A Week in Germany- 2019

A continuation from our trip to Sweden we decided to hit up Germany while we were there in June of this year. Our whole trip to Germany was out of the blue since we were hoping my brother in law would go with us since we didn't want to go by ourselves. It was until a few hours before our anticipated date to go we said 'why not' and jumped into our cars and drove off at 2am. My husband and I both have relatives that live in Germany specifically in Wuppertal and Dortmund. Our drive there took us approximately 9 hours to get there plus stops every two hours to feed the fussy baby. They drive there wasn't too bad I must admit just the way back that was never-ending but I'll get to that part later. We drove over the long beautiful bridge into Denmark and then took a ship with our cars parked inside. The ship was great there was washrooms, a beautiful view of the water, an onboard shopping area, and food vendors. We purchased the Economy Plus package which covered our ship fare there and back as opposed to paying again on the way back, plus the ticket doesn't expire for a full year. We should've done more research into room bookings on board that'll take you about 9 hours on board to ensure minimal driving. It would've been a great option especially with kids but maybe next time we can put some more planning. After approximately 45 minutes on board, we continued our drive to Germany. All of Europe is very green and scenic so the drive is breathtaking.

Wuppertal as a city was nice in its restaurants and social life but it had a lot of litter which I found odd comparing it to the surrounding cities. Another con is that there is nowhere to park! Cars are literally parked on the side of the road bumper to bumper. If you decide to rent a car and drive in Wuppertal, if you happen to find a parking spot I suggest you park it and just take the train everywhere. Now that we got that out of the way we can go into the pluses. The city has great stores for shopping. We went to this giant store called Primark which I would say is equivalent to our Urban Planet but it has tons more variety and clothing for all ages. When you compare in prices to the Canadian Dollar it's not too cheap there but you can find some good deals if you look. The city is full of tons of great restaurants and many Halal options for those searching. We stayed at my sister in laws brother's house who was kind enough to take us in. His apartment has a great city view! The most important thing I went straight to see my uncle whom I hadn't seen for 5 years when I saw him for 3 days in Lebanon. I've loved him since I was a child and he had not yet seen my own children so I was excited at the chance of him seeing them. I missed him so much.

 

Dortmund was a cute little city with beautiful houses and tons of greenery. It looks like a great place to raise a family. Everything is in close proximity and the city is quiet. We went to visit my husband's uncle there and were in awe with the cute street they lived on, the houses were very colourful and clean. We went to a delicious all you can eat buffet style restaurant called Gourmet Tempel courtesy of my husband's uncle so we were grateful to them for the invitation. The restaurant was good but not great in terms of selection in comparison to a Mandarin here. Nevertheless, we ate until we couldn't breathe and we were in great company. After that we headed to a nice lounge style area next to a pond, let the kids play on the playground and then walked around the area. It was a nice ending to a fun-filled day.

 

 Just some of the food I filled at Gourmet Tempel in Dortmund.

 

Eating at Gourmet Tempel with wonderful people. You can see some of the decor!

   The grand playground the kids played at afterwards!

Eissen is where we went to for many of the restaurants our friends recommended. Beginning with the Almidan Dimaschki (الميدان الدمشقي). Midan is a city in Damascus that never sleeps in Syria very well known for their delicious restaurants especially shawarmas and sweets. It took us over an hour to land a table because of how crazy busy it was! could've gone somewhere else but we were not going to pass up the chance to eat there and they did not disappoint. We were side by side with a shisha bar where they would bring you your choice of shisha right to your table but we couldn't do it with all the kids, maybe next time just the grown ups. We ordered some 'Arabic style' shawarmas which is the Shawarma cut up into individual portions with a plate full of fries, pickles, carrots, and garlic sauce. Our whole trip to Europe revolved around looking for the best shawarma closest to one you would find in Syria and we ended up finding it in Malmo, Sweden.



Also located in Eissen is another great lounge style restaurant called Eis Bludan (بوظة بلودان). It had a great outdoor patio area and beautiful indoor seating but that was closed due to final renovations. We ordered Salatit Fawaki in Arabic it translates to 'Fruit salad' but it's not the same as your typical Western style fruit salad, this has a Middle Eastern spin on it. Fruit, ice cream, ashta (clotted cream), honey, nuts, and depending on your flavour chocolate or extra yummies.

Take a look at that beauty. Not your typical 'fruit salad' is it?

We ordered some shishas as well and just enjoyed the afternoon courtesy of my husband's cousin. A little background about where my husband and I are originally from. We are from a village in Syria called Bloudan and when the war broke out in Syria many of our relatives from both sides of our family went to Germany and mostly settled in Wuppertal. That why we stayed there for the majority of the week. The people of Bloudan are extremely hospitable even when their financial situations aren't exactly on the high side. Most of the people we saw their invited us out for dinners, invited us over, took us sight seeing, and hung out with us in lounge style areas.

You cannot go to Germany without seeing the Cologne Cathedral in Koln. There is so much work and history in that went into building the cathedral on the inside and outside. Intricate detailing is really quite a sight to see. There is also a tourist attraction inside where you pay 9 euros and you can take stairs to the top of the cathedral and see the whole city from the top. My husband, brother in-law, niece, and daughter went up with their cousins but I was not going to pay to climb stairs. I caught up with my uncle and cousins on the bottom.

 

 

 

Take a look at these love locks. The whole wall all the way down was covered in these locks, you couldn't even find an empty space to put one. Your love will last as long as the lock lasts <3 Hahaha for real though it's a cute sight to see.

 

This man was drawing flags on the ground in front of the Cathedral and people were placing money on the country that they were originally fun. It was nice to see the diversity there! This type of street art is popular there and I saw it at a few different cities in Germany.

 Finally the last city we strolled through was called Dusseldorf where we walked all down their river side. We saw street merchants and people casually drinking their beers everywhere you turned. Not sure if it's big in the German culture but man everywhere we went people were drinking! There was a really tall building that we paid to go into that showed you a view of the whole city. The kids were exhausted from the long walk beside the river so when we reached the top we treated them to some ice cream. We chilled, talked at the top, and enjoyed the city view. 

 


All of the cities we visited in Germany are in close proximity to each other. Next time, we hope to broaden and see new places. Usually they say the drive home is faster than the way there but oh no. Our drive bad to Sweden was absolutely exhausting. The kids were tired and fussy. We felt gross and just wanted to shower and change into clean clothes. Fares was fussier on the drive back so we had to make more stops. Waiting for us when we got back to Sweden after the dreadful drive was a belated birthday party for myself thrown by my brother in-law and his lovely wife. I could not even believe the work they put into it for all of us to enjoy. Words cannot even describe the gratitude I feel to them, I can't help but smile at the mere memory of it.


Just take a look at that stunning table my sister in law put together. I love them to pieces for it! It made us forget the exhaustion we felt from that dreadful drive back from Germany. Nonetheless, it was definitely a trip to remember.