So we pull into the Weeze airport which was supposedly en route to Dusseldorf, and it looked like we had landed in the middle of nowhere. There were old army barracks and trees for as far as the eye could see. This was only exasperated by the fact that we realized we knew approximately three words in german: Danka shen and bira. This helped us a lot in asking where the bus to a city was . We figured it out though and eventually a bus through the countryside brought us to a train station with no buildings in sight still. We hop on the train and it does finally bring us back into society and we finally get to Dusseldorf and our beds.
By the way, German hotels are amazing and we had gummi bears on our pillows instead of chocolates and the most fluffy comfortable blankets ever. An even better surprise was the feast that we found ourselves with for breakfast. After only bread and random buns for breakfast in Italy, we were presented with eggs, bacon, sausages, yogurt, kir, fruit, granola, a variety of cereals and juices, milk, champaigne, and just overall greatness. This must be why we find ourselves in the country of giants. I have never felt short before, but while walking around Germany, I felt like a dwarf in a city of Shaqs.
So we set off with completely satisfied stomachs to see what we could see. We headed to Cologne for a museum with a phenomenal collection of Mondrian's works. It showed a large chunk of his life's works, which was incredible to see all together showing his progression from trees and landscapes to his signature blocks and geometrical pieces. This museum was huge. It just went on and on and on and on. More art that we could handle. One fun piece was a short story written on a strip window which made you walk through the room looking out the window to read it and it described a scene going on in the building across the way. There was all sorts of other great works there. So much fun to see lots of modern art after existing in such an ancient country.
After the museum, we wandered around the city to see the duomo, and other buildings. In the piazza by the duomo, we happened upon a city wide pillow fight. Hundreds of school children had gathered to protest something and just enjoy a good old fashion pillow fight. Ryan even got hit in the face by a little 13 year old girl. He then threw it back at her, but hit an old woman instead making a hilarious scene that I was glad to watch play out. Then we walked through the large street with all the shops in the city. We found a great Renzo Piano building that looks loosely like a big glass egg that was extended. It was fun to see and go through. Cool spaces, and so different being contrasted with old churches and such.
Eventually we headed by another series of trains and busses to our concert venue. Getting there turned out to be a bit harier than I had expected. We ended up in the industrial district with no clue if we were where we needed to be. After wandering for a bit, we eventually found in the midst of nothing the brash chords and wild singing of The Mars Volta in an old warehouse. The concert was incredible and reminded me what I would have thought bands in the 60s and 70s like Led Zeppelin would have been like. The lead singer would bounce around and dance and scream just out of control. He jumped off the speakers and even threw the drummer's symbols off the stage. It was amazing and great and just fun to be hearing music in english and spanish in a german country while on a trip to Italy.
Much to our dismay, the whole trip we were in constant search of bratwursts and beer steins. We were served beer in glasses smaller than normal cokes come in and were extremely confused. Then we thought we were saved in a small bratwurst stand and ordered up some great brats and low and behold, they were served to us on hamburger buns with a good 3-4 inches hanging out on each side. Something is wrong with this picture. The one redeeming thing in german food was these cones of french fries that were smothered in ketchup, mayo, fried onions, and all sorts of other stuff. They made it worth wild.
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