Our conquest of Western Germany began in the year 2008 in the cold and wet month of March. Over the course of these 4 days we managed to get around to visiting 6 cities & 4 countries in 4 days.
We had planned for a different holiday this time around. Going to Germany and not driving on the autobahn was something I have been dreaming about for a while. This was the perfect opportunity. We had decided that Dusseldorf would be the base for this trip. It's a beautiful city within a few hours drive of quaint historic towns in western Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands. We booked our tickets and off we went.
Upon landing at Dusseldorf airport, we made our way to the rental car place. We had booked a compact car and I was expecting a Renault or a ford or something. Instead, she gave us a cool Merc with a navigation system and winter tires. Unsure of driving on the wrong side of the road, I slowly and hesitantly drove out of the airport but seemed pretty much at ease about as soon as we got out of the airport.
We stayed at the Nikko
in the center of the city. The Nikko was a cool hotel that is designed primarily for Japanese tourists. Well, we had a great buffet lunch at an india restaurant right opposite the hotel and headed out on our drive to Koln. It took us about 30 minutes to get to Koln from our hotel. Of course it was 30 minutes at about 180kph average. I even touched 200kph at one point.
The Kölner Dom is one of the largest churches in the world. It's a perfect example of Gothic Architecture with really sharp edges,
gargoyales, ornate enterances and the works. From the inside, the dom has humongous and beautiful stained glass windows. We spent the day hanging around Köln, walking around the bustling shops even on a cold rainly day. Eventually, we headed back to Dusseldorf, this time taking the winding country roads through a very pretty co
untryside.
The room we first checked into didn't have the air conditioning working effectively and after speaking to the front desk, they switched us to a cool executive suite with its own cappuchino machine :-). A few cappuchinos from that machine was a great way to start the day.
We had planned for a different holiday this time around. Going to Germany and not driving on the autobahn was something I have been dreaming about for a while. This was the perfect opportunity. We had decided that Dusseldorf would be the base for this trip. It's a beautiful city within a few hours drive of quaint historic towns in western Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands. We booked our tickets and off we went.
Upon landing at Dusseldorf airport, we made our way to the rental car place. We had booked a compact car and I was expecting a Renault or a ford or something. Instead, she gave us a cool Merc with a navigation system and winter tires. Unsure of driving on the wrong side of the road, I slowly and hesitantly drove out of the airport but seemed pretty much at ease about as soon as we got out of the airport.
We stayed at the Nikko
in the center of the city. The Nikko was a cool hotel that is designed primarily for Japanese tourists. Well, we had a great buffet lunch at an india restaurant right opposite the hotel and headed out on our drive to Koln. It took us about 30 minutes to get to Koln from our hotel. Of course it was 30 minutes at about 180kph average. I even touched 200kph at one point.The Kölner Dom is one of the largest churches in the world. It's a perfect example of Gothic Architecture with really sharp edges,
gargoyales, ornate enterances and the works. From the inside, the dom has humongous and beautiful stained glass windows. We spent the day hanging around Köln, walking around the bustling shops even on a cold rainly day. Eventually, we headed back to Dusseldorf, this time taking the winding country roads through a very pretty co
untryside.The room we first checked into didn't have the air conditioning working effectively and after speaking to the front desk, they switched us to a cool executive suite with its own cappuchino machine :-). A few cappuchinos from that machine was a great way to start the day.
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