Düsseldorf...Altbier and japanese culture..what a combination!

Although not far away from my hometown Cologne I have to admit that I never really cared for this city while I was living in Germany. I was happy in my own little world and there was no curiosity whatsoever on my part to see the Capital of North Rhine-Westphalia. Besides when you grew up in Cologne you had to listen to all those rivalries between the cities, which are separated by 40 km along the River Rhine. Actually the rivalry between those cities started centuries ago and it was mainly a commercial conflict. But over the years the beef reached ridiculous dimensions when they started arguing whose beer was better Altbier or Kölsch or who celebrated Fasching (sort of Mardi Gras) better. It got even worse when the English declared Düsseldorf as the Capital of North Rhine-Westphalia after WWII although Cologne was bigger.
So when I went to Düsseldorf this year to spend a week for the exhibition I had mixed emotions. I stayed at the Business Wieland Hotel in the city center and I must say it was simply perfect. The staff is really friendly trying to help you with any problem that you have. The rooms were beautifully designed and it had a very good location. Breakfast was great too. I enjoyed my conversations with the receptionists as they were great guys. Always friendly. So I have only good things to say about the hotel itself and if I should ever go back that will be the only hotel where I'd stay.
Düsseldorf was pretty cold but that didn't stop me from exploring the city. The 'Weihnachtsmarkt' was great and I drank some tasty 'Glühwein', which made me forget about the freezing weather.
One night we went to a restaurant called Riva at the harbour, where the food was great although a bit expensive. But the ambience was great and I was in good company so I could not bitch about anything. The 'Altstadt' of Düsseldorf is quite nice and worth a visit but not as nice as the one in Cologne.
However, one thing that Cologne has not is a Japanese quarter. Düsseldorf has one of the biggest japanese communities in Europe, which is based on the fact that there were a lot of Japanese companies. There are some splendid japanese restaurants where people cue up at lunch time.

So overall it was a nice experience except for the one I had at the REWA grocery store across the street of the Hotel where they confused me for a thief because I took a bottle of Vodka from the liquor cabinet and gave it to my friend who was going to buy it. One of the employees saw me taking the bottle and the next moment I didn't have it anymore so he must have thought another wino stealing our liquor. He came after me with his colleague asking where I had put the bottle of Vodka, which caught me by surprise. I got mad, yelling to them that they can't accuse me out of nowhere and showed them my friend who had the bottle in the shopping basket. The clerk got all red on his face and started to blubber apologies and he disappeared to his back-office faster than you could say 'asshole'!
So..Düsseldorf is nice..nice restaurants..nice people..but KÖLSCH-beer will beat Altbier anytime, anywhere. no arguments there!

there's no place like home! this time for real!

I took some days off and flew back to Germany in order to visit my parents. I took my niece with me, who happens to be a black metal  fan14 year old teenager girl. I used to be a metal-head myself so I thought we would have some common ground to talk about. Boy was I wrong! I never heard any of the bands she was listening too and most of the times I had no clue what she was talking about. One time she tried to explain me the bands she liked, folk-metal she called it. Folk-metal?? really? there is a category called folk-metal? When did that happen???

When I started to name-drop all the cool bands like Tesla, White Lion, Skid Row, Buckcherry, Motley Crue all I received was empty, blank stares! Damn you Nirvana, for ruining a whole generation of brilliant music!!

I guess, generation gap caught hold of me. However, the flight itself was not so complicated. She had mostly her headphones on and was listening to some brutal guitar riffs while I tried to read my book.
Since my trip was not only for pleasure I had to drop off my niece at my parent's flat and go from there to various most interesting cities in Germany. But first of all, we went straight from the airport to my beatiful home town Unkel am Rhein. I'm proud to say that I was born there. It is one of the most beautiful towns along the river Rhine. And a very old one as well  with friendly people. It has a historical city center with traditional vineyards. There isn't much industry around except for some small factories in the neighbour-village so people concentrated on small art shops and wine-making here. Unkel is located right next to the river Rhine, 20 km south of Bonn. Very peaceful. If you ever get the chance to fly to Cologne don't hesitate to visit Unkel, you won't be disappointed. There are many things to see and to enjoy, so you will need time. There are one or two guesthouses and a nice hotel 'Rheinhotel Schulz' if you want to stay overnight. Also you won't go hungry there as there are splendid restaurants.

We even have a prision tower from the 17th century where allegedly Beethoven was incarcerated one night, however that could also be an urban legend to attract tourists. Anyways, I am going to listen to some good old rock music now and try to forget about folk-metal and the very fact that I'm getting old :-(

Rückfall in die 90'er!

