50 Way's To get Lost With Your Lover - Day 3 In Dusseldorf

Day 3 in DusselDorf

50 Way's to get lost with your lover:

From the brain's of PaddyBass and KathyCritter

Sake is truly an Exceptional drink. Not only does it taste nice and get you absolutely sloshed, It also doesn't give you a hangover. Praise the lord. I think I've found my drink of choice. Well it's Saturday in Dusseldorf and that mean's busy, busy, busy. It's also the day of a big match in the German Bundesliga (National Football League), Dusseldorf Fortuna vs.Koln F.C is kind of... Something of a big deal here in Dusseldorf so the streets are lined with football fans, draped in Red and White, the Dusseldorf Fortuna colours.

The day began on a bit of a low note. Upon awakening myself and Kathy opened our magical coin-purse, which upon coming to Germany had been filled to bursting with all manners of glorious euro's and such. However, Saturday morning we were greeted by a dismal sight. Our money was very quickly dwindling away. In our haste of believing that everything was so cheap, we didn't realise how much we were indulging in food and drink. Now... our wallet/purse was paying the price. Literally.

Our day was set in mind already however. A stroll through Old-Town, Sampling beer at some of the brewery's we missed on our previous visit, followed by a cruise down the Rhein, courtesy of KD boat-trips and finally we had arranged to drop in and visit Shintaro in the Japanishe Restaurant, Nippon-Kan before closing. So off we headed toward's central station to try and gain our bearings. On the way we stopped at a pretzel stand, where I picked up a HUMONGOUS, Pretzel for like two bucks or something. Anyway it was nice, but a bit too sweet. Kathy was not a fan. We hopped on the subway to Heinrich Heine Allee, and the from there we entered Old-Town.

Dusseldorf's Old-Town is an unusual place. It look's very old and traditional in place's but then turn a corner and you could be greeted by a McDonald's or a Burger King. My favorite part was, but of course, the street with the many brewery's dotted along it. We took some time to stop into both the Schluseel and Schumacher Braurei's. Both were very tasty, however service in the Schumacher brewery was a bit lacklustre, as the waiter pulled us both extra beer's without even asking if we wanted them. The nerve! (Editor's Note - We later found out from Shin that unless you place a coaster over your empty glass, the waiter's will assume you want more to drink)

Our stroll through old town was very enjoyable. It was also very cost efficient as looking at pretty thing's can generally be more economically viable than, say, BUYING pretty thing's. Come two o clock in the afternoon, It was time for our boat ride. Now, what can I say about the KD Boat-trip. The view's were stunning, the food was good, the trip was very cheap, But the service was absolute cack! It took nearly the entire journey for our food to be served, meaning that for that time I couldn't go out on deck and enjoy the trip, in case our food arrived. It just felt very frustrating to me, however the view's were amazing and we got some phenomonal shot's, for only 7 buck's each so I can't really complain... But i still will...

After the boat journey, we made our way back through town and decided to try and use the subway to get back to Central Station. Against my best judgement, I allowed Kathy to decide which shuttle we should take. Big mistake. We ended up in a place called Neuss, which is about as far from Dusseldorf as say... Ennis is from Limerick... So we hopped on another tram, in the hope's of getting back to Dusseldorf. Hooray, the tram brought us towards Haubtbahnhof (Central Sation) and we were just about to jump for joy, when one of the ticket checking guy's entered our car. We assumed that we had the right ticket, and were pretty worried when he informed us that the ticket we had, was good for three stops. We had taken twenty eight, from Neuss to Dusseldorf. Gulp!

Well as you can imagine, Panic set in and trying our best to communicate to this fine gentleman in a mish-mesh of german, english and some incomprenhensible whimper's, we convinced him not to charge us the 80 euro fine. I think It helped when we explained that we were on honeymoon. Say it to anyone in a position of authority and watch as their eye's go misty. It's a powerful thing. We decided to stop into a small bar we noticed on our first day, called Che Guevera's Havanna Lounge.

It was a pretty nice, little spot and they allowed me to use their cigar cutter to amputate the end of my two, fancy, cigars, I purchased previously, during the spending boom of the first two day's. We both ordered some Konig Pilsener, which was very tasty and just chilled and talked, for the bones of an hour or so, until six o clock, when Shintaro's sushi house opened and we popped in to say hello.

It was a pleasant visit, as we got to see both Shintaro and Aki again. Aki informed us that his forename, Nishibayashi, translate's in japanese to “West Forest” and that Shintaro's name, Kurokawa, translates to “Black River”. He decided that PaddyBass, translated to “Irish Musician”. It was great fun and we got some crazy pictures with him. He really is a very funny and likeable chap, as is Shintaro, who we talked into meeting up with us at the Irish pub for one or two beers later that night, around ten. We paid for our Sake's said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel, to re-evaluate our money situation, and also to get a bit of much needed rest.

Upon arriving back at the hotel we decided that our feet could not withstand anymore walking at this point and so decided to get a cab to “The Irish Bar”. We ordered it early, expecting to be waiting for ages, like in Ireland, but were shocked when it arrived in about, literally 2 minute's. The price of the taxi was also very reasonable, at only 6 euro's from the hotel, to old-town. That's about the distance from Corbally to the Crescent, in Limerick, which as anyone from Limerick will tell you, costs, at the very least, about 12 bucks.

We arrived much earlier than Shintaro, so I decided to get stuck into some pint's and well, Baby Guinesse's soon followed. Kathy decided to stay on her new drink of choice, Warstenier, an AltBier she had sampled on our cruise down the Rhein, earlier that day. I also took the opportunity to smoke up the last of the amazing cigar I had purchased for only 6 euro's the day before. When Shintaro arrived I would say I was already more than a little merry. We all had the Craic though and I even got chatting to a guy named Eoin from Drogheda, who was on holiday as part of a stag party. I showed him my catch (Kathy) and he complimented me saying “ Ah yeah, you did well, lad, you did well!”.

The night was heavy, the atmosphere pounding, seeing as that Dusseldorf had beaten Koln 2-1, but we still ended up retiring relatively early. I would guess it was about one o clock when we headed to the subway, trying our best to avoid the drunk masse's of Dusseldorf fan's, but inadvertantly being drawn into conversation. Needless to say, they were a group of harmless lads, and simply wanted to indulge in some meandering, drunken conversation. I obliged and they simply shook my hand, all polite and friendly. We parted way's with Shintaro, at the stairs to our shuttle and continued home toward's the hotel.

So another day in Dusseldorf came to a close, not without it's amazing high's and terrible low's... More to come soon...

Sexy Drugs and Rocky Rolls,

P.Bass and K.Critter