This weekend has been filled with a bunch of fun adventures and I will get to them all in due course, I promise, but at the top of my mind right now is my trip to Dusseldorf, which occurred on Saturday with a few of my fellow PPPers. It was eye opening, to say the least.
Cologne and Dusseldorf have a peculiar relationship at best. Peculiar because there is nothing like it (that I have seen) in the United States. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who'd lived in Cologne for a long time that would call Dusseldorf a lovely city, the opposite is also true. What's funny is that there is such a tangible animosity between the two cities that you would think they would have some really tangible differences. Like seriously, you will get scorned if you ask a Cologne waiter or waitress for Dusseldorf's beer, and visa versa. Additionally, I've met some lifers from Cologne who say they've only been to Dusseldorf like once or twice in their entire existences. Really? Once or twice and you live like two blocks (hyperbole for anyone who can't discern sarcasm) from the other city? That's really unacceptable As far as I'm concerned, they're not different enough to solicit the type of back and forth bickering that the cities engage in. Seriously, from people, to beer, to city types, to soccer, the cities seem to argue back and forth. So here I am to give my completely "unbiased" (it's not like I'm living in Cologne or anything) opinion on the matter.
Starting with the most important aspect first...
Beer:
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| "How Kolsch is brewed." |
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| "Before it Gets Old (Alt = old)" |
Germans sure are serious about their beer*. So it comes as no surprise that at the crux of any rivalry would be a discorse about which beer tasted better. Well I've tried both of them, and in my humblest of opinions, Alt is the undisputed winner. The right-most picture, a clever little piece of advertising seems to sum it all up for me, Kolsch doesn't really taste like much of anything; it's not the best of tastes to me, but remember, this is my humblest of opinions. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to exaggerate it to the Dusseldorfian (yes, I made that up) extreme, of comparing it to horse piss. But Alt just has a bit more flavor to it and at the time of my evaluation** I had a proclivity for flavor over the steady flow of Kolsch, which is to me, a drink that puts me in the mindset of a rich man's American beer. You know? Light taste, easy to drink, able to drink numerous ones, but without the sickening grimace that's a requisite every time I crack open a can of Miller Lite. I'm a beer elitest. Sue me.
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| The undisputed winner. |
City Culture:
I guess this one isn't really fair to be completely honest. The cities are 25 minutes away from each other, on the same continent, in the same country, within the same state, but in my defense, there seem to be some distinct differences in the two cultures. Cologne is a much more touristy city from what I've seen, maybe it's the size of the city (4th most populated in Germany) or that there are some awesome sights to see, but there are always photos being snapped and all that jazz. Not to mention the university scene at Cologne seems to be pretty awesome, I've yet to venture into the university that much but it seems like a beautiful area.
On the other hand, the state capital, Dusseldorf, seems to be a snap shot of picturesque beauty and has mastered the ability to mask itself as a small city. It's the most ethnically diverse city in Germany, not to mention, some well respected academics seem to think it's a nice place to live***. I'm going to defer to their opinion...I mean, just check out some of these shots.
People:
Although I haven't quite gotten to know very many Germans, this one is based on my perceptions and what I've heard. Dusseldorf people are really stylish. The city is known for its fashion and for the amazing diversity in the city. It has the most people of Japanese heritage in Germany and it was very apparent the diversity of the city. But with that being said, I didn't see too much that would have swayed me away from my belief that the people in Cologne are some of the nicest I've met in Germany. Even close to overtaking Bavarians as the nicest conglomerate of German peoples.
Even to the Cologne dialect, which I've been picking up steadily just sounds fun. Words like nein and nichts become nuu (how you think it sounds) and nix. It's just fun. Cologne people are fun. I'm sure Dusseldorfians**** are too but I haven't seen it and I didn't hear any awesome slang there. So I'm gonna stick with what I know on this one *****.Final Evaluation:
This has only been a snippet of a review of Dusseldorf and Cologne. Let's not forget that I've been in both cities for insignificant amounts of time, but from the feel of it, it seems Dusseldorf MAY have an upper hand on Cologne aesthetically and concerning my food/drink palate, but I've only tried one type of Alt beer and a few types of Kolsch. I've also only been to tiny amounts of both cities so this evaluation is really more of a prediction of which city I'll like better after the year******. As for now, after spending a week in Cologne and a day in Dusseldorf, I'd say I'm happy where I am. Yes, that's the biggest cop out answer in the world, because I'm not really answering the question, but maybe I just explained to myself WHY there is a rivalry, it's because both cities have such great things to offer it's hard to choose. Wow, this was really a learning experience for me, since I didn't really understand what the big deal about the rivalry was until putting some serious thought to it. Still I don't know the origins of the rivalry, of its importance (besides some awesome beer campaigning) and whether I will I ever come up with a concrete answer.
Who knows. As for now, I'm just going to grab a bottle of Kolsch wishing it were Alt, and keep it moving.
Footnotes
** Evaluation was done at the steps of the Cologne Cathedral upon our return to Dusseldorf. Each PPPer drank a bottle of Kolsch and Alt in secession. It was quite a lovely finishing touch if you I do say so myself.
*** Note that the list's first American city is not within the Top 25. We've got a lot of catching up to do guys, how about we start with...hmm...well this is embarrassing.
**** I should REALLY get a copyright out for that one.
***** As an aside, I was really hard-pressed to give this win to Cologne because of the events while saw while walking through the shopping area in Dusseldorf. The video below, well..it speaks for itself.
****** Unlike most people who will be leaving the Nord-Rhein Westfalen state area after language school ends in September, I'll be here the duration of the year. I don't know which city it will be yet, but I certainly wouldn't mind staying in Cologne, or perpetuating the battle even further and living in Dusseldorf to get a huge boost on my evaluation.
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