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MERCI BEAUCOUP!
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Ah, Germany! My first time ever here! I am exhausted after an incredible and unforgettable first 4 nights of my trip with my dear friend, Kisara, and her wonderful husband, Das, who live in Dusseldorf. …but I think this Federweisser (a young German wine that tastes like fizzy lemonade) in front of me should perk me up!
Today I experienced the world famous autobahn. I collected my black Ford Fiesta at the Dusseldorf airport at 9am this morning and hoped on A3 towards Bavaria and the “Romantic Road.” I didn’t necessarily have the best transport to get the full autobahn experience, but my little American import did great. At one point I rounded her out at a cool 160 km/hour (basically until she shook!), and did my best to imitate all the BMW, Audi and Porche drivers that typically zoomed by me at about 200 km/hour. I didn’t stop once during the 317km drive, but enjoyed the country side, occasional castle in the distance and the American military radio station I found near Frankfurt that kept me singing for several hours.
Now I am in Rothenburg, Bavaria….but my experiences here will have to wait. I have too much to share of my time in Dusseldorf and the surrounding cities these past 4 days.
My first hours in Dusseldorf!
Kisara and Das took me on a walking tour of the city before dinner. Dusseldorf is set along the Rhine river and is the 5th largest city in Germany. It is also touted as the city with the best quality of life in Germany. The "Rhine Promenade" that we are on is the most famous in the country.
I really wish I would take off that d*mn purse for pictures! Argh!
Most parts of Dusseldorf were destroyed in WW2 and now it promotes modernism. In its "New Harbor" famous architects like Claude Vasconi, David Chipperfield and Frank O. Gehry all have creations...this is one of them, and it looks stunning with the sun setting.
The trio at dinner…I had no idea what awaited me!
Dinner is served!
Part of a pig’s leg…skin still on and bone marrow present! But it was delicious…albeit way too much for this little American.
I have made several observations about German food and German’s eating their food since entering this country. First of all, the food is very hardy…basically meat and potatoes (some may even say heavy! Dare I say heavier than American food! Yes!!!). Second, it is all the same color…different shades of cream set on white plates (as a note, even the taxis in Germany are cream color…coincidence!?). Salt also seems to be a favorite ingredient. Visually it is not appealing, but I don’t think that is as important to the Germans as, say, the French because once the food is slid in front of them their mission becomes to consume the meal…not delight in its aesthetics. At the traditional restaurant we ate at, entire tables of Germans would go silent for the 10 minutes that they all emptied their plates only to pick up conversations again once the forks were rested. Toto, we aren’t in Paris anymore.
A little blurry, but this is a good image of our highly volatile and dramatic server who seemed to have a love/hate relationship with our table. I am not sure if the drama stemmed from the overwhelming number of beers he kept consuming while on the job…or if he was just being himself. Das did a good job of finally getting what we wanted versus accepting what he was going to serve us. Obviously he doesn’t work for tips.
A real “Bier garten”.
Dusseldorf has a beautiful old part of town called the Alstadt (actually the old part of town in every German city is called the Alstadt) which is also home to 260 bars/cafes all in a row. It is considered the “longest bar in the world.”
It is true that beer in Germany is cheaper than water…although that hasn't made me a convert. I pay more and drink the water J …or a lot more and drink the wine. At night this old part of town just hummed with activity…and if you weren't at a café drinking a large glass of beer, you had a bigger bottle of beer in hand bought at a nearby “Kiosk “(every 100 meters!!). Nothing is small in Germany, particularly when it comes to beer.
I spent Friday exploring Dusseldorf on my own. After dinner the previous night, I started to think that Germans must be the biggest potato consumers in the world (they are the 4th largest economy in the world…so they do have the resources to buy A LOT of pommes. I haven’t done the research yet to determine if my theory is true…but I did stumble on this potato stand at the market in the center of Dusseldorf. In all my travels I have never seen a stand dedicated to just different potatoes!! Perhaps an indication that my theory is correct…will get back to you!
ROAD TRIP!
On Saturday we headed to the birthplace of Ludwig von Beethoven and the former capital of West Germany, Bonn. I still have Moonlight Sonata stuck in my head J after exploring his birth home. Some of the most interesting artifacts on display were the earhorns that he had crafted for him when he started going deaf at 31. His loss of hearing tortured him so much that he contemplated killing himself regularly…only his devotion to composing kept him from ending his life early.
