On Flying... And Taking Leaps...

On Flying and Taking Leaps -

Blog of an Irish Couple in Germany!

07:35 (Irish Time)

I can't begin to imagine how high up we are, as I write this. I could hazard a guess and say 15,000 feet, but is that an unrealistically high or low figure. We have reached an altitude where I can no longer see the ground. Just an open sea of blue and clouds dotting the horizon. We have just ordered our snacks for the flight and I can only imagine that the Burger will taste like cardboard and the hot-dog will be made form 100% real horse, however, I could be proven completely wrong. Only time will tell.

Kathy's love for the DSi seem's to have reached it's limit and mine isn't far behind, as I start 2 games and barely play them for five minutes. Flight time just doesn't seem right, spent playing video games. Drinking carlsberg, now that's a way to enjoy your flight! Unfortunately, I forgot how much I utterly despise the taste of Carlsberg and swamping it, warm, from a can make's it all the more nasty. Ah well, guess I'll get a smoothie on the way home from Dusseldorf. Kathy rates her coffee a two. She say's it tastes like drinking molten plastic through styrofoam. Nice! Also in typical Kathy fashion the coffee ended up all over the tray, her and the Dsi before being wiped up.. WITH ONE OF MY ONLY HOODIES!!

Well, we've eaten our “Food”. While I must say that I was correct in thinking that the texture of the Burger I ordered would be like cardboard, I was incorrect in thinking that it would taste horrible. Well, it was hardly fine dining but it did the trick. The middle of the burger was juicy so that was a plus. However Kathy was none too impressed with her rock-hard hot-dog, which could probably have doubled as a lethal weapon.

Looking down now and I can see boat's way below in the ocean. It's crazy. The very Idea that we are so ridiculously high up doesn't scare me... It fascinates me. Cannot wait to get to Dusseldorf.

11:10 (Germany Time)

Das eagle Hast landed. Or as we say in Ireland “We're fucking here already!”. Roasting hot, here in Germany. Bringing a load of coats was perhaps not the wisest choice! Upon landing, we were informed, by a very friendly Taxi driver, that we are still about 85 Kilometres from Dusseldorf so now we sit on a bus, eagerly awaiting it's departure so we may find our hotel and rest our weary heads, before beginning our adventures into Germania and beyond!

Also, tasted some local beer. It was called Schneider Weisse. It was tasty enough, but a very different style of drink to what Kat and I are used to.It was heavy like guinness, but with the frothiness of lager and the texture of Jelly. Unusual stuff but pretty nice, too. Everyone else was just drinking becks. Pfft, Pansies! Wasp's chased us from the scene. I do of course mean the Bug and not the religious group.

11:30 (German Time)

On the road again! How good it feel's to be.... On the road again! My god the heat is abnormal but fantastic. There's a nice breeze there, well especially now that the bus has started and everyone has their air-conditioning on. Top – notch. Felt like I was gonna pass out when the bus was just parked up! Just passed a pretty epic corn field. Must say, Germania, is much more well kept than Ireland. Their field's and such seem much more well looked after. Must be that german efficiency I keep hearing so much about. Got to go, battery almost out.

17:50 (German Time)

Well, we have now been in the lovely city of Dusseldorf since 12 O' Clock this morning, and have had a very active first day of sightseeing. I hadn't bothered writing anything into the blog, seeing as how we were busy traipsing around the place, taking in all the sight's, sound's, smell's and ... Beer's! Naw, Just Kidding. Although did try some Krombacher at an incredible little Italian restaurant, right around the corner from us and it was very, very delish! Much more so, than the Shneider Weisse from the airport.

We also enjoyed some cuisine and so far, I must say I am mighty impressed. Looking forward to trying some Sushi and Sake in the Japanese district later this evening. Yum, Yum. I never realised that Germany and Japan enjoyed such a close relationship with one another, but judging from a quick stroll through the (relatively enormus) Japanese district, I can say that the two co-exist pretty well. Once or twice on our adventures through the city I forgot we were in Dusseldorf and thought, momentarily, that we were in Tokyo.

In our adventures today we have gone tram surfing, gone shopping (But of course), taken a stroll by the Rhein and ascended to the peak of the old t.v tower which is an epic 168 floors tall. Gulp, and I'm afraid of height's and all. It was absolutely staggering though. We took in another beer at the top of that space needle. This one was called Diebels. It was labelled an Altbier, whatever the hell that means, but it was pretty tasty, something between bitter and lager. Strange but went down easy enough. Then we hopped on a tram got lost and finally returned to the hotel, safe and sound. Phew!

Well, I have waited all my life and now I can finally say... I am NOT a fan of sushi. There were exceptions, in that I loved the egg sushi and adored the mackerel sushi, but the salmon and tuna, neither Kat, Nor I, could stomach. Fried tofu also didn't agree well with our tastepallette's. It was more the texture of the tofu that didn't work for us. The big up's from our Japanese dinner service were:

1:) The warm Sake (Kanzake)

Really tasty drink this. It's about as strong as whiskey or vodka, but is much easier to drink. It taste's similar to a very light tea, but with an alcoholic kick. Once it started to cool down however then we started to taste the bitter after-taste.

2:) Tempura Noodle's

These were by far and away, the tastiest noodles I have ever had the pleasure to eat... Until I had ramen noodles. Ha ha. Tempura Noodles, were cut incredibly thick, and came served, piping hot in a kind of sea-food broth. They were filling too, although Kathy nearly ate the bowl and all. Ha ha.

3:) The Service

Everyone at the restaurant was so entertaining that it really made the meal worth every penny. Our personal waiter Aki, took great delight in lining us into photo's and posing in our shot's too. Midway through our meal, Aki brought down his boss, Shintaro, to introduce him to us. Shin has a fascination with Ireland, much in the same way that I have a fascination with Japan. So it was really cool to get to speak with him.

After our dinner, Shin was finishing his shift so he agreed to show us how to use the subway system and took us to an Irish bar in Old-Town, aptly named, The Irish Pub. We joined Shin for a drink and he pleaded with me to try the guinness and compare it to the stuff back home. It tasted watered down, like not quite as heavy as the stuff back in Eire, but still, I really enjoyed it and ended up drinking a second.

It was half eleven before we arrived back at the hotel exhausted from our day's travels. We parted way's with Shin at the tram station across from the hotel, although not before arranging to meet with him again tomorrow.

Peace and Love,

P.Bass And K.Critter