Taking a break? From what? you may ask. From our usual routine, I retort. No matter how you fill your days, deviation from the norm is the essential spice of life that keeps you feeling invigorated and alive.
With our tax paperwork all but finished (I’m still awaiting a form from Google in the US), tomorrow seems as good a time as any to head out for a few days. Sarah has Dutch lessons every Monday afternoon, so we can’t really go for longer than a week. If we wait any longer, we’ll hardly be able to get away at all, because we have guests coming at the end of this month, plus a family visit at the end of the next.
Picking a destination has been a little tricky, because many places lie in directions we want to go later this year for a longer period, so it would be foolish to travel a long way in one direction only to retrace our steps a few months from now.
Bearing that in mind, we’re going to start by driving east to Köln (or Cologne, as it’s oddly known in English), where we’ll more than likely spend the night.
That’s about as far as we’ve planned so far. Düsseldorf and Bonn are options, but I don’t yet know much about them. Our Lonely Planet guide to Germany should help with that.
More than likely, though, I expect we’ll head down to Luxembourg and then come back through Belgium, probably returning next Sunday.
If you are going to Koeln, be sure you don’t miss a visit to the Stollwerk chocolate museum! (who needs a bloody “we have more towers than thou” cathedral when you can see chocolate being made!?)
Would you believe I am an expert on Duesseldorf? I spend too much time there for work over the past 5 years. It’s nothing flash, but nice enough for an afternoon/evening. If you like your designer fashion shopping, the Koenigs Allee is the place to go. For more down to earth goods, the old town (“Altstadt”, where the buildings all look remarkably 1950’s-era) is a better place. There apperantly are also quite a few art galleries and the like that I have never had a chance to visit.
It’s also turned into a bit of a cafe society over the past few years. There are some independent places and, of course, Starbucks is there as well now.
If you are looking for a meal and are into fish, “Fisch Hauss” in the alt stadt is very nice indeed. For more meaty fare, “Kytaro der Grieche” (Grafenberger Allee 119, 02 11 / 68 60 48) is well worth a visit. Nice dining room and exhaustive menu, never had a bad meal there. Thanks to an Argentinian invasion, there are some excelent steak places too. Lazo in the old town is very nice and at just back at the start of the Koennigs Allee (Alt stadt end) there is Block House, where I once had a hilarious hot chocolate incident. I ordered a hot chocolate, not yet knowing it’s called “heisse cacoa” in German. That resulted in chocolate ice cream being brought out. Trying to get what I wanted, it finally clicked; they brought me warm chocolate sauce for over my ice cream! After another waiter was called in it was third time lucky.
It’s also a japanese hotbed and there are lots of (some very authetic) Japanese places in the area around the japanese Hotel Niko. (nice, but not my favourite hotel)
If you are looking for a place to stay, the Holiday Inn is right in the center of town and quite good. Better are the Hilton and Radisson, but they are probably about a 30-40 minute walk from the altstat.
For a bit of excercise, a walk around two or three bridges is quite pleasant.
We didn’t go to Düsseldorf in the end. The only German cities we spent any time in were Köln and Monschau.