All Aboard: Germany’s Rhineland Magic

Düsseldorf (phone +49 [0] 211/1720 20, www.duesseldorf-tourismus.de), which means “Village on the Düssel River,” is no longer a fishing village on the right bank of the Rhine River where the Düssel joins it. It is one of Germany’s Magic Cities (www.magic.cities.de), a great commercial and administrative center and the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia.

To feel the pulse of the vibrant city, take a stroll along Düsseldorf’s elegant and lively heartbeat, Königsallee, commonly known as the “Kö,” which has been laid out along a section of the moat that formerly surrounded the old town.

The Frank O. Gehry buildings at the new Düsseldorf Harbor have become the modern landmark of the state capital. These striking stainless-steel-skin office buildings are warped, crooked, interlocking and full of odd nooks and corners. Sections were prefabricated and assembled together like a Lego house. They are city sculptures that look like icebergs with 1,600 windows. They are wonderful to see and popular to photograph, but I would be uncomfortable working at a desk inside.

“Art and Culture” and “Shopping — made in Germany” were the themes of the 32nd German Travel Mart (GTM) that was held this year at the Düsseldorf Congress Center. The annual event is the most important for Germany’s hospitality industry and is the German National Tourist Board’s (GNTB) showcase for Germany as a travel destination.

The GTM was a rousing success this year. Around 610 agents, wholesalers and journalists came from 40 different countries. The biggest delegation (48) came from the U.S., followed by the U.K., Japan and China/Hong Kong, each with 38 representatives. Delegations from India and Romania attended the GTM for the first time.

GTM journalists enjoyed an excursion to Benrath Palace, which was built more than 200 years ago as a pleasure- and hunting-palace on the Rhine. It is one of the most beautiful garden palaces of the 18th century and considered to be one of Europe’s rare total works of art of the late Rococo period.

Düsseldorf Airport

Düsseldorf Airport is the third-largest Lufthansa airport worldwide, with five million passengers and 80,000 flights in 2006. For movers and shakers, there is a flat-bed Luft­hansa Business Jet that flies nonstop to and from New York City.

When I first flew on a charter flight into Düsseldorf Airport decades ago, there were only S-Bahn (rapid-transit trains) connections to the city. In 2000, Düsseldorf Airport became the third German airport (after Frankfurt/Main Airport and Berlin Schönefeld) to provide high-speed ICE train connections. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, President Wolfgang Clement and the head of GermanRail opened the station, which now is served by 270 ICE, IC, Regional and S-Bahn trains daily.

The separate S-Bahn terminal remains directly under the airport. Since 1990, you have been able to use regular-interval S-Bahn trains to Dortmund and Duisberg as well as to Cologne and Düsseldorf Hbf (Hauptbahnhof, or main train station). Use the escalator right from the airport’s main hall. Line S7 S-Bahn trains run every 20 minutes to the Düsseldorf Hbf 13 minutes away.

Most worthy rival

Cologne, or Köln (tel. +49 [0] 221.221304 00, www.koelntourismus.de), Düsseldorf’s rival city south along the Rhine, is the second of nine of Germany’s Magic Cities. The rivalry reaches its wildest on the days preceding Ash Wednesday, which will be April 4 in 2007 and, being later than usual, will climax a maxi-Carnival season when both cities (together with Bonn; see below) go berserk with special celebrations and some of the most colorful parades it is possible to see.

The Cologne Hbf is the terminus for the high-speed trains from Frankfurt and also serves Thalys trains from Paris. In addition, dedicated International ICE trains bring travelers from Brussels and Amsterdam.

Arriving in Cologne by train is a magic experience. Crossing the Hohenzollern Bridge over the Rhine gives you the feeling that you are gliding straight at the towering Gothic cathedral. The 2-spire cathedral is the biggest in Germany and the second-largest Gothic cathedral in Europe (after Seville’s) and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Workers toiled more than 600 years to complete the gigantic edifice.

Adjacent to the cathedral, visit the Römisch-Germanisches Museum to view the outstanding collection of Roman treasures recovered in Germany. Further, it is a pleasant stroll to visit the Wallraf-Richatz Museum, which is one of the world’s great art museums. Along the way, take a minute to admire architect Renzo Piano’s marvelous glass exterior of the Peek and Cloppenburg clothing store. With 7,000 pieces of glass, it is known to Kölners as the “Glass Egg” but also resembles a shiny whale.

Opened in late 2003, a 10-mile loop serving the Cologne/Bonn Airport branches from the direct high-speed route between Cologne and Frankfurt/Main. ICE trains began serving the mid-sized airport in 2004. In 2005, two trains an hour began calling.

Former capital city

Bonn (phone +49 [0] 228-91041-32, www.bonn.de) became the capital of West Germany after the post-war formation of the German Federal Government, but after the reunification of East and West Germanys, there were heated debates in Bonn about moving the parliament to Berlin.

Bureaucrats detested the idea of abandoning their posh offices in Bonn and relocating their children, but from 1949 to 1989, for 40 years, politicians had said over and over, “Germany is one country; Berlin is our capital, and the Reichstag is our parliament.” It took Chancellor Helmut Kohl, in 1991, to say that Berlin is not only Germany’s historic capital and its constitutional capital but its “natural” capital.

Bonners said that if they could survive the Roman occupation, they could also survive the federal presence.

Yet, the Federal Government left gifts. Bonn’s population expanded by 10,000 and the government poured vast sums of Deutschmarks into the city to perfect its infrastructure and construct permanent structures such as Viennese architect Gustav Peichl’s 1992, 1.4-acre Federal Art & Exhibition Hall (phone +49 [0] 228/9171-200, www.bundeskunsthalle.de; admission varies by event), where, in the decade following its opening, more than a hundred exhibitions were organized and more than eight million people from all over the world visited its busy halls.

Even now, Bonn remains an international city. Twelve U.N. organizations, 16 federal ministries and more than 150 nongovernmental agencies have headquarters in Bonn.

Bonn is the city of Beethoven. The house where Ludwig van Beethoven was born (tel. +49-228-98175-0, www.beethoven-haus-bonn.de; admission, €4) in 1770 is largely maintained in its original condition. It now accommodates the biggest Beethoven collection worldwide, including paintings and portraits, original manuscripts and first editions of meaningful works, Beethoven’s last grand piano, his string-quartet instruments and his ear trumpets.

Many thanks

I thank the GNTB (phone 800-651-7010) for arranging my transportation aboard Lufthansa German Airlines (800/645-3880, www.lufthansa.com) to Düsseldorf, my invitation to the GTM and hospitality for my visit. To plan your trip to Germany, visit www.cometogermany.com or GNTB’s relaunched website www. germany-tourism.de and use their redesigned maps.

I stayed at the convention hotel Hilton Düsseldorf (tel. +49 [0] 211-43770). November 2006 rack rates are from €535 (about $683) per room per night. Rates vary with the season, and special offers are frequently available. Check www.hilton.com.