Things to do in North Rhine Westphalia
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Kölner Dom
Cologne's geographical and spiritual heart - and its single-biggest tourist draw - is the magnificent Kölner Dom. With its soaring twin spires, this is the Mt Everest of cathedrals, jam-packed with art and treasures. Its loftiness and dignified ambience leave only the most jaded of visitors untouched.
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Documentation Centre
Cologne's Third Reich history is poignantly documented in the Documentation Centre. In the basement of the building was the local Gestapo prison where scores of people were interrogated, tortured and killed. Inscriptions on the basement cell walls offer a gut-wrenching record of the emotional and physical pain endured by inmates.
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Rheinuferpromenade
Burgplatz marks the beginning of the Rheinuferpromenade, whose cafés and benches fill with people in fine weather, creating an almost Mediterranean flair. It follows the Rhine all the way to the Rheinpark and the 240m Rheinturm (Rhine Tower) with a viewing platform and revolving restaurant at 172m. Just beyond are the Landtag (the state parliament) and the old harbour, which has been redeveloped into the Medienhafen (Media Harbour), a spectacular showcase of contemporary architecture.
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Pasta
Fish-shaped ravioli paired with salmon creme is just one of the creative offerings at this popular pasta shop. All noodles are made fresh daily and available for take-away or for eating on the spot, preferably on the terrace. Avoid the lunch-hour rush.
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Zum Uerige
This cavernous beer hall is the best place to soak it all up. The suds flow so quickly from giant copper vats that the waiters - called Köbes - simply carry huge trays of brew and plonk down a glass whenever they spy an empty.
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Melody Bar
After 10pm you may have to shoehorn your way into this jewel of a cocktail bar that's an island of sophistication amid the boisterous Altstadt thirst parlours. The drinks are excellent, the owner couple gracious and the crowd mixed.
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Päffgen
Busy, loud and boisterous, Päffgen has been pouring Kölsch since 1883 and hasn't lost a step since. In summer you can enjoy the refreshing brew and local specialities beneath starry skies in the beer garden.
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Früh Am Dom
This warren of a beer hall near the Dom epitomises Cologne earthiness. Sit inside amid loads of knick-knacks or on the terrace next to a fountain. It's also known for great breakfasts.
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Tonhalle
The imposing domed Tonhalle, in a converted 1920s planetarium, is the home base of the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker (Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra).
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Wallraf-Richartz-Museum
A famous collection of paintings from the 13th to the 19th centuries, the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum occupies a postmodern cube designed by the late OM Ungers. Works are presented chronologically, with the oldest on the 1st floor where standouts include brilliant examples from the Cologne School, known for its distinctive use of colour. Upstairs are Dutch and Flemish artists, including Rembrandt and Rubens, Italians such as Canaletto and Spaniards such as Murillo. The 3rd floor focuses on the 19th century, with evocative works by Caspar David Friedrich and Lovis Corinth. Thanks to a permanent loan from Swiss collector Gérard Corboud, there's also a respectable collection of …
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Kolumba
The building encases the ruins of the late-Gothic church St Kolumba, layers of foundations going back to Roman times and the Madonna in the Ruins chapel, built on the site in 1950. It's yet another magnificent design by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, 2009 winner of the Pritzker Prize, the 'architectural Oscar'. Exhibits span the arc of religious artistry from the early days of Christianity to the present. Coptic textiles, Gothic reliquary and medieval painting are juxtaposed with works by Bauhaus legend Andor Weiniger and edgy room installations. The overall effect is contemplative rather than instructive, inspirational rather than historical.
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Römisch-Germanisches Museum
Anyone even remotely interested in Roman history should not skip the extraordinary Römisch-Germanisches Museum, adjacent to the Dom. Sculptures and ruins displayed outside are merely the overture to a full symphony of Roman artefacts found along the Rhine. Highlights include the giant Poblicius tomb (AD 30-40), the magnificent 3rd-century Dionysus mosaic around which the museum was built, and astonishingly well-preserved glass items. Insight into daily Roman life is gained from such items as toys, tweezers, lamps and jewellery, the designs of which have changed surprisingly little since.
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Museum Am Ostwall
Once one of Dortmund's largest and most famous breweries, the defunct Union Brauerei is a protected landmark being reinvented as a 'centre for art and creativity'. Three upper floors are the new home of the Museum am Ostwall, an art-world star thanks to its far-reaching collection of all major 20th- and 21st-century genres - expressionism to art informel, fluxus to op art to concrete art. For laypeople this translates into works by Macke, Nolde, Beuys and Paik, and living artists including Jochen Gerz and Anna and Bernhard Blume. It's expected to open in May 2010.
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Zollern II/IV Coal Mine
The Zollern II/IV Coal Mine was considered a 'model mine' when operation began in 1902. It boasted state-of-the-art technology and fantastic architecture, including an art nouveau machine hall and a castle-like administration building adorned with gables and onion-domed towers. An innovative exhibit documents the harsh realities of life as a miner, with plenty of interactive and child-oriented programs. To get here, take the U47 from Hauptbahnhof to Dortmund-Huckarde Bushof, then bus 462 direction Dortmund-Marten to Industriemuseum Zollern.