Our next stop was a little town called Königswinter. We parked Kisara’s little Volkswagen Polo and made the 45minute trek straight up a mountain so I could witness my first German castle, Schloss Drachenburg . You will notice that a castle is precariously missing in this photo…we were wondering why we couldn’t see it either! We passed it on the way up, but kept going in anticipation of a grand look-out over the schloss and the entire valley….which does exist, but didn’t exist this past Saturday. Oh well. There were many laughs along the way, and the view at the top was still breathtaking…even sans castle.
Our last stop of the day was a little town about 10 minutes from the castle called, Rhondorf . They were having a “Wienfest,” and even though Kisara and I were dragging, Das worked his charms and convinced his two girls to check out the festivities. It was a perfect stop! The festival was very, very small, but the wine was cheap, the town was adorable and the locals were welcoming and friendly. We “rented” our glasses for 2 Euro and filled them with 1 Euro wine from the region. Our wine pourer recommended that we drink the white as the rose she was serving would “give us a headache.” She also noted that she was pouring inferior wines to the only other stand serving different wines which were, of course, more expensive. However, her honesty kept us coming back to fill up with her “cheap” white wine. Frankly we loved it!
Kisara and I enjoying the fruits of the region!
At the festival we met a lovely, older German man named Theo (his name was of Greek origin) who made it his mission to introduce us to all the local foods served at the fair. This particular item was a fried potato hash served with an apple sauce. At first we were all hesitant about the apple sauce condiment…wouldn’t ketchup be better!!?? But after the first bite there were 3 new fans of this Rodendorf specialty. Das even ordered another one!
This “currywurst” is served all over Germany (in fact we had the option to order it for lunch in Bonn, but opted for the plain brat with ketchup). It is basically just a bratwurst served with a BBQ like sauce and curry powder. According to Theo, this particular serving style of Bratwurst became popular after WWI because our US soldiers enjoyed it so much when it was served to them during the war. Kinda cool, eh!
One of the beautiful women working the food stand who served us the local food…but wouldn’t let us pay for it.
A look at the festival by night with all its glorious lights.
After Theo walked us to our car and guided Kisara out of our parking spot we headed home to Dusseldorf. To say we slept well that night is speaking mildly J.
Theo giving his contact info to Kisara and Das next to the portable bathrooms.
The light was really good there!
Oh, but we weren’t done yet…Sunday was just on the horizon, and Cologne awaited!
We slept in and after an interesting stop at an artist open house in a warehouse district in Dusseldorf (the most interesting artist being a young man who made intriguing images of flower bouquets, ice cream cones and underwear with fly carcasses. I asked him where he collected all the carcasses and he said he bought them from a local fly farm…he bought them dead, not alive. I know...I was wondering the same thing.) we went to Cologne to see the “Dom”….its most famous landmark and Northern Europe's largest Gothic cathedral. Few churches make my jaw drop when I walk in them…this one did. It is a Gothic masterpiece.
Germany is so good at mixing new architect with old. It is everywhere in this fascinating country…and although I don’t know if it resonates well with me, it is beautiful and interesting. It is a true dichotomy and a balance of past and present.
A hysterical and clever sculpture over the Rhein! I think I took 20 shots of it…just made me smile.
These guys are from a very old hunting club that originated in the 1400s!! There was a bit of a communication gap when Kisara and I talked to them, but I believe they continue their hunting traditions today between “social work” type activities…I am assuming charity activities, but he said “social work”.
We took this picture while we were having a snack at an Asian restaurant before heading back to Dusseldorf for dinner with a Senegalese friend of Kisara’s. There was a mirror next to our table…so this is the result of us playing. Super cool…mostly because we didn't have to ask anyone to take it!
My time in Dusseldorf with my dear friends ended with this very average dinner at a Spanish tapas restaurant in the Alstadt (thank goodness the wine was good!). I love this picture so much…between us four, we represent 3 continents and together we can speak more than 8 languages. The international community is so vibrant.
So now I am back where I started this post...still exhausted and still in Bavaria…listening to a table of 3 German men laughing their heads off (many large glasses of beer have been served). Sometimes, perhaps for my benefit, they will slide in an English phrase here and there….regardless, their laughing has made me giggle along side of them…it is really contagious. In fact, that is one thing I notice here more about me than in Paris…I smile at strangers more, and laugh along side of them. I don’t do that in Paris because the Parisians don’t do that. But here it is different. The Germans may have a stereotype of being stoic and serious, but they smile freely and have warm, open hearts. I am enjoying that immensely.
Just as a closing note, the laughing German men have now yelled out to me (“Cybergirl” is their name for me)…they apparently want to know more about this American girl who hasn’t lifted her head from her computer. Let’s see what they have to say!
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