Germany; It's A Wrap!

Guten Nochte from Germany! It's Wednesday evening for us; afternoon for US readers. Germany has been cold and wet but we've survived. From our last posting we talked about Dusseldorf. I've got to talk about our Sunday evening dining experience. Dave and crew were invited to a "Pigs & Beer" dinner from a vendor they work with. We dined at an authentic German restaurant/bar and I was apprehensive as I was told we'd be dining on pig's knuckles! After the tray arrived I realized it was more than just knuckles even though folks say the tastiest part of the pig is indeed the knuckles. Don't be fooled by how gross this photo appears; it was actually pretty good.



Since Sunday we covered ground in Koln (Cologne) and Berlin. We left Dusseldorf on Tuesday morning. On Monday, our last day in Dusseldorf, I decided to attend the trade show; Euroshop for a second day. As we were not really close to Dusseldorf and not a whole heck of a lot to due in Benrath, I decided to repeat the show a second time. After a long day of walking the trade show we had dinner with another vendor on Monday evening at the vendor's hotel. Note: unlike your typical trade show; most vendors were NOT giving out the goodies and giveaways. We did however; see an interesting German performance at the show; Blue Men; not to be confused with Blue Man Group. Check out this photo!



On Tuesday morning we checked out of our hotel in Benrath and journeyed with the remaining H-E-Bers to Cologne. We were in Cologne just for the day as we had an afternoon flight out on Tuesday to Berlin. While in Cologne we toured the Cologne Cathedral; one of Germany's largest religious structures. The Cathedral forms the center of the city and is consider the heart of it. The relics of the Three Magi are housed there. Dave and I of course had to ascend the tower to the observation platform; all 509 steps (my calves are still aching by the way) and the belfry has the largest free-swinging bell in the world!

Below: view from the observation platform of the Cologne Cathedral


After touring the Cathedral we had lunch in Cologne. I was outnumbered as the group decision for lunch was to eat at the Chicago Steakhouse; which by the way wasn't really an authentic Chicago steakhouse. The special of the day was chicken cordon bleu with musical background accompaniment by Shania Twain! I personally wanted the authentic German restaurant a few blocks down.

We departed Cologne late afternoon on Tuesday via Lufthansa Airlines and arrived in Berlin at roughly 6:00 pm. We were most impressed with the airport in that the minute we walked off the walkway into the terminal, our bags were offloaded right in front of us on the baggage carousel. Talk about convenience! We also had a driver and a 20 passenger van waiting for us to transport us to the hotel in Berlin. We checked in to the Bleibtreu Hotel; a member of World Hotels. That evening we dined at the hotel's restaurant. The hotel is a cosmopolitan, traditional yet modern Berlin artsy hotel. It was designed by a Berlin interior designer; Herbert Jacob Weinand. I wasn't sure if this was a gargoyle-esque creature or a dog but at night when we checked in; it kind of startled me.



We started our Berlin day with a tour of KaDeWe; or Kaufhaus des Westens; a department store. It is the largest department store in all of continental Europe! It attracts 40-50,000 visitors a day; we were ten of them.



After KaDeWe we made our way to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. We then toured Galeries Lafayette; the only foreign branch of the famous Parisian Galeries Lafayette and one of the first main city addresses for international fashion. We had lunch in their fancy-schmancy food court (not so good)and after our work day was done; we made our way into the city of Berlin. We purchased day passes which were good for both bus and underground or U-Bahn. We saw the sights of the city to include the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the Holocaust Museum and the Brandenburg Gate. There is SO much to see in Berlin; it's an incredible city chock full of landmarks and history! From a bus we managed to snap photos of the President's House; the Berlin Zoo and the Victory Column.

Tomorrow is an early morning; off to London! Check back for my update from the UK. Pin It Now!