Journey Around the World: Düsseldorf, Köln, Leverkusen, Monheim

One of the weekends was spent visiting Professor Hugl and his wife, Erika near Köln. I am sincerely grateful for all the help that Professor Hugl has rendered. He was a guest professor at NUS last semester and I took a module with him. Without his help and connection, i really wont have gotten an internship at Bayer and wont have the opportunity to travel and see so much during my time here. I am also learning alot from my Internship.

Professor Hugl and his wife are really very nice people! Erika likes collecting old, antique stuff and she was showing me her collection and i was also looking at all the art pieces that they have at home! She even make jewllery herself! Some of them looked really awesome and exquisite! I initally thought that she bought them coz they looked really expensive! I personally feel that Professor Hugl is a REAL gentleman and i really mean it! Havnt met anyone like him before. He is extremely polite, holds the door for us all the time, says "bitte schon" when the car come to a stop or when a life door opens and gestures the ladies to exit first, never fails to open the car door for his wife and I all the time and he helps his wife with her coat! (He literally holds the coat up so that his wife wears the coat while he holds on to it) How sweet is that! awww.......

I visited Levekusen and Monheim because Bayer has an industry park there, especially a HUGE one in Levekusen where Professor Hugl worked for 35 years of his life and he pointed out his labs and office to me. He has definitely contributed alot to Bayer and the Chemical Industry for sure. I also came to this conclusion that he had built up a very successful career over the years and had climbed up to a VERY high position, having around 55 PHD lab leaders under him (if i din hear wrongly)!

The trip to Köln was also memorable because it was the first time i tried car pooling from some strangers. There is a website which reflects the people who are driving to various cities and you can arrange to meet up and get a ride from them for around 5euros/100km. It was cheaper and faster to Köln with a car as compared to the train. ANd on my way back, I met a guy who was doing an internship in Frankfurt and he was planning on doing an Exchange in Singapore!! We had fun talking for 1.5 hrs!! Wad a coincidence=)

Food was great this weekend=) Ate sauerkraut with meat, cauliflower soup( Cauliflower was boiled and grinded and cooked with stock... my first attempt! Nice!), turkisch bread and pastry. It seems like it is normal to eat a heavy lunch meal and something lighter for dinner here. A typical light dinner would be bread, ham, cheese, olives, pickled cucumber and butter!

Here's a nice small castle that is near their place=)

Professor Hugl and his wife=) They are both from Wien, Austria but they have been working in Germany ever since they graduated. They have 6 kids and 3 grand children now.. so exciting! The whole family is going skiing in March and they were very kind to extend the invitation to me! I wanna have a BIG family next time too!

Surroundings of the church.. quite a nice yard...

I went to church with them on Sunday! It was nice! haha.. i must say that I have been to church more often here than in Singapore... In Germany or Europe in general, the "christian/catholic/protestant" population are so much bigger but you rarely see youths at service unlike Singapore despite them having very nice churches here. Professor Hugl was saying that he was surprised to see so many youths at church in Singapore and thought that it was very nice=)

Another tiny winie castle...

Along the streets in Düsseldorf on Saturday...

The city is situated on the River Rhine. Here is one of the nicer areas in Düsseldorf-Rhine River.. The old city is also nice!

Schadow Arkaden - shopping mall. Düsseldorf is not only widely known as a centre of the German advertising and fashion industries.

There are many "good" shops here for people who like shopping. Posh. Expensive. Reminded me of Paris and Milan... Not really my kind of thing and hence they dun stand out and dun appeal to me greatly! BUt nevertheless, it was nice to just walk through the streets.

The historic townhall of Düsseldorf in the Altstadt(old city).

SOme really nice old buildings!! I like!

Some old musical instrument which already as a tune programmed in it and all you need to do is to rotate the handle! Remember to "donate" money if you want a picture of him!

Sunday was spent at church and we viisted Köln in the afternoon. Highlights of this pretty city-the Dom, Old city and the Rhine RIver! This was my second time in Köln!
Awesome architecture. It is always very nice for me to visit old cities! Most of them were destroyed during the war and they were mostly reconstructed.