This past summer my wife and I were able to spend a few weeks in Europe. One of the stops we made was in Dusseldorf, Germany to visit with my wife's friend and former exchange student from high school. Anna and her boyfriend, Sandor, were our gracious guests. On a summer Saturday night we all headed down to the Altstadt, or "old city", to see the local social scene. Sandor referred to the Altstadt as "the world's longest bar", which turned out to be pretty descriptive.
Dusseldorf's Altstadt is a large, contiguous area of pedestrian streets lined with bars and brewpubs. Many or most of these had outdoor tables where you walk up, elbow in, and wait for a server to come by. When a server comes ordering is simple- you simply indicate how many beers you want. The server will then bring your requested number of the local specialty- Altbier! A lot of these places are brewpubs that serve their own altbier, while those that don't brew their own serve other locally made alts.
The altstadt got pretty crowded while we were there. Apparently, in addition to the locals and the tourists, the altstadt is a very popular destination for bachelor and bachelorette parties. These groups are easy to spot as each group would have its own theme- similar and often silly outfits to help identify the bunch. Some of these parties would try to raise funds for drinks by performing goofy acts or singing songs. This element added to the fun and friendly atmosphere of the place.
Our visit to Dusseldorf coincided with what I took to be the state fair. We hopped a ferry across the Rhein to the fairgrounds and spent a couple hours checking out the festivities. We didn't partake in the rides, but we did enjoy the snack foods and (surprise, surprise) more Altbier! The thing that truly blew my mind was that the beer was served in glasses! There were broken beer glasses strewn throughout the fairgrounds. When I asked why the serve the beer in glass instead of plastic I was told that it's basically because of tradition. The incentive to keep you glass is that refills were a few cents cheaper. The glass problem made full-toed shoes a *must* for the fair.
I'm definitely glad we hit Dusseldorf. I hadn't expected it to be as much fun as it turned out to be, but now it's one of my fondest memories.
