InterContinental Life
A journey to a city which has perfected the art of staying small while being big© Marc Meyerbröker
Close-up on the big city
Dusseldorf is the regional capital, fashion capital, luxury capital and cultural capital. At least that is its image. But the truth is that there is much more to Dusseldorf. But you can only find out if you really get close to the city.
What do they make in Dusseldorf? Single Malt Whisky. And where? At the “Uerigen”, a traditional “Altbier” pub in the old town. It’s no joke, manager Michael Schnitzler is a whisky fanatic and the first bottles are set to be filled this autumn. What else do they make? Mustard. Orange mustard, Pommery Mustard, fig mustard, honey mustard ... The mustard shop “Senfladen” on Berger Strasse is home to varieties you will never find in any supermarket, all made by “Löwen”. And tasty dog biscuits, at the “Dog’s Deli”. What makes them so tasty? Because they even taste good to the owners, even though they are made without using sugar or salt. For example, the “Schmankerl” which is filled with liver sausage and specially made on the Tegernsee for “Dog’s Deli”, without salt, of course. It makes you wonder if you should really feed them to the dog. Vegetables! The market on Carlsplatz is full of juicy tomatoes of all varieties (including beef tomatoes), freshly plucked lemons, crunchy apples. They make bread in Dusseldorf too! At “Hinkel” you can smell the malt, fennel, raisins, fresh rolls and biscuits from about three in the morning. Medleys of different smells which work their irresistible magic on anyone within a 200 metre radius.
Enough of the opulence already. We are in Dusseldorf. The emphasis is on the ‘dorf’, which means village. But that could be a dangerous thing to say. Dusseldorf is the regional capital, seat of government, home to nearly 600,000 people and covers 217.21 square kilometres. It is one of just a few big cities to be debt free and it is THE city of culture on the Rhine (people of Cologne, put your fingers in your ears for a moment). How dare anyone call it a “village”? Slow down. What exactly is wrong with being a village? Nobody called it “provincial” or “narrow-minded”, nobody mentioned “country bumpkins”. What then? Maybe we need to explain closer, provide a bit more evidence.
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Teil 1: Close-up on the big city
Teil 2: The “Kö” and luxury brands
Teil 3: The Carlsplatz market
Teil 4: Deutsche Oper am Rhein: An interview with Generalintendant Christoph Meyer
InterContinental Dusseldorf Phone: +49 (0)211 82 85 0
InterContinental Dusseldorf