guide and she was fantastic.
The Second Stage
Everyone moves into the cinema area and a short film is shown, scanning the 2000 year history of Cologne through various eras. I found this very emotional and confronting to see scenes of the destroyed city of Cologne during WW2. Although students around the world learn about the war at school or read about the destruction, this short film showed it from the 'German' perspective and the damage that was done was horrific.
Everyone moves into the cinema area and a short film is shown, scanning the 2000 year history of Cologne through various eras. I found this very emotional and confronting to see scenes of the destroyed city of Cologne during WW2. Although students around the world learn about the war at school or read about the destruction, this short film showed it from the 'German' perspective and the damage that was done was horrific.
The Third Stage
After the short film everyone boards a stationary tram for the "journey" of a lifetime. Each seat is a single seat with a VR face mask attached. After fitting the mask you select your language by looking at the symbol for a short time. It is a strange but fascinating experience to look around and not see anyone else on the tram other than the VR conductor/driver operating the tram at the front.
With sounds of the tram rumbling down the track and the sense of moving forward you feel like you are going a tunnel with a light at the end; then suddenly you are launched into a virtual world set early in the 20th century.
I was in awe of everything I was seeing. The tram travelled slowly along the river front and all around me were realistic 3D images of people from more than 100 years ago, going about their daily lives. The buildings were just as they were at that time and the people were all dressed accordingly.
An old style fire truck went by with sirens blaring to put out a fire somewhere, with the tram driver yelling to people to get out of the way. We could see and hear the horns of ships on the nearby Rhine River; the barking of dogs and the clip-clop of horses as they pulled carriages along the cobblestone road; we saw the Cathedral in the background; as one turned we could even see all the way up the little city laneways. There were people everywhere, horses and buggies and boats on the river.
We put our heads "out" the tram window and could see back to what had just passed. It was truly an amazing experience, even to the puddles of water on the roadway because it had been raining, and the reflections in the puddles of everything that passed. The tram travelled for quite some time through the old quarters along the river then turned up a little street. Part the way up the street a child called out and waved from an upstairs room of a building. At the end of the little street there was an accident where a horse drawn cart had lost its wheel and was blocking the way, so the tram had to make a detour. Finally the tram ended up back in the Market Square, where we had begun - but it was still in the old days. Seeing the Square as it used to be when we had just walked along an hour earlier was a weird feeling. When we reached the final destination there was a bright light, as if we were actually time travelling, and suddenly we were back in today's time.
I could have stayed in this former time zone for hours just looking at everything. When the trip was over and we had to leave the tram I kept thinking how amazing this experience really was and how fortunate I was to be able to step back in history, if only just for this short period.
After the short film everyone boards a stationary tram for the "journey" of a lifetime. Each seat is a single seat with a VR face mask attached. After fitting the mask you select your language by looking at the symbol for a short time. It is a strange but fascinating experience to look around and not see anyone else on the tram other than the VR conductor/driver operating the tram at the front.
With sounds of the tram rumbling down the track and the sense of moving forward you feel like you are going a tunnel with a light at the end; then suddenly you are launched into a virtual world set early in the 20th century.
I was in awe of everything I was seeing. The tram travelled slowly along the river front and all around me were realistic 3D images of people from more than 100 years ago, going about their daily lives. The buildings were just as they were at that time and the people were all dressed accordingly.
An old style fire truck went by with sirens blaring to put out a fire somewhere, with the tram driver yelling to people to get out of the way. We could see and hear the horns of ships on the nearby Rhine River; the barking of dogs and the clip-clop of horses as they pulled carriages along the cobblestone road; we saw the Cathedral in the background; as one turned we could even see all the way up the little city laneways. There were people everywhere, horses and buggies and boats on the river.
We put our heads "out" the tram window and could see back to what had just passed. It was truly an amazing experience, even to the puddles of water on the roadway because it had been raining, and the reflections in the puddles of everything that passed. The tram travelled for quite some time through the old quarters along the river then turned up a little street. Part the way up the street a child called out and waved from an upstairs room of a building. At the end of the little street there was an accident where a horse drawn cart had lost its wheel and was blocking the way, so the tram had to make a detour. Finally the tram ended up back in the Market Square, where we had begun - but it was still in the old days. Seeing the Square as it used to be when we had just walked along an hour earlier was a weird feeling. When we reached the final destination there was a bright light, as if we were actually time travelling, and suddenly we were back in today's time.
I could have stayed in this former time zone for hours just looking at everything. When the trip was over and we had to leave the tram I kept thinking how amazing this experience really was and how fortunate I was to be able to step back in history, if only just for this short period.
Time Ride can be found in Cologne, Dresden and Berlin. I STRONGLY urge everyone to experience this for yourself.
For more information visit their website - click here
For more information visit their website - click here