Dusseldorf, Germany

Sausage Chef at Carlsplatz

USAIR Flight#700

On our way to Dusseldorf, Germany. Bill and I are sitting in Envoy Class which, I have to say, beats the hell out of Coach. We were getting on the plane and I started to go right after I entered and Bill said, “Left. Left.” Whew. Coach sucks.

This isn’t even nearly as nice as the Business Class of either British Airways or Virgin Atlantic, which is what we usually fly when we travel to Europe. Both of those airlines offer flat bed seats. Actually, USAir is in the process of upgrading their international Airbuses to accommodate a updated Envoy class that includes flat-bed suites.

Germany

Both Bill and I have been to Germany two other times. Both to Dusseldorf for the same client. Now we have an opportunity to work with a completely different client in Germany and where are we headed? Dusseldorf.

Despite two trips there, I have never really seen anything of the town itself in the daylight. We’ve seen a little nightlife, in Old Town, and were even there for Carnival. But I couldn’t tell you much about the town other than I’ve been to a couple of pubs, a few restaurants, and some malls.

Malls Of The World

What does it say about the glamour of my travel life that I’ve been to malls in countries all over the world? Not much. Sad. Sad, I say. I’ve been to Dubai for instance, and other than the five malls I visited, the hotel I stayed in, and a handful of restaurants, I can’t tell you much about the city, let alone the country. I ate pizza like four times while I was there. The other restaurant I ate in was Italian!!

So, Back To Germany

Our flight took off from Philadelphia at 4:15pm. The flight takes about 8 hours to get to Frankfurt, then we have a three hour layover before our final 50 minute flight to Dusseldorf. We land in Dusseldorf around 9am.

We’ll get our bags and go straight to the hotel, then we’re meeting a German ad agency guy we’re partnering with on this project for lunch. After lunch, we don’t have any other plans. Possible dinner with an old client.

But the best thing is that Monday is a free day. That’s right. Nothing to do in Germany on Monday. I brought my camera, so Bill and I are going to wander the city and hopefully see some cool shit.

Tuesday, we have a presentation at 11am. We’ll get there by 10am and set up the room. Should be done by 1 or 2pm. Will probably have drinks at least with the client, maybe dinner.

Wednesday, we fly back home.

Flying

There are times when I don’t mind flying. Right now, for instance, I’m listening to music like, looking out the window, doing a little writing, etc… I haven’t even bothered with the OnDemand video system from the plane, or started watching any of the DVDs I brought with me. I am drinking, however, which certainly helps.

SUNDAY

Dusseldorf, Germany

We landed, went to the hotel, put our bags in our room and walked out the door. After trying, and failing, to negotiate the subway system, we caught a cab to Old Town.

Me Enjoying A Hefeweizen In Old Town, Dusseldorf

Altstadt "Old Town"

Altstadt, or Old Town in English, is the touristy part of town. Nearly all of it was destroyed by bombing attacks during World War II, but they painstakingly rebuilt most of it from original plans. It's a lot of pedestrian-only cobblestone streets filled with bars, restaurants and retail shops. It's known as the longest bar in Germany because there are over 300 bars and nightclubs there. During Carnival, it's sheer chaos, which is funny because normally you don't really see Germans cutting loose.

Andreas Melters

This is Andreas Melters. Andreas owns a German advertising agency in Dusseldorf. We had previously worked with him on another project and had reconnected with him to help us with our pitch.

He showed up on a Dutch bicycle looking like something out of an Italian movie. Very suave. His wife, Nicole, is blond and beautiful, as you would expect. We had dinner with them later that evening and they were both charming as could be.

Bill Rubino

This is Bill. He's the COO and a Partner at the advertising agency where I am also a Partner.

To say we travel a lot together is an understatement. It seems like we spend more time together than we do with our families.

That said, we do travel well together, which means we both drink a lot, share a common sense of humor and overall know how to travel with efficiency.

MONDAY

Monday morning, well barely morning (I slept ridiculously late), Bill was working on our presentation, plus another for a different client back in the states, so I went off on my own. Nicole, Andreas' wife, had told me to go to a famous outdoor market in town.


Carlsplatz
At the edge of Old Town is the Carlsplatz market. Actually, it probably just means market so calling it the Carlsplatz market would the equivalent of calling it the Market Market. It's an outdoor market where you can buy sausages, fish, produce, mustard and flowers. They also have quite a few hot food vendors and many of the locals eat lunch here, either standing up at high tops, sitting and enjoying a beer, or even just standing and eating. This is Germany's version of fast food.

Carlsplatz

Dusseldorf Butcher

Meat Counter

Necessities

So, there were a few things I was told I needed to find while on my Old Town excursion.  One was mustard and the other was a traditional Dusseldorf drink called Killepitsch.

Now every German I talked to disagreed with the statement I'm about to make, but trust me, to anyone else in the world, it tastes like Jägermeister. I'm sure they can tell there difference, but if I put a shot of rum, gin, vodka and then I gave you either Jager or Killepitsch, you'd say it was Jager either way. 

The bar where it was invented has been there since 1858, but the story goes that two Germans were in an air raid shelter during "the last war" and one vowed that if they didn't get killed (Kille) that he was going to make the greatest drink his friend had ever tried (pitsch).

That's what they told us anyhow.

Killepitsch

The Original Killepitsch Bar

TUESDAY

Our meeting was on Tuesday morning and morning came pretty early. Oh, what did we do the rest of the day on Monday? Well, we did what Bill and I always do when we're abroad. We find an Irish pub.

A Proper Pint

Irish Pubs

So here's the thing about Irish Pubs. I tell you because even an English bartender at one of the pubs asked me why, if I was in Germany, why I didn't find a German pub? And the answer is, we do. But we don't have as much fun.

Let me explain.

One of the great things about Irish Pubs is that you can go anywhere in the world, at least any major city in the world, and find an Irish Pub. Bill and I have yet to be skunked and we've traveled all over the globe and over most of North America.

The second is you can always find English speakers. I'm not talking about Americans. I don't want to travel thousands of miles and end up talking to some asshole from New Jersey. But it helps if you can communicate, and if you go to an Irish Pub, you are more likely than not, to find people who speak English.

The third thing is, Irish Pubs are almost always friendly. People go there because they want to drink and shoot the shit. I've met more cool people and had more great conversations in Irish Pubs all over the world.

The final, and maybe less important, is that they serve what Bill and I drink. Namely, Scotch for him and Hard Cider for me.

We had our meeting on Tuesday and we thought it went pretty well. We ended up in a different Irish pub that evening and it ended up being the best pub we'd been all three times we'd been to Germany.

Just so you don't think we are cultural chauvinists, we did spend some time in a German bar the night on Monday night. The music was American nightclub, the girls were cute, and there was a pole on the bar where patrons could pole-dance.

This is what we got.

I swear it wasn't a gay bar.