Onwards and Upwards

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Heralding in my 30th year on this planet, Adam and I headed to Dusseldorf for a celebratory weekend. I have to say I was nervous about travelling. The night before our flight, we'd not booked any accommodation as neither of us was wholly committed to setting foot on the plane the following day. Thoughts of being stranded in Germany were completely clouding my vision. But alas the next day we 'sucked it up' and set off. We needn't have been worried. The travels that followed were as hassle free and as seamless as any we've ever experienced to date. The flight was perfect-perfect departure, perfect arrival, perfect transport connection to the city centre. It was so easy it was almost unnerving. We kept looking at each other waiting for something to go wrong.

Instead, we found ourselves safe and well in the heart of Dusseldorf. Dusseldorf is a picturesque city with a small town feel. Set right on the Rhine, it is perhaps better visited in Summer when locals advised it is jam packed with locals and visitors alike and the waterside is brimming with street performers and food stalls. Whilst we didn't get to experience warmth and sunshine, we were equally pleased with snuggling in cute cafes and holding hands walking around in the snow. Düsseldorf itself doesn't have much to offer in terms of tourist attractions. We visited some museums and saw a very strange food-orientated art exhibition at the modern art gallery, but otherwise we wandered about the little streets, stopping to refuel in some of the numerous tea shops and beer halls. It was the perfect way to spend a relaxing uneventful weekend away.

Unfortunately, while the things that we'd expected to go wrong didn't occur that weekend, some unexpected bad things came to pass in the days following. Two days later, home sick from work for the third time in two weeks, the criminal exploits of some crappy individual resulted in our car being broken into for the third time in 12 months. 1st time, bent back passenger door frame. 2nd time-smashed window. And this time, 3rd time lucky-both. And so, as I write, we are in a courtesy car while we wait for insurance to fix our perfect little Peugeot. Fingers crossed that we've now had as much bad luck as we can expect from 2010 and it will be onwards and upwards from this point forward.

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