The Other Side of Germany

No pics - Just thoughts and observations. 
I've waited till this morning to write this post so I could sleep on it and give myself time to reconsider or rephrase what I was planning to write. 
Didn't change my thinking at all... So here goes. 

In all things there is Good and Bad. I have made no secret how much I love being in Germany and how beautiful and wonderful the scenery and culture is.  

You must also understand that for the last 2 weeks I have been on a work assignment in Dusseldorf so I have been somewhat helped and shepherded by my German work colleagues. 
Yesterday I was on my own and cycling from Dusseldorf to Cologne and then touring Cologne.  So I was alone with no specific direction or help besides my iPhone and my nearly non-existent knowledge and grasp of German customs and language. 
To be fair and balanced, I made some mistakes yesterday ... But they were mistakes of Ignorance not Intent. 
I won't go into the details but over the course of 4 - 5 hours I was shouted at twice, had a guy in my face, had a can of tomatoes thrown at me and had about 100 people staring at me like I was the latest discovery of Area 51. 
Believe me - nothing I did warranted the kind of reactions I got. 
So here's a big takeaway for Germany -
Germans are NOT TOLERANT of any thing, any action or any person that deviates from their own definition, procedure or view of how things are or how they should be done. 

Now again - to be fair and balanced - I may have just had a bad day or the umpteen people that were rude to me may have had a bad day or maybe it's because I was in Cologne and not Dusseldorf. 
I know there's a big rivalry between D & C so while I'm pissing people off I might as well throw in my 2 cents worth on that too. 
Here's how they compare IMHO:
Food - Even
Culture - Edge to Cologne
Beauty of the City - Cologne
Attitude and Friendliness - Big Time Dusseldorf
Best Beer - wouldn't touch that one with a 10' pole

So now you know where I stand....
Oh - and a couple of more items:
Weather and Temp - everybody I've seen dresses like they're at the North Pole. I mean Geez folks it's 60 degF which is about 16 degC. 
I'm walking around in shirts, a short sleeved shirt and Tevas and the world around me is 3 layers deep in scarves, jackets and gloves. I thought Germans were used to cold weather. Hell - based on what I see if it actually got cold here everybody would be walking around like the Michelin Man. 
All right - the rant is almost over - but there's one last item. 
I have been humble, passive and apologetic through every negative scenario I have encountered so far - which, incidentally, is not my nature. 
That will not be the case going forward. 
The next person that is mean or rude to me will get a piece of my mind ....  
And if they want it, they will get a Piece of My Ass too. 
Notice given - the Loud Proud Texan is saddling up for a long ride to Koblenz!
Let's see what today has for US!

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