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Rathaus
Aachen's Rathaus, a splendid Gothic pile festooned with 50 life-size statues of German rulers, including the 30 kings crowned in town. It was built in the 14th century atop the foundations of Charlemagne's palace of which only the eastern tower, the Granusturm, survives. Inside, the undisputed highlights are the Kaisersaal with its epic 19th-century frescoes by Alfred Rethel and the replicas of the imperial insignia : a crown, orb and sword (the originals are in Vienna).
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Pleasure Palace and Gardens
Elector Carl Theodor was a man of deep pockets and good taste, as reflected in his exquisite pleasure palace and gardens, where he came to relax and frolic. Designed by Frenchman Nicolas de Pigage, the three-winged palace centres on the Corps de Logis, the former residential tract, where tours (in German) offer a glimpse of the elector's lifestyle. The other wings contain an old-school natural history museum (adult/concession €5/3) and a vaguely interesting museum of European garden history (adult/concession €5/3).
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Ruhr Museum
Visit the former coal washing plant, which now provides an edgy setting for the Ruhr Museum. Exhibits span the history of the Ruhr Region in an easily accessible and engaging fashion. Just as the coal was transported on conveyor belts, a long escalator whisks you up to the foyer from where you descend into the dark bowels of the building. With its raw stone walls, steep steel stairs, shiny aluminium ducts and industrial machinery, the space itself has all the drama and mystique of a movie set ( Blade Runner comes to mind).
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Museum Ludwig
The distinctive building facade and unorthodox roofline signal that the Museum Ludwig is no ordinary museum. Considered a mecca of postmodern art, it actually presents a survey of all major 20th-century genres. There's plenty of American pop art, including Andy Warhol's Brillo Boxes, alongside a comprehensive Picasso collection and plenty of works by Sigmar Polke. Fans of German expressionism will get their fill here as much as those with a penchant for such Russian avant-gardists as Kasimir Malewitsch and Ljubow Popowa.
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Langen Foundation
If you have a penchant for art in weird places, make the trip out to the Langen Foundation. The location: a former NATO missile base where Pershing tanks armed with nuclear warheads held the line against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The architecture: a minimalist glass, steel and concrete box by Japanese Meister -architect Tadao Ando. The art: a top collection of Japanese screens, scrolls and sculpture, plus works by 20th-century greats, such as Jawlensky, Klee and Ernst, presented in changing exhibits.
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Dom
Essen's medieval Dom is an island of quiet engulfed by the commercialism of pedestrianised Kettwiger Strasse, the main shopping strip. It has a priceless collection of Ottonian works, all about 1000 years old. Not to be missed is a hauntingly beautiful Golden Madonna, set in her own midnight-blue chapel matching the colour of her eyes. The revamped treasury presents more fancy baubles, including a crown worn by Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, in a modern, intimate fashion.
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Industrial Heritage Trail
Most of the smokestacks and mines are quiet today, but the Ruhrgebiet has embraced its heritage by cleverly converting many of its 'cathedrals of industry' into museums, concert halls, cinemas, restaurants, lookouts, playgrounds and other venues. About 25 of them are linked along the 400km Industrial Heritage Trail that takes in such cities as Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg and Bochum. Most sites are also served by public transport.
The route's central visitors' centre is at the Zollverein colliery complex in Essen.
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Deutsches Sport & Olympia Museum
In a 19th-century customs building near the Schokoladen Museum, the Deutsches Sport & Olympia Museum is an imaginative, if Germany-focused, tribute to the sporting life from antiquity to today. There are exhibits on the 1936 Berlin and 1972 Munich Olympic Games and on such modern-day heroes as Steffi Graf and Michael Schumacher. Interactive displays allow you to experience a bobsled run or a bike race, and on the miniature football field on the rooftop you can kick with a view of the cathedral.
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Schokoladen Museum
You don't have to have a sweet tooth to enjoy the Schokoladen Museum, a high-tech temple to the art of chocolate-making. Exhibits on the origin of the 'elixir of the gods', as the Aztecs called it, and the cocoa-growing process are followed by a live-production factory tour and a stop at a chocolate fountain for a sample. Upstairs are departments on the cultural history of chocolate, advertising, and porcelain and other accessories. Stock up on your favourite flavours at the downstairs shop.
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Museum Koenig
Across from the Villa Hammerschmidt, the Museum Koenig is a natural history museum but it's hardly your usual dead-animal zoo. The 'Savannah' exhibit re-creates an entire habitat with theatrical flourishes: elephants drinking at a watering hole, a jaguar holed up with its kill and vultures surveying the scene from above. Other highlights include a talking baobab tree in the 'Rainforest', a colossal sea elephant in the 'Arctic' and a condor with a 3m wingspan in the 'World of Birds'.
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Haus Der Geschichte Der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
The Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland presents a highly engaging and intelligent romp through recent German history, starting when the final bullet was fired in WWII. Walk through the fuselage of a Berlin Airlift ' Rosinenbomber ' , watch classic clips in a 1950s movie theatre, examine Erich Honecker's arrest warrant, stand in front of a piece of the Berlin Wall or see John F Kennedy's famous ' Ich bin ein Berliner ' speech.
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