All the cool people hang out in Dusseldorf. You know who lived there? Elvis, when he was stationed in Germany. You know who visited there? Me, while I'm here. Well, I didn't just go because Elvis was there. I didn't learn about our connection until after I arrived. (Alas, the German guide book failed on this one.)
I rode the train up. Generally, you hear a person can set their watch to German trains. This is a lie folks. Many trains are late. Mine was no exception. We left Stuttgart on time. But then there was a medical situation on the tracks. So they slowed the train down. This caused us to be 80 minutes late. And there is no refund if the problem is outside of the Deutschbahn's prevue. On a side note, some important knowledge if you decide to ride the train: spend the 4 Euros and reserve a seat. Then you won't be one of the people standing in the aisle for over an hour.
The train route up followed Rhein river. This route also included the castles on the Rhein river. Yes, lots of castles were built along the river. You can take a boat tour and see them. I believe in July sometime, they have a fireworks evening with the boat tour. This is not on my to do list though. But it was so neat to see the castles as we were rolling by.
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| Cactus, loved the costumes. |
I visited up north to celebrate Fasching, which if you remember from last year, is the Mardi Gras of Germany. Germans dress up in costumes for this party, much like we dress up for Halloween. Except they do themes and everyone is the same character. That part is a bit different. But if it makes them happy, it doesn't bother me any. And they were warm costumes. Actually, I remember trick or treating in snow one year, so they may be on to something up there. Dusseldorf did not have a parade, but a gathering of people, as best as I could tell. But I loved the costumes.
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| For unknown reasons, the Smurfs are very popular |
Dusseldorf has amazing food. And not just German food. It has Portuguese food. Such delicious fish. And also, the city is the largest concentration of Japanese people in Europe. So I ate Ramen as well. Such wonderful spicy soup. People lined up outside (in the freezing cold) to wait to eat at the Ramen Noodle place. It was that good. I had a reservation. And Dunkin Donuts. Don't judge me. I don't eat many donuts. But then you go to a city that has an American food you haven't eaten in years. And you don't care. You just want your donut. And are so happy to see them, you don't even book breakfast at the hotel, because you decide to eat donuts every morning. So people don't think you are one of those Americans that travels to Europe and then finds American food on day 2, you explain that you live in Stuttgart for 2 years now, and no, we have no Dunkin Donuts. So it's ok to eat them.
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| Ramen Soup |
St. Lambertus is the Catholic Church in Dusseldorf. It was built in the 13th century. It is now considered a small cathedral. It's not as amazing as some of the other churches in Germany/Europe. I don't think the Catholics spent their money on churches, as others are more gothic looking.
I went to Bruhl for an afternoon, as Dusseldorf is not a huge city to explore. Bruhl has the wonderful Augustusburg palace, on the World Heritage Site list. I didn't have the opportunity to tour the palace though; it was closed for Fasching. Note to people in charge of tourism there: you should have your biggest draws open when it's likely people will be around to visit. Just a thought. I also visited the Max-Ernst Museum. He is a surrealist artist, born in Bruhl. Besides Germany, he spent time in New York, Arizona, and Paris. I enjoyed some of his work, but not my favorite artist or museum (see Hermitage, St. Petersburg) in Europe.
I also visited Koln (Cologne) for their huge Fasching parade. It was freezing cold out. Like I should have brought my toe warmers that I wear when I ski cold out. The people in the parade give you flowers (tulips and roses) and throw candy. Sometimes it lands on you head. The Germans love their free candy. I won't even tell you the worst of it. Just trust me, they love free candy.
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| Float of the Dom Cathedral, under construction, like all the great churches in Europe. |
Christine
I won the world cup race in Kitsbuhel! Well, in my mind I totally did anyway. Kitsbuhel has a very famous, very tough, world cup ski run. The winners of the race have a Hahnenkammbahn (gondola) car named after them. For example, I saw Bode Miller's gondola. Mostly Austrians and Swiss have won the race though. This visit I actually skied the run. Well, some of it. There were parts that they do not groom ever, which led to huge snow mounds with sheets of ice around them. That did not look like a good idea. 
I did not make the hotel arrangements. Because it would not occur to me to stay in a Schloss (castle). That has a chapel on site. Or a witch Keller (cellar). They dropped the witches through a trap door in the ceiling. But they set up the room so if the witch survived the fall, she would not touch the floor. They believed witches got their powers back if they touched the floor. 
