Day 1. Monday January 14

I arrived in Düsseldorf after a un-eventful (but long) flight. After dropping my stuff at the hotel, it was off to Uerige.

I was glad to see the following -- that I did have the correct day:



After a quick beer, poured in the traditional manner from a gravity fed wooden barrel...


...I popped next door to check out the new Stickum pub. This is were they sell the schapps made from Sticke and Doppelsticke. Well, it turns out at this point it is only open Friday and Saturday. But I am hoping that I can score a taste of them anyway.

Thru the window you can see a gleaming copper still and in the back the new bottling line.




John from Boulder arrived and we proceeded to make the rounds of the brewpubs. When we got to zum Schlüssel, there was a curious sight:

Had the Hessians invaded Düsseldorf? No, it turns out that Easter is very early this year and that means the Carnival celebrations start early and this was a get together of one of the Carnival Clubs.


Tomorow -- Sticke day!

Update: For those of you who didn't view our webcam appearance, you didn't miss much. Courtesy of Ray C, here is what we looked like (I'm the one with the light colored pants)