Main reason: The annual meeting of the German section of my European Union pensioners union – AIACE-DE, which takes place in a different German city each year.

I was just beginning to wonder what on earth had made me decide to attend an event which sounds really boring, organised by a union from which I got no help when I needed it most almost a year ago. (The Danish section, AIACE-DK, on the other hand, understood that I was under a lot of stress and totally brain-fogged, knew exactly what I needed and was incredibly helpful, sending relevant links, and without the German fear of putting anything in writing combined with the national obsession with telephone conversations – useless in such situations). And not only that, but in a city which I had deliberately decided was just about the only city in Germany that I did not need to ever visit :-).

Yes, there are redeeming features like a nice park, and it is in the Ruhr district, which is always interesting, and a zoo which has a lot of species from South America, so there will be some I have never seen before. But Dortmund itself is reportedly incredibly dull and unattractive.

And then it was brought to my attention that there is a photography festival there while I am there, f2 Fotofestival Dortmund, with the theme of globality, and looking at their website, I quickly went from thinking I would probably return home or go somewhere else a day or two earlier than planned, to thinking I might prolong my stay by a day or two. In any case, it is going to make my stay a lot more interesting.

Day One: Arrival

First impressions: Much better than what I had been told, certainly inside the ring. Very lively, and many streets choc-a-bloc with people enjoying the warm late-afternoon summer weather. And although it is obvious that the city is obsessed with football, the crowds were much too civilised and “normal” to be a football audience, so it was not because there had just been an important football match or was going to be one later in the evening.

Also quite cosmopolitan, symbolised by a scene I witnessed at my first café pitstop (before I even reached the hotel): A baby sister receiving a lesson on migration :-)).

And Berlin does not have a monopoly on impressive murals.

There was something familiar about the square where the opera house is, but I really don’t recall having been here before. Strange. Although I did go on a number of organised opera trips from Copenhagen in a previous life. Hmmm.

After checking in and unpacking, I squeezed in a first of hopefully quite a few visits to the aforementioned Photo Festival – in 44309//Gallery, a streetart gallery with a garden very centrally located just outside the ring. The exhibition is called Everyday Life in a Networked World, and many of the photos were taken by photography students on a study tour to Tblisi, Georgia – a country which is moving further and further towards the top of my list of places to visit.

I finished the day in Qu Bi – a Vietnamese restaurant in the centre, just one street off the beaten tourist track. It has very good google reviews but I found the food really bland, especially thinking back on the Vietnamese restaurants I visited on my recent visits to Düsseldorf and Stuttgart. In order to check that my taste buds were not deceiving me, I dissected my summer rolls. Normally, they should contain a healthy dose of fresh coriander, mint, and what we call Thai basil, but there were no herbs at all. Nice garden and extremely friendly staff. Oh, by the way, they brought starter and main course simultaneously and seemed to find it normal. Weird.

Took these two on the way back to the hotel, just because:

Day two – more photo exhibitions under the auspices of the f2 Foto Festival Dortmund. Registration for the meeting. Reception and dinner for everyone at the hotel.

A thought: Are all children under five deaf AND sick? So far, I have been in close enough proximity to observe three on the train (where I could not avoid it, even though that was one of the reasons I travelled first class – hoping it would be free of unbelievably noisy children, but no ….) and three in the hotel (where I had the pleasure of not being able to escape the same kind of noisy environment, including children (different children – same noises) running around in between the breakfast tables), and they were/are all incessantly alternatively coughing, and shrieking and shouting? Perhaps they have to shriek and shout in order to get their parents’ attention nowadays, but what’s with the coughing? And at what age is it deemed appropriate to teach them to cough into a hand or better still an elbow? Nobody seems to bother any more.

Anyway, I visited another three photo exhibitions in the festival: “Point of …..”, “Utopia”, and “All in the same …..”.

On the way, I saw a bird that I am not sure I have seen before but I need to do some research, and took a quick look at the harbour area. Unfortunately, I did not have my longer lense with me.

Back in the centre, I discovered a huge football museum – no surprise there, I guess. Nice building, though.

