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Published: June 19th 2006
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Düsseldorf and Sylt 10 to 11 June 2006 On the Saturday we caught the Inner City Express train from Hamburg to Düsseldorf (for a bargain €96.00), and got there by mid-afternoon. We were on our way to visit the Daniels family. Mia and Peter are long time friends of Kai’s parents.
We stayed with Jens, their son, who lives in the heart of the modern and lively Düsseldorf. That evening we had dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant by the Rhine, enjoying the food, drink, company and sun till 11pm. This area of recently reclaimed docks is becoming a central location for media and production companies. So it is a rather trendy and stylish place.
Towards the end of the meal, Silke, Mia and Peter’s daughter joined us as well. She had just returned from her holiday in Italy. It was great to be able to catch up with the whole family again.
After dinner “the kids” headed for the “Altstadt”. We followed the promenade along the Rhine, past the 235 metre-high Rheinturm telecom tower. We also passed “Der Neue Zollhof” buildings, by the world famous architect Frank O. Gehry (who also built the
Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, along with the amazing Dancing house in Prague and many more (check out http://www.arcspace.com/architects/gehry/zolhoff/)).
The Altstadt (or "old town") is known as the longest bar in the world, because the Altstadt has more than 300 bars and clubs. Famous for its special beer, Altbier (Old beer), which is brewed from an old traditional recipe, and is only brewed in a few places in the world since the end of the 19th century.
As you will note from the pictures, Jens and Silke made sure we were shown a good time Düsseldorfer style. Altstadt was heaving! Thousands upon thousands of revellers. Along with the locals, there were legions of Spanish, Portuguese, Swedes, Mexicans, Ecuadorians and just about everyone else. We ended up in an Irish bar partying till gone 4am with a couple of new found Swedish, German and English friends. We paid the price the next morning. Thanks Jens for having us!
What a night! The only minor blimp on the night was Kerry getting soaked twice with Altbier. Firstly, down her right side by a drunk young German who threw a glass of beer at his mate, his mate ducked and Kerry
got hit. Then later on, I managed to knock Kerry’s beer down her left side. Opps!
The next morning we headed for a delicious brunch in scenic Hösel, just outside of Düsseldorf, at Mia and Peter’s lovely home. We spent the whole day there with the family and also enjoyed a relaxing walk and sampled the fantastic local ice-cream.
On the way to the train station, we stopped by Silke’s place in Ratingen to check out her apartment. Very nice indeed.
We caught the train in the evening and got back to Glückstadt at around 11pm.
What a great time we had in Düsseldorf! Thanks Mia, Peter, Jens and Silke for being such great hosts and ensuring we got to experience a German hangover.
13 June 2006 On our penultimate day in Germany, we decided to make the most of the good weather and catch a two hour train up to the “St. Tropez of the North Sea”.
We were heading to Germany's northernmost town of Westerland on the sandy island of Sylt, which belongs to the very popular North Frisian Islands.
Frequented by German and Danish A-listers, Eastern Suburb yuppies (we
had no choice but to come?!), plenty of oldies and a few lost surfers. We felt right at home on the near 30 Km long golden beach sand that stretches the entire western side of the island. Apart from the 16 Deg C water and having to pay to get on the beach, we could have been in Queensland?
The main giveaways, however, were the sight of the common wicker beach chairs, known as “strandkoerbe” and the fact that Kerry and I were the only ones wearing thongs and not sandals.
We spent a good four hours exploring Westerland, eating great fish for lunch and quenching our thirsts with fine German Rieslings and cold beer. Lah-dee-dah!
To end the German blogs (and without sounding biased), we should state that a trip to Germany is well worth the time and effort. It is an amazing country with such a diverse culture and has plenty to offer. Make sure to go in the summer!
Next stop Argentina!
Auf wiedersehen!
Kai and Kerry.
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