Another beautiful day in Cologne

High of 90 today... A far cry from a high of 60 last week!!

Meetings all day...

Beautiful day in Zuid-Limburg

In Heerlen having lunch in an outdoor cafe, listening to a jazzy-Sting
style performer who is quite good. Temps in the 80s and lots of shoppers
around...

Today they have an art and architecture celebration in Heerlen and then a
street festival with live music in Ubach over Worms starting at 5pm.

Plan on heading to the hotel, Kasteel Doenrade, after lunch 4ish. Will do
some bike riding tomorrow morning before heading out to Dusseldorf to visit
my friends Monique and Ben, then back to Cologne late Sunday.

Wish Andrew was with me, but otherwise...

Life is great!

-Rhett

Michael Jackson shrine in Cologne

Truly strange.

Strolling Cologne having a kolsch

Just adjacent to the river. The river boats are full of tourists and are
playing 'Centerdold' by the J Geils Band, now Simply Red... Of course!
Weather partly cloudy and maybe 75. Just got a haircut. Finally feeling
better after a week with bronchitis.

Ahhhh... Summer in Germany!

Getting ready for World Cup in Cologne

Houses all decorated and people with flags and face paint going to the
Deutz 'hood behind the hotel to watch Germany an hour from now. Sadly I am
still sick so likely just to watch from hotel...

View of Cologne at night

Beautiful views from here!

Cologne
I caught a cold on Lufthansa and I've been sick since I arrived - today no better. But I had to get out a bit or I'd go crazy, so I walked across the bridge from the Hyatt to the city. After 2 minutes I realized my camera battery died, weather turned cloudy and cold, so I left myself with doing museums and will do the sightseeing later - other than the obligatory photo and buying souvenirs for friends and family back home (yes, they DO have snowglobes and thimbles here...)

Then... off to the a museum I found about on-line and what a treat! I went to the NS-Dokumentationszentrum der Stadt Koln, which is in the EL-DE Building and was the headquarters of the Gestapo (Nazi state police) from 1935-45. Not only were thousands of people detained and tortured here, but several hundred were executed in the inner courtyard during the last months of the war, particularly foreigners condemned to forced labor.

What I loved was that after the war, the building was turned into municipal use and the downstairs jail and dungeon untouched; when it was rediscovered in the 1970s and subsequently turned into a museum in 1981 they had a largely intact jail. Over 1,800 carvings and writings from prisoners still exist and detail their experiences - difficult. Upstairs is the Cologne Documentation Centre on National Socialism which talked about the rise of Naziism in Cologne and its effects on the population.

I've got some photos of this below; there were 13 cells, each about 4 ft wide by 14 ft long, and housed up to 30 people! The only toilets were a bucket in each cell; they had showers and flush toilets in a general area between two sets of cells.

Photos, Left to Right: Exterior of Gestapo Prison, Cells in the Prison, Preserved carvings in Russian

In Cologne

A partly cloudy day... Weather has definitely chilled down. The view
overlooks the city and the famous cathedral.

Unfortunately I caught a cold on the flight in so recovering...

And here I am in Germany watching the world cup in a beergarden and they
are losing to Serbia 0-1. They are passionately upset...

@ Biergarten in Cologne watching World Cup

Germany vs Serbia

Arrival to Frankfurt Rail Station

Very confusing and I give Lufthansa a 1 out of 10 for explaining where to
go and how to do this. There are 3 train stations at the airport all in
the same area and my rush hour arrival meant long lines and little help.
But... I finally figured it out and will be in Cologne in an hour!
Definitely need a good shower and a cup of coffee...

Gold Dispensing Machine at Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi

Unreal.

Al Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi

Wow. Truly spectacular. Each chandelier weighs 9 tons and has over 1
million Swarovski crystals.

Thoughts on Dubai so far

What I like:
- great infrastructure
- modern conveniences
- very multi cultural
- watching men in their white robes and women in burkhas amongst westerner
style dress
- dates and nuts and kabobs oh my!
- the clear sky at night set across the creek and the Arabian style Park
Hyatt, right out of the movies
- Modern architecture, especially the Burj Khalifa
- sunshine makes me smile and gives me a quick tan

What I don't like:
- other than the Park Hyatt there is very little traditional Arab buildings
- lots of strip malls and mega malls with endless stores like in the US
- you have to drive everywhere, no urban cultural center
- not a lot of Islamic culture so far
- lamb, so mainstream here it is overwhelming
- sunshine is so so damn hot

Look forward to getting out later today to a bazaar and hang amongst the
locals!

Rhett @ Burj Khalifa

The tallest building in the world! I also got a tour of the new Armani
hotel. Very nice but monochromatic. Now having dinner at a restaurant in
a souk which is essentially a mall.

Sandstorm in Dubai

Beautiful morning in Dubai

Obligatory Photo

Dubai Skyline

Behind the boat. Look closely you'll see a tall needle on the left.
That's the Burj Khalifa... Compare to the other buildings and you can see
just how tall it is!

Dubai

Extremely hot here, probabaly 100 degrees and it isn't even 12pm. The Park Hyatt is built in traditional Arabian style, very understated and pretty. It sits on a creek - across you can see the Dubai skyline and very impressive is the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. Everything is dwarfed compared to it - I'm sure I'll be there one day this week.

Today after my meeting I think I am just going to the pool and relaxing, maybe downtown tonight with my boss for dinner if we feel like it.

I've got several days here so there should be enough time for me to relax as well as to do some sight seeing. Here are some pictures from the hotel; more later.

My suite @ Park Hyatt Dubai

Wow.