The first part of the route here. For some reason, recording was interrupted, and also, only a little less than half the total walk was recorded. The second part here.

Bonus tip: A nice coffee and ice-cream creation café: Eiscafé Majer.

In the evening, reception and dinner for participants at the hotel. Very enjoyable.

Day Three – guided bus tour of Dortmund, both morning and afternoon, interrupted by lunch in Restaurant Pfefferkorn by Phoenix-See

The weather was too good to spend time on a bus, so I spent the morning taking a leisurely walk to the restaurant through Westfalenpark. Like most parks, that one is too kempt and cultivated for my taste but it does have a large variety of plants and trees from all over the world, including water plants, and a Japanese garden. And lots of two different kinds of geese.

My route from hotel to lunch restaurant here.

The area between Westfalenpark and Phoenix-See was another very pleasant walk along a stream and past some interesting, large ruins which I am still trying to identify.

As for Phoenix-See – my first thought was that it is a good example of how to ruin a perfectly nice lake – until I realised that it is totally man-made and actually purposely designed to look the way it does now. Spot the funny epic fail photo hahaha.

Very nice lunch served by extremely friendly staff in one of the many eateries on the edge of the “lake” – Restaurant Pfefferkorn.

After lunch a visit to “Ehemalige Hochofen 5” which provided the opportunity for some “experimental photography” :-). I see a potential for some diptychs and triptychs – if I ever get around to it.

Day Four – assembly meeting morning and afternoon – buffet lunch at the hotel

I attended the morning session but decided the weather was too good to stay for the afternoon session, so I took a walk. First, I needed to sort an issue with my train ticket from Ljubljana to Berlin in July and found that the staff in Reisezentrum at Dortmund central station is infinitely more friendly and helpful than in Berlin central station.

I then visited “Dortmunder U”, a former brewery now home to, a.o., Museum Ostwall, and temporarily also one of the exhibitions in the photo festival – entitled “Globality” – which in the meantime I had completely forgotten about. What can I say – I got distracted 😉 – it can happen to anybody.

Also a visit to Dortmunder Kunstverein.

A light, quiet dinner at the hotel where, by the way, the staff is extremely friendly.

Day Five – 7 June – Officially bus tour to Essen and Villa Hügel. Later bus ride to Zeche Zollern – reception, guided tour and farewell dinner

1) I have been to Essen, 2) I have seen the TV series about the Krupp family, and 3) I have eaten too much this week, so I need to walk – not sit on a bus. So despite the occasional rain shower, and at one point a bit more than that, and despite the fact that I am not a big fan of parks, I went back to Westfalenpark, which I have to admit is very impressive in its diversity, with – alledgedly, a couple of thousand different roses, many different water plants, and the Japanese garden.

Very nice farewell dinner in Restaurant Pferdestall, after a guided tour of Zeche Zollern.

8 June – Dortmund Zoo and Rombergpark

With everybody else returning to their homes, I had actually planned on ambling around the shopping areas on this day until I realised that it was a public holiday in these parts (not in Berlin), so I went to the zoo instead. It was too warm for serious shopping anyway. Afterwards, I walked back through Robergpark – very impressive – a bit less “kempt” than Westfalenpark. Had I had one more day in Dortmund, I would probably have spent it there.

9 June return to Berlin in glorious weather

Reminiscing on the train. First of a couple of unpleasant one-year anniversaries this summer. On this day a year ago, I was invited back to Vivantes am Urban for what they called a precautionary extra check after the public mammography screening a week earlier. As it turned out, they wanted to take biopsies from no less than three suspicious growths, and the seed of a sneaking, chilling suspicion was sown. The following week, waiting for the results, felt long, but I must have been in some sort of denial, still (despite the fatigue and weight loss) because the feeling of dread and panic caused by thoughts of what was to happen to Max (my dog) had not at all started to set in.

And Dortmund? Much better than I had expected, and the AIACE-DE event was well organised and most enjoyable. I met some nice people and had some nice meals. Saw some good exhibitions and two great parks. And as many of us remarked upon – people in Dortmund are extraordinarily friendly, not least in our hotel – Steigenberger Dortmund.