H6, #13, and Bo

Have made it to Düsseldorf. The train connections yesterday were practically mathematical. Since leaving London, we spent no more than 10 minutes waiting for each of the connecting trains. Could not have planned it this well. Apart from Belgian kids singing TV detective theme songs to each other (‘Magnum’, ‘Starsky and Hutch’, etc), it was fairly uneventful.

Düsseldorf is still cool and overcast. A few changes since we left. The former Rex movie theatre has reopened as some upscale bar but kept the “Rex” name. There are some new trams on the road, about one-third larger than the old ones. In Kaiser’s, they have compensated for the meat problem by filling most of the deli case with cheeses.

Been hitting the old haunts. Had lunch at the Balloon coffee bar, built near the location where Napoleon went up in a balloon in 1811. There is no further record of events during the flight, so we are left to guess if he had a drink spilled in his lap or was unable to open the complimentary bag of peanuts.

As those “in the know” would be able to deduce from the title, we made it to Prickynoo last night. Some minor changes (new tables, English menus), but still the same old Prickynoo.

For the uninitiated, Prickynoo is a Thai take-away restaurant that was not far from our old apartment and, not coincidentally, also very close to the place we are staying. The food was as good as usual. Dinner was the typical H6 (mittel-scharf) with a 13 for starters. Joe, who joined us for dinner, ordered 137. If these numbers mean nothing to you, you do not know what you are missing.

And, sadly, there was no Bo.

• Around the World
• Dusseldorf
• Germany