Home of Augustus Gloop

Kat and I are admittedly yuppies-in-training. We like the art deco saunas and the chi-chi minimalistic restaurant above the yachting club. On the same token we're also game for roughing it on our bicycles-but that's not my point here. We were warned by our German tour guide, Michael, that Dusseldorf is the land of the rich, one time home of Claudia Schiffer, and training ground of arrogantly upturned noses. But really, could the hometown of Augustus Gloop be all that bad?We had our first coffee of the day sitting on the outside couches of a sufficiently hip coffee shop and watched the early morning strollers. It was like everyone was a model-in-training! They were all beautiful and stylish-very unlike my previous comment about German style being sensible. No, these people were so not sensible, wearing stilettos on cobblestone streets. I don't know how they did it!

Actually, I take that back. I did see how they did it. Two girls were walking, being adequately animated and decidedly oblivious to our staring. One stopped in her tracks because her heel had gotten stuck in one of the many cracks. She tried to wiggle it out, all the while trying to keep up the conversation, but it wouldn't budge. She finally bent down and yanked it out. Awkward, unsexy moment, but really funny for Kat and I to watch.

Dusseldorf doesn't just need one unique word, it deserves a whole song!

Oh, and people here had the best tattoos. Several of the beautiful young women had corresponding beautiful full sleeve arm tattoos. If I were going to get one in Germany then I would come here and forget Elfenzauber in Berlin.

Michael was so not impressed with the city and wanted to make a quick getaway, but Kat and I were secretly loving it. I wished we could have spent more time here, sitting in cafes and people watching.