Dusseldorf

Summer weekends: I try not to waste them sputtering around the house or at Schinnen, simply becuase there are some many cold/dreary days coming I feel some sort of pressure to make the most of the nice ones.  Last weekend I was itching for an outing, but none of us had it in us for a long day. Enter: Dusseldorf.   About 45 minutes by car, a smidge longer, but easy by train.

We had been down to Dusseldorf one evening the  first March we we here and were less than impressed.  It was cold.  It was Friday evening and on Friday evening old town turns into quite the bar/club scene with throngs of people and their typical European crowd-navigation technique, plus pushy maiter d's accosting you every 5 feet to come eat in their establishment. We just weren't feeling it.  Despite an excellent Dim Sum rest. we've heard about in the area, have never been back. 

Like so many other European cities, Dusseldorf is simply not stroller friendly, but Sunday, all we wanted to do was be outside in the gorgeous weather, to walk, and to wander.   Gorgeous weather meant outside cafes or an impromptu picnic, so we knew we wouldn't have to gear up to handle a super-cramped German eatery with the kiddos, AND there's a Dunkin Donuts in Dusseldorf, so off we went: to window shop while I drank coffee and the boys smeared donut goodness all over the stroller.  We even took the JOOVY stroller so we knew C could sit and play his video game and himself have a relaxing afternoon.

We strolled the KO. Because I grew up in  the land of the beautiful people, instead of gawking at the excess of it or wondering who in the world buys this stuff, I loved the familiar feel of it (not that I've seen a lot of fur displays in my time).   We encountered not one, but three Dunkin Donuts with fabulous iced coffee, half price stale donuts for the boys, and a friendly cashier who figured out right off the bat we weren't his typical English-speaking tourists.  "You came to Dusseldorf for the coffee?"  I've done stranger things, I assured him.  (For example: I've gone to Poland just to buy some coffee cups and next week I'm going to Canterbury for a book, but that's another story)

Speaking of books.... there was also a book fair going on. The riverfront street in the Old Town had been converted into a bibliophile's paradise.  AND, b/c we're in Germany I only had to look for the boxes marked English Literatur.   Didn't find any treasures to bring home, but had a great time looking.  Who wouldn't want an East German cookbook? I love it when I happen upon cultural interpolations of  the cold war era, artifacts that demonstrate a reunified Germany's struggle with its historical past, but really, I'm not sure (other than tourists?) who the intended audience  might be for a DDR cookbook.  I know American culture takes political correctness to an extreme, and although it's not quite the same, could you imagine walking into your local Barnes and Noble, perusing the bargain bin and finding an Apartheid cookbook, or a Jim Crow cookbook or a Triple K cookbook?  Like anywhere else, each region of Germany has regionally specific cuisine, but to label said cuisine as DDR cooking seems like an interesting marketing choice.

Old Town itself has some lovely restored seventeenth-century townhomes and a couple of brewpubs serving a local brew and a ceramics museum I might go down and check out one wintry day.    All in all it was a pleasant diversion.  Don't come to Germany to go to Dusseldorf.  If you're short on time don't even schedule an overnight here.  If you're having visitors take them to Maastricht or Monschau or  Aachen or Satzvey first, but don't discount Dusseldorf alltogether.