Wednesday we took a short drive north to Dusseldorf, which our guidebook describes as "the paragon of the postwar face of the Federal Republic - orderly, prosperous, and self-confident." It is one of the richest cities in Germany, with lots of businessmen in suits, shiny skyscrapers, and endless streets of shops.
We had slept in that morning and relaxed until after noon, which was really nice after our big days in Aachen and Trier, so our first item of business in Dusseldorf was to find lunch. Almost the first thing we came upon was a mall, which is not what you think of when you think of a German city, but in Dusseldorf that is actually the main attraction! We had lunch at a wonderful food stand serving traditional German food that was so, so delicious. My favorite was the 'pfanne kuchen,' a huge, very eggy pancake filled with sour cherries and with sugar on top. Delish. We shared a table and chatted with a businessman who (naturally) spoke impeccable English and took this blurry shot of us.
The rest of the afternoon was spent checking out the shops and one church, and trying unsuccessfully to stay warm. There were always tiny snowflakes floating in the air and the wind was just frigid. It was a really fun city, with great shopping and beautiful and rich German people everywhere. We exercised good self-control and didn't buy much - my main purchase was a pair of European-style shoes from Esprit. (Esprit seems to be huge in Germany - we saw at least four stores in Dusseldorf alone.)
To David's great delight, we came upon a huge hunting shop in a mall that was somewhat like Portland's Pioneer Place only fancier. Warm outdoor clothes, rifles, and all the good boy stuff. The main highlight for me was a Muji store! Wahoo - I thought they were only in London and Paris. Also fun was the random apperance of a wax statue of Elton John sitting at a piano.
Wandering around outside, we found an ice rink with a few food stands. One was selling 'mutzen,' lovely donut-like things, and another was selling 1/2 meter long bratwursts. Most of you would easily be able to guess who bought what!
Yesterday, our flight didn't leave until after 9pm, so we had another day to spend in Cologne. Check-out time was noon, so we relaxed in our room until then, with the exception of a brief disturbance with the maid around 10. David answered her knock and gave her a polite "Nein, danke" since we wanted to hang out in our room and pack, but she would have none of it. She spoke no English, so she gestured insistently at her clipboard list and argued with us in German. We tried to explain we were checking out at 12, with little success, and she just tried that stereotypically American thing of repeating the same thing we don't understand, only louder. It was pretty funny. Whether or not she ever understood our gestures and extremely limited German, we finally managed to make her go away.
After checking out, we parked our rental car and headed for the city center, but we had to go back because I had forgotten my camera. This was actually more inconvenient than it sounds, because David had cleverly backed up the car specifically so no one could get in the trunk - where my camera was. Sure enough, the trunk would only open a few inches. But I conquered without David having to move the car!
We went back to the Cologne Cathedral for another look, and took this self-portrait which unfortunately doesn't show any of the cathedral!
Happily, the cathedral tower was open this time, so we bought our tickets and huffed and puffed all the way up 515 feet to the top. The view of the city was fantastic, and we also got to see eight of the cathedral's huge bells and a close-up view of the amazing architecture. The detail of the spires and the sculpture at a level at which most people never would have seen was extremely impressive. Boy, was it ever cold up there, though!
Next we wandered one last time around the cathedral's interior, and were delighted to discover that the front part of the church next to the altar was open. So we got a much closer view of the golden reliquary containing the alleged bones of the Three Magi. It was really very impressive.
After this we took a break in the train station (which is just next door) to warm up and get a bite to eat. Then it was back to the cathedral for a visit to the treasury. The cathedral's treasures, composed primarily of golden bishops' staffs, chalices, crosses, and other valuable liturgical paraphenalia, were displayed in two underground floors that included Roman-era walls. Highlights were the original wooden interior of the shrine of the Magi and artifacts from a Frankish boy's grave from the 500s AD that include a corked glass bottle with original liquid (anointing oils or something) still inside.
Next we went our separate ways for about an hour - David went off to check out the shops and I headed to the Roman-Germanic Museum. I had only about 45 minutes before closing, which seemed like plenty of time but it wasn't! It was a wonderful museum with all kinds of great stuff I'm interested in - Roman gods, temples, etc. The star attraction is the Dionysos Mosaic, from a 200 AD banqueting hall that was discovered by accident in 1941. It lies exactly where it was found, and the whole museum was built around it!
We met back up at 5 in the lobby of the Hotel Dom, a fancy hotel right next to the cathedral, then headed back to our car and to the airport. Everything went quite smoothly and we had a nice flight back to Gatwick (just 55 minutes). We found Wilma looking cold in the parking lot but she started right up for us. We were happy to see there was even some snow on the ground here in Oxford, but sadly it was gone this morning and it has rained all day.
It's nice to be home, as always, but we miss our fun time in Germany already! We have vowed to work on our German (I need it for school anyway) and we bought a CD set to that end today. We got it at Costco, which was a fun little road trip of about 45 minutes. We drove through several charming little English villages and some ridiculously complicated roundabouts along the way. Costco was great fun - so much like home, yet with wonderful little differences like mince pies next to the gigantic chocolate muffins.
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