Dusseldorf

One rainy Saturday, the interns and I decided to take a little train ride to Koeln's sister city or arch rival depending on how you looked at it, Dusseldorf. We had heard a lot of things about Dusseldorf from native Koelners; how their beer isn't as good, their cathedral isn't as big, Karneval is not as exciting and their futbol team is horrible. We decided to put all these indirect impressions aside and see for ourselves. The rain almost prevented us from going, because who wants to walk around in the rain. However, this was my only opportunity to see Dusseldorf so we pressed on.

It was a shorter train ride than I expected. When we walked out of the Bahnhof, we were pleasently surprised to find the rain had let off. We began walking toward the Altstadt or old city. We crossed the main road that was divided by a beautiful tree-lined stream; the perfect photo op.

Then we ventured into open markets on our way through Altstadt. We found a souvenir shop where Sergi found a fantastic costume for Karneval and I found the perfect pink wig for my costume. The little old ladies who were in there buying bibs for their grand children got a kick out of us trying on wigs and hats. The funny thing that I noticed about the shop is that there were a lot of souvenirs against Koln and how much better Dusseldorf was. As much as Koelners talk about the shortcomings of Dusseldorf, I hadn't seen it advertised on a t-shirt. This was my first hint that Dusseldorf had and inferiority complex.

After the souvenir shop we were starting to get a little hungry so we looked to the Lonely Planet Guide for suggestions on traditional Dusselorf food. We found a nautical themed restaurant down a pedestrian street from one of the open market squares. Apparently they liked Napolean in this place as they had French banners and a bust of Napolean rounding out the decor. Most of us ordered the Alt Beer with Fish. Alt beer is indeed interesting being dark and malty, but it doesn't liven up a mood like Koelsch.

In Summary: After only spending a day in Dusseldorf, I can only go with first impressions and based on the Altstadt Dusseldorf is a little Koeln with many irish pubs. Little Koeln because it is a city in the same region along the Rhine so there are bound to be similiarities, and many Irish Pubs because we must have visited 3 or 4 after night had fallen. :)