Happy New Year 2015!!!

Live-View from our Balcony :-)

Wet Snow, Old Beer and Cheap Gas

With Sonja's sister incapacitated thanks to a broken leg it was decided to abandon our original travel plans, and so we drove four hundred clicks north to spend the holidays with our families. But in order to get in some "us-time" we booked a very nice hotel close to the old city core of Düsseldorf.

Düsseldorf is another German city making it under the top ten of the Mercer Quality of Living survey. With a population of 600.000 it is one of the biggest cities in Germany. It is known for trade fairs and fashion shows, its international airport, its carnival, and Altbier ("old beer"), a dark regional ale.

On Christmas Day we went out for a stroll in the Medienhafen (Media Harbour), a fancy lifestyle district defined by post modern architecture, among these the twisted buildings Neuer Zollhof by the Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, who also created the EMP in Seattle.

Neuer Zollhof by Frank Gehry

Invasion of the coloured aliens. (Flossies)

Some made it to the roof. They seem friendly, though.

We had seen enough of the modern stuff, and ventured out to have Alt-Bier in the famous Altstadt (Old city core). When in Rome... 

Note: Never ever order a Kölsch (a blond lager from the rival city Cologne) when in Düsseldorf. 

Cheers with Schlüssel Alt

Alt goes well with potato pancakes.

Close to our hotel we found Cafe Florian, a bistro with all-day breakfast and local specialties (it's kale harvest).

Cafe Florian - highly recommended

Cheapest gas station in the region

Although the low gas prices have us worry a little due to its impact on the world economy, we were pleased to find the cheapest gas station so close to where Sonja's family lives. It only took us two fillings there and back driving almost 2,000 km in five days.

The Same Procedure as every Year

It's time to watch our all time favourite X-Mas movies:

1. Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
What have the romans ever done for us? Offensive, annoying, funny.

2. Die Hard (1988)
Now I have a machine gun. Ho. Ho. Ho. Suspenseful, thrilling, and funny, too.

3. It's a wonderful Life (1946)
Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings. Wonderful, lovely, and awww.

What are your favourites?

Wishing you a Merry Christmas (or: insert otherwise multicultural or interfaith Holiday greetings here) and a Happy New Year.

And btw: the header "Same Procedure as every Year" is a quote from the British skit The 90th Birthday with Freddie Frinton, which is very popular in Germany. It happens to be a weird German tradition to watch this on New Year's Eve!

Mainhattan

One of Roland's colleagues had invited us to Frankfurt am Main - at river Main - for the weekend and we were happy to oblige. Roland had spent a lot of time in Frankfurt lately while working on a project, and it was about time to get to know the city better.

Everything is big in Frankfurt. It is the fifth-largest city in Germany, the largest financial centre in continental Europe and home to several large banks and the stock exchange. With the international airport, the railway central station and its highway interchange the city is one of the busiest transport hubs in Europe. Frankfurt also hosts one of the world's largest trade fairs, like the International Motor Show and the world's largest book fair. It is ranked as #7 in Mercer's annual 'quality of living' survey, but it is also the most expensive city in Germany, and the 10th most expensive city in the world.

Frankfurt Shopping Mall MyZeil, an architectural wonderland

And because Frankfurt has a very untypical skyline by German standards, we Germans refer to it as Mainhattan, a word merged from the river Main, and Manhattan.

Now 'tis is the season for our traditional Christmas markets, and of course we had to have a mug or two or three of likewise traditional mulled wine (Glühwein). Roland had curry wurst and I had potato pancakes. The place was packed with people but that obviously is part of the event. It was nice to hear and watch so many people from all over the world enjoying our annual pre-christmas ritual.

Oddly reminding us of a Dr Who X-Mas Special

on right: Römer, the city hall

Römerberg, rebuilt after WWII

Saint Bartholomew Cathedral

The Old Opera

Yes, we certainly liked the buzz of this cosmopolitan city for a change.