Ich bin mal wieder dabei meinen 6-monatigen Reiseplan auszuarbeiten und als ich vor dem PC saß geschah wieder das Gleiche! Jedes Mal wenn ich mir was vornehme, um 'ne Arbeit durchzuführen, die ein bisschen Konzentration erfordert schaffe ich es irgendwie mich vollkommen abzulenken und ertappe mich dabei, wie ich irgendeinen Mist auf Google recherchiere. Wieso kann ich mich nicht streng auf eine Sache konzentrieren? DAS müsste ich mal nachschlagen!! Na ja, diesmal bin ich auf youtube gelandet und die haben ein ganz miesen Trick drauf. Die merken sich was du dir für einen Mist reingezogen hast in der Vergangenheit und halten dir dann irgenwelche Clip-Vorschläge vor die Nase, wenn du es am wenigsten erwartest. Dies mal erwischte mich so ein Video von Tim Bendzko. Ich hatte mir mal dat eine Lied reingezogen, wo er nur mal kurz die Welt retten muss. Gefällt mir ganz gut. Und auf ein mal sitz ich dort und zieh mir deutschsprachige Mucke aus den Neunzigern rein. Ich muss sagen, wenn ich den Mist von heute höre, dann war das was wir uns damals reingezogen haben Geniestreiche. Ja, ja dat wor et!

Ich meine, ich hab mich damals wenig für Hip-Hop interessiert. Ich war definitiv nur auf Hard-Rock und Heavy Metal fixiert aber was den Rapgesang angeht war ich leider ein Spätzünder. Gerade was den deutschsprachigen Rap angeht. Natürlich kam auch ich nicht an Liedern von Fanta4 oder Rödelheim auf VIVA vorbei. Oder Fettes Brot Nordisch bei Nature aber im Ganzen war das für mich damals uninteressant. Aber gestern ca. 20 Jahre später kam ich auf den Genuss und spielte ein Video nach dem anderen ab. Erinnert Ihr euch noch an Freundeskreis? A-N-N-A...was für ein tolles Lied. Oder "Keine is" von Rödelheim Hartreim Projekt? Deichkind "Bon Voyage"?  oder Absolute Beginner "Hammerhart"? Massive Töne? Einfach geile Lieder mit intelligenten Texten.

Lieber spät als nie. Aber ich blieb nicht beim Hiphop stehen. Danach ging es weiter zu Punk-Rock. Ein Video nach dem anderen von den Ärzten, Toten Hosen, Westernhagen. Die Ärzte hatten lustige Lieder, die ich mittlerweile völlig vergessen hatte, Schunder Song, Hip Hip Hurra, Mein Baby war beim Friseur oder Pushed again von den Hosen.

Scheiß youtube muss ich sagen. Hat mich wieder mal daran erinnert, wie schnell man alt wird! Kann gar nicht glauben, dass schon 20 Jahre vergangen sind. Ich saß also stundenlang vor dem PC und habe im Endeffekt alles andere als meine Reiseplannung gemacht. Schöner Scheiß!

Munich or München...and no! this isn't about Oktoberfest

I had to make a short trip to the capital of Bavaria for some private business and I reserved a day for some sightseeing. Born and raised in Germany I don't mind rainy weather. Sure, it is not very brightening walking under the pouring rain but then again it is just water. But I was lucky enough to catch a sunny day on my arrival. I took the bullet train from Berlin (ICE) and arrived in Hauptbahnhof München in the evening. I love them train rides. You always get to meet interesting and chatty people. This time I had the luck to meet a young traveller from Canada. His parents had moved to Canada from the Phillipines and that must have been tough I thought, considering the weather conditions and cultural differences of both countries.  He didn't speak any German so I tried to help him out with the fastidious railway system since it can be complicated sometimes here in Germany, especially when you're a foreigner. When I arrived the first thing I see stepping out of the train station some hobos fighting over beer, both drunk of course. Nevermind the sweet smell of alcohol of these friendly lads. After all this is a city famous for its Oktoberfest. Although it's called Oktoberfest I never understood why it starts in September. Well, I guess that is another unsolved mystery of the universe and I don't feel like wikipedia right now. What an ignorant smuck! Anyway, the hotel Wallis Garni is situated in the city center, maybe 300-400 meters away from the train station. It is surrounded by all these friendly institutions that try to take your hard-earned cash by means of scantily dressed females, oh yeah and they do have blokes in jumpsuits waiting at the door, mostly of balkan or turkish origin. Stripclubs! The hotel is a 3-star hotel and it has a good location. Breakfast was surprisingly well and the rooms were tiny but clean. The only problem I had was the internet connection for which you received a wifi-code for each day. If you make your reservation over booking.com you get the internet for free otherwise they charge you 5 Euro a day. From the hotel you can walk to the Marienplatz where there is the typical shopping spree. You also get to see the beautiful city town hall where Bayern Munich celebrates its championships. Oh how I hate those bavarian fuckers! But I have to admit that they won everything last year so I guess they're that good. There are many things to marvel at here in München. The beer, the city, the friendly people. I didn't have much time but I had to see the incredible BMW museum. It is fascinating to see how the car industry developed in 80-90 years. The building itself has an interesting architecture and I suggest you take some time to see it. The entry costs around 9 EUR but it is worth the money.

Town hall in Marienplatz