#coldplaymunich

Last night was the first night of the European leg, Oxfam and we were returning with Coldplay to Munich after five years. The rain had followed us here once again, pushing through the gaps in the venue’s split roof to make us aware a storm was lurching overhead.

It’s a beautiful place Munich, large parks, open roads, winding cycle paths and great food, but I wanted to hear straight from the local volunteers to what they thought their city is famous for.

“Pretzels”, they all replied - or as they call them Brezels.

The wonderful internet informs me that the German name "Brezel" derives from the Latin bracellus (a medieval term for "bracelet"), or  bracchiola ("little arms"), I’d like to think the latter – the little arms which offer a warm, bready, salt dusted hug in the rain.

Our volunteers spent the night wrapped up in rain coats talking to fans about our German Stand as One campaign - a campaign that calls for families who are forced apart by conflict to be re-united. In the Middle-East brave Syrian parents are leaving their wives and children in Syria to make the treacherous journeys across several different countries to find a safe country for them to live. On arrival to Germany, they set up home and then apply for visas so that their families can seek refuge using the safest route possible – on an airplane. Currently a German ban stops all parents from applying for refuge for their families who stay in Syria but it doesn’t have to be this way. Hundreds of fans joined us by signing our petition and opening their arms to families in order for them to be reunited. You can support the petition and find out more about Oxfam Germany’s work here.

Standing in the centre of the Olympiastadion pitch, surrounded by 40,000 people, watching families and loved one hug and dance together, really brought home to me, how hard it must be for families to be forced apart by conflict, only for them then to have their dreams of reuniting in a safer country squashed by bans. It defiantly leaves you with something to